INSECTS AND BIRDS. 



303 



wings and legs just beginning to grow. In eleven or 

 twelve days after it is shut up in its little house, or 

 twenty-one days after the egg is laid, it becomes a full- 

 grown bee. It eats away the covering of the cell and 

 in a few hours it looks like any other bee and takes up 

 its part of the work. The queens are developed in 

 cells much larger than those which are occupied by the 

 young workers, and only sixteen days are required for 



A FRAME OF BEES. 



their growth. The drones require about twenty-three 

 or twenty-four days for their development. 



Swarming. In spring and early summer, when 

 there is plenty of honey and there are many young 

 workers in the hive, the bees make preparations for 

 swarming. One or more young queens are raised, and 

 on a bright morning the bees swarm. Thousands of 

 them rush out of the doorway of the hive and take 

 wing. Round and round they circle in the air, hum- 

 ming a merry tune. The old mother queen joins them 



