The Cycle of the Year 71 



mating, the queen begins to lay eggs and from that time 

 on the routine of egg-laying is her portion. The so-called 

 parent colony is now normal, with a laying queen, comb, 

 stores and brood. 



After-swarms. 



If the colony which cast the first swarm is populous, there 

 may be left in the parent colony enough bees to cause the 

 issuing of other swarms. These are called second-swarms, 

 third-swarms or, collectively, after-swarms. When the first 

 virgin queen emerges she often does not destroy the other 

 queen cells but, instead, flies from the hive with another 

 swarm. This may be repeated several times as other queens 

 emerge, the swarms usually becoming successively smaller. 

 The queens departing with after-swarms are virgins and 

 consequently must mate before they are able to fulfill their 

 duties normally. Good beekeepers make every effort to 

 prevent after-swarms as they are usually too weak to be 

 of value and they deplete the parent colony, making the 

 gathering of surplus honey impossible. When virgin queens 

 fly out to mate, they may be accompanied by a little 

 " swarm," which affords some evidence that the swarm is 

 led out by the queen. Nuclei used for mating queens are 

 often almost depopulated in this way. 



If the old queen in a colony is prevented from flying or 

 is unable to fly (as by having the wings clipped), the bees 

 may make several efforts to swarm without her. They 

 often finally kill the old queen and depart with a virgin. 

 Such a swarm may be the first to issue from a colony in the 

 season, but it is virtually an after-swarm in its composition 

 and behavior. Swarms of this kind often cause the bee- 

 keeper trouble if he is unaware that the old queen has 

 been superseded, and consequently if the old queen was 

 clipped he thinks that the swarm is without a queen and 

 will return. 



After-swarms are the plague of the beekeeper's life, for 

 they seem to break all the laws of the bee colony. They 



