170 THE bee-keeper's guide ; 



Langstroth each saw eight queens issue with a swarm, while 

 others report even more. Mr. Doolittle says the guards leave 

 the cells when the queen goes out, and then other queens, 

 which have been fed for days in the cells, rush out and go with 

 the swarm. He says he had known twenty to go with third 

 swarms. I have seen several young queens liberated in a 

 colony. How does Mr. Doolittle explain that ? Mr. Root 

 thinks that a plurality of queens only attends the last after- 

 swarm, when the bees decide to swarm no more. These virgin 

 queens fly very rapidly, so the swarm will seem more active 

 and definite in its course than will first swarms, and are quite 

 likely to cluster high up if tall trees are near by. When the 

 swarming is delayed it is likely that the queens are often fed 

 by the workers while yet imprisoned in the cells. The view is 

 generally held that these queens are kept in the cells that the 

 queen which has already come from the cell may not kill them. 



The cutting short of swartping preparations before the sec- 

 ond, third, or even the first swarm issues, is by no means a 

 rare occurrence. This is effected by the bees destroying the 

 queen-cells, and sometimes by a general extermination of the 

 drones, and is generally to be explained by a cessation of the 

 honey-yield. Cells thus destroyed are easily recognized, as 

 they are torn open from the side (Fig. 45, E) and not cut back 

 from the end. It is commonly observed that while a moderate 

 yield of honey is very provocative of swarming, a heavy flow 

 seems frequently to absorb the entire attention of the bees, 

 and so destroy the swarming impulse entirely. 



Swarming-out at other times, especially in late winter and 

 spring, is sometimes noticed by apiarists. This is doubtless 

 due to famine, mice, ants, or some other disturbing circum- 

 stance which makes the hive intolerable to the bees. In such 

 cases the swarm is quite likely to join with some other colony 

 of the apiary. 



