. BEES. 897 



of several to be entertained only in view of the situation, and which experience must teach. 

 Such swarming of bees, being attended with so much uncertainty and so metimes loss, 

 other methods are resorted to for increasing the stock. In some cases the queen fails to fly, 

 and falls to the ground. She creeps back again into the hive, and the swarm is sure to 

 follow. The bees never leave for any length of time without their queen, and if, when 

 swarming, the queen can be captured, the bees will seek her. In order to prevent loss, it is 

 the practice of some to clip the queen s wings on one side two-thirds of their length from the 

 tip. This prevents her flight, and, with other management, some make it successful in 

 securing the swarms. Care should be taken never to seize the queen by the body, for it may 

 render her valueless, but she should always be grasped by the wings. 



In eight days after swarming, another swarm will issue, since much of the brood has 

 then hatched, unless, as is done by many, the precaution of removing all the remaining queen 

 cells be done on the fourth or fifth day after the first swarming. The eggs are so far 

 advanced that the bees after such time cannot construct cells therefrom for a new crop of 

 queens. A young queen is then given them, which is readily received. Many practice this 

 method, which usually satisfies the swarming propensity of the bees that is often difficult 

 to control, and no inconsiderable surplus is often obtained from the old stand, as well as the 

 new one. It depends much upon the skill of the operator, and the method he is most used 

 to, for his best success. It should be remarked here that after the second swarm takes place 

 no regularity is observed by others that may follow; several queen cells maturing about the 

 same time, each queen may follow a depleted mass, and so greatly weaken the hive and 

 prevent profitable gains. The proper time for bees to swarm is as early in the season as 

 practicable, May being regarded as the best month, a July swarm not being considered of 

 much value. It is a noticeable fact that first swarms generally ajight near home ; hence their 

 queens can accompany them without much fatigue : and that swarms with young, unfertilized 

 queens often settle at a greater distance from the hive; also, that second swarms are less par 

 ticular to have the weather fine and sunny at the time of swarming. 



Artificial Swarming. This is the division of the hive into two or more parts, 

 seeing that each part has late eggs from which the bees can rear queens. In doing this work, 

 the new hive is usually put on the old stand, while the original colony is removed some dis 

 tance away. &quot;Where some distance is not observed, the old bees will be apt to return to the 

 spot, and so greatly deplete the working capacity of the older hive. The bees of the hive 

 which does not contain the old queen will proceed to construct queen cells around some 

 worker eggs. They will form from two to several of these cells, and in the usual length of 

 time a new queen will issue. Her very first work will be to turn about and dispatch all 

 the remaining queen cells, after which her flight is taken for fertilization; and so within 

 twenty-five days after the egg was laid, she herself will be busy laying eggs. From the fact 

 that during these twenty-five days the bees of the hive are mostly idle, with no filling up of 

 the combs with eggs for the supply of working progeny, the practice prevails of furnishing a 

 queen at once to the new hive, thereby gaining valuable time and a hive full of brood. By 

 the time that otherwise the new queen would be only beginning her work among depleted 

 workers, the queen so introduced would have brood already hatching and more coming on 

 every day. Bee keepers are coming to understand that where they have not themselves the 

 facility or skill to rear queens profitably, they are worth to them all that is asked, and much 

 more, from this start of twenty-five days in the height of the summer s work. 



There are many modifications of the artificial method of swarming or creating colonies, 

 which will readily suggest themselves to the man who attempts the business. Where increase 

 of stock is desirable, the larger number of colonies can be produced by this method, particu 

 larly when young queens are at once introduced. Where the purpose is to produce the 

 largest amount of honey, the practice is to prevent swarming. The secret of success in honey 

 production is to have heavy colonies for work at harvest time. One large colony will gather 

 more product than several weak ones. 



This branch of the business is acknowledged to be the most difficult, requiring the most 

 skill and work in order to be successful. Most colonies having young queens, and with right 

 manipulation, may be controlled; but there will be, even under favorable conditions, some 

 exceptions. Hives will get into a swarming fever at times which no expedient can remedy. 

 The best success, however, is had when several particulars of practice are observed. Among 

 them may be mentioned the maintaining of young queens in the hive, or such as are not over 

 two years of age, only in exceptional cases; to see that early and sufficient room be accessible 

 for the deposit of surplus honey; to examine every week each colony in the most thorough 

 VOL. II. 49 



