21 
MANAGEMENT IN SWARMING. 
NATURAL SWARMING. 
When a swarm is seen issuing or in the air, the best thing to do is, 
in general, simply to wait a bit. The weather is usually rather warm 
then, and rushing about to get tin pans, dinner gongs, spraying outfits, 
etc., aside from its disagreeableness, may get one so excited and into 
such a perspiration as to unfit him to do with the bees that which is 
likely to be necessary a few minutes later. The bees will probably 
’ gather ina clump on a tree or bush near the apiary, and however formi- 
dable getting them into the hive may at first seem, nothing will be sim- 
pler than shaking them into their new hive, or into a basket or box, 
from which they may be poured in front of the hive, just as one would 
pour out a measure of wheat or beans. If any stick to the basket or 
box, invert it and give a sharp thump with one edge against the ground. 
If the hive has been standing in the shade so that the boards composing 
it are not heated, and if it be now well shaded and plenty of ventilation 
be given above and below, the bees are almost certain to take posses- 
sion at once and begin work actively. 
The securing of swarms can be made, however, even simpler than 
this by having the colonies placed several feet apart on a smooth lawn 
or dooryard and clipping one wing of each laying queen so as to pre- 
vent her flying. The prime or first swarm from each hive is accom- 
panied by the old queen, and if she be clipped she will of course fall 
from the alighting board to the ground and may be secured in a cage. 
The bees will circle about a few times and return. Meanwhile the 
only thing for the attendant to do is to replace the parent colony by 
an empty hive. The returning bees will enter the latter and the queen 
may be allowed to go in with them, the cage being placed with its open 
end directly against the entrance to insure this. The swarm is thus 
made to hive itself. 
The parent colony removed to a new stand a rod or more away will 
rarely give a second swarm. But to make certain all queen cells except 
one may be cut out four or five days after the issuance of the first 
swarm. At the same time one-third to one-half of the remaining 
bees of the removed colony may be shaken at the entrance of the 
hive containing the swarm. This reduces the population of the par- 
ent colony greatly, but the loss is soon made good by the young work- 
ers emerging daily, and the new queen which will issuefrom the single 
queen-cell, spared when cutting out cells, will soon restock the hive with 
brood. The shaking out of additional bees, coupled with the removal 
of all queen cells but one, will prevent for the time all further swarm- 
ing from the given hive, and in most instances end it for the season. 
The bees thus added to the newly hived swarm, even though too young 
to enter the field at once as honey gatherers. will nevertheless release 
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