1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



515 



HOW SWARMING IS CONDUCTED. 



" Here I am, down again to bother you with 

 some more questions." 



"Well, what is it this morning, Mr. 

 Brown ? ' ' 



"You will remember that, when I left you 

 the other day, I went in a hurry because the 

 blowing of the horn told me my bees were 

 swarming." 



" Yes, I know you got off about as lively as 

 any fellow I ever saw, except one who has 

 some bees in his hair. You left me without 

 even saying why you were going." 



" Well, after I had hived that swarm an old 

 farmer bee-keeper came along and told me 

 that, as only old bees went with the swarm, it 

 was always best to give each swarm a frame of 

 hatching brood on hiving them, so they could 

 have young bees coming on as the old ones 

 rlied off. Then he told me other strange 

 ihings, among which was that the young 

 qaeen emerged from her cell within 24 hours 

 after the swarm left, so the young bees, left 

 behind, would have some one to rule over 

 them before they got wild." 



" Did you believe him ? " 



" Well, hardly ; but as I could not answer 

 him to my satisfaction I thought I would run 

 down a little while this morning and see what 

 you thought in the matter." 



" Up to within a few years I allowed natural 

 swarms to issue as a means of increase, and 

 have experimented largely during thirty years 

 to know under what conditions swarms issue, 

 as a rule, and have found, as regard to age of 

 bees, that bees of all ages, in about equal pro- 

 portion, leave the parent hive, from the old 

 forager to the bee that has been out of its cell 

 but a few hours." 



" How do you know a bee which is an ' old 

 forager ' as you call the old bees? " 



" They are very easily told by their lack of 

 hair, darkness of color, and their jagged 

 wings. Did you never look close enough to 

 discover such in your hives? " 



"Yes, I have often seen such bees with 

 torn and tattered wings, and have often seen 

 them with the swarm, but I had supposed that 

 something had happened to them." 



" There undoubtedly had, but nothing only 

 what is the rule with old field bees during 

 June and July. Very much of our white clo- 

 ver grows with other grasses ; and in search- 

 ing for the honey the bees hit their wings 

 more or less against this other grass, so that, 

 soon after beginning gathering clover honey, 

 the wings of the older bees begin to be torn ; 

 for, the older the bee the more easily torn are 

 the wings — very much on the principle that it 

 takes a much less blow to bruise or break the 

 skin on an old person's hands than it did 

 while that person was in youth." 



" I see ; but how tell the young bees? " 



' ' They are more easily told than the old 



ones. Young bees, when they first emerge 

 from their cells, are light-colored, from their 

 being all covered with fine hairs, or down, 

 which wears off and changes color as they 

 grow older. Many and many times have I 

 seen the ground in front of the hive nearly 

 covered with bees so young as to be unable to 

 fly, after the last of the swarm had got in the 

 air, looking so white and feeble that a feeling 

 of sympathy would come over me, and I would 

 try to gather them up and put them back in 

 the hive ; but a little watching soon told me 

 that they would all get back themselves, if a 

 proper alighting-board were used so that they 

 could travel back on foot." 



" Since you speak of it, it reminds me that 

 I have seen the ground covered with bees in 

 the same way ; but I thought that such bees 

 had loaded with honey so heavily that they 

 were unable to carry their load." 



"If you had looked more closely you would 

 have noted that they were not loaded nearly 

 so heavily as multitudes with the clustered 

 swarm. I am very sure that bees of all ages 

 go with the swarm, so that each swarm is 

 composed of field bees, wax-workers, and 

 nurse bees, in about equal proportions, this 

 showing that the allwise Creator knew how 

 things should be when he pronounced good all 

 which he had made." 



" Then you think that a prime swarm needs 

 no frame of brood to give them young bees? " 



" Of course, the young bees from a frame of 

 brood would materially strengthen the swarm; 

 but such strengthening is not necessary ; for, 

 had it been, the swarms of our fathers would 

 have perished — yea, and those since the foun- 

 dation of the world, for no one ever thought 

 of giving brood to prime swarms before the 

 latter half of the last century." 



" I guess you are right." 



" Well, if you are satisfied on this part, let 

 us suppose we are looking inside of a hive 

 when preparations for swarming are being 

 made, and see if we can not arrive at the 

 truth in the matter as regards the conditions 

 under which swarms issue, when the first 

 queen hatches, etc." 



"Can you tell any thing about such 

 things ?" 



" Certainly ; and so can you, if you study 

 these matters. The first indication of swarm- 

 ing is the laying of eggs in the drone-cells. 

 While eggs in drone-cells are not a sure sign 

 that swarms will issue, yet, so far as I have 

 observed, swarms never do issue without eggs 

 laid therein. If the weather is propitious, the 

 next step is the building of queen-cells, soon 

 after which the queen deposits eggs in them. 

 In about three days these eggs hatch into lar- 

 vae, and said larvae are fed an abundance of 

 food by the nurse-bees for about six days, 

 when the cells containing the embryo queens 

 are sealed over. If no bad weather has inter- 

 vened, the swarm issues the next day, the old 

 queen going with the swarm." 



' ' Is this always the case ? ' ' 



" Not always. But this is the rule with the 

 black (or German) bee, and generally with 

 the Italians ; still, the Italians often swarm 

 when the eggs are first laid in the queen-cells. 



