210 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



A iigjist 



will be out among the bees all safe. 

 You should not at any time force the 

 queen out of the cage, as she will 

 know best when it is safe for her to 

 go out. A queen is usually killed by 

 the bees balling her, but if this cage 

 is properly placed they cannot ball 

 her even if some of the outside bees 

 do get in at the opening made for her 

 escape. I have never known them to 

 harm her after she has commenced 

 laying under this cage, but you 

 should never attempt to allow her to 

 escape until you see eggs laid by her. 

 The above method I think you will 

 find will succeed every time. 

 Steeleville, 111. 



How Swarming is Conducted. 



BY G. jM. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes me thus : 

 " A friend of mine and myself have 

 just started in bee-keeping and we 

 have been having a dispute over the 

 matter of swarming, he claiming that 

 it is the old bees that go out with the 

 young queen to make the swarm, 

 while I claim that the old queen goes 

 out with the young bees when a colony 

 swarms. Which is right? or is neith- 

 er of us right ? Please give us some- 

 thing on how swarming is conducted 

 in the American Bee Keeper, as we 

 read it." 



It is not to be wondered at that 

 beginners are puzzled about how 

 swarming is conducted when we find 

 such statements as these in different 

 papers : " Only old bees go out with 

 the swarm," and "the first young 

 queen hatches in the old colony 

 twenty-four hours after the swarm 

 leaves," such statements often finding 

 way into papers outside of the bee 

 journals. If such things are allowed 



to go into our newspapers, it might 

 be well to look into these matters a 

 little, so I will say a few words to the 

 resders of the American Bee Keep- 

 er regarding this matter of swarming. 

 I always used natural swarming as 

 a means of increase, and experiment- 

 ed largely to know under what con- 

 ditions swarms issued, as a rule, and 

 have found (as regard to age of bees) 

 that bees of all ages, in about equal 

 proportion, leave the parent hive, 

 from the old forager to the bee that 

 has not been out of its cell but a few 

 hours. Hundreds of times have I seen 

 the ground in front of the hive nearly 

 covered with bees so young as to be 

 unable to fly, and as often have I 

 seen the vetrans Avith their jagged 

 wings hanging with the clustered 

 swarm ; as well as those having their 

 pollen baskets filled with pollen. 

 Thus we have the field bees, the wax- 

 workers, and the nurse bees in about 

 equal proportions, ready to preform 

 every kind of work necessary in any 

 well regulated colony, this showing 

 that the AUwise Greater knew how 

 things should be when he pronounced 

 all which he had made, good. If it 

 were not for young bees going with 

 the swarm the hive would be nearly 

 depopulated by the bees dying of old 

 age, before the brood could hatch to 

 take their places ; as it is about 

 twenty-three days before any young 

 bees hatch where a swarm has to build 

 its own comb, and bees die of old age 

 in the working season in less than 

 thirty day after they become laborers 

 in the fields. Again, if all were old 

 bees, where Avould the comb come 

 from to fill the hive, for when in a 

 normal condition the bees between 

 the ages of eight and twenty-four days 



