189G. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



211 



old are the ones which do this work. 

 Then the youngest are the bees which 

 produce the chyme to feed the larva', 

 and so we liud that this division of 

 bees in a swarai is just as it should be, 

 and because it is thus, is the reason 

 why I prefer natural swarming to any 

 division of bees by mankind, or to 

 what is known as artificial swarming. 

 But let us look inside of tlie hive when 

 preparations are for swarming are be- 

 ing made, and see if we cannot arrive 

 at the truth in the matter, as regards 

 the conditions under which the swarm 

 issues, when the first queen hatches, 

 etc. The first indication of swarming 

 is the laying of eggs in the drone 

 comb. While eggs in the drone cells 

 are not a sure sign that the swarms 

 will issue, yet, as far as I have ob- 

 served, swarms never do issue with- 

 out eggs laid therein. If the weather 

 is propitious the next step is the 

 building of queencells, soon after 

 which the queen deposits eggs in 

 them. In three days these eggs hatch 

 into larviv, and said larvre is fed an 

 abundance of food by the nurse bees 

 for six days, when the cells contain- 

 ing the embryo queens are sealed over. 

 If no bad weather has intervened, the 

 swarra issues the next day, the old 

 queen going with the swarm.; Now, 

 bear in mind that this it the rule with 

 the black or Gerraan bee and general- 

 ly with the Italians; still, the Italians 

 often swarm when the eggs are first 

 laid in the queen-cell and sometimes 

 without the least preparations at all 

 except drones. All good authority 

 allows that the queen larva? remains 

 seven days in the cell after the cell is 

 sealed over, as my experience also 

 proves, and I cannot see how any one 

 could make the mistake in thinking 



that it would be all right to go into 

 ])rint, saying the first young queen 

 emerges from her cell in less than 

 twenty-four hours after the swarm 

 leaves the parent hive. When a week 

 of bad weather occurs, should such a 

 thing ever happen, the thing is possi- 

 ble for the swarm to be kept back so 

 as to issue six days after the sealing 

 of the first queen-cell, in which case 

 the first young queen would hatch in 

 twenty-four hours after the swarm 

 left. But this is something I never 

 knew to happen, for in cases where 

 the weather is so bad that bees cannot 

 swarm for six consecutive days, there 

 is no honey coming in from the fields, 

 and from the scarcity of honey the 

 bees conclude they must retrench, so 

 destroy the cells and postpone swarm- 

 ing for an indefinite period. A week 

 of entire honey dearth during the 

 swarming season is generally enough 

 to upset all swarming calculations 

 with the bees and very often results 

 in the killing off of the drones and no 

 swarms issuing that season, unless it 

 is in time of a yield from buckwheat 

 and of fall flowers. So I find, as a 

 rule, that the first queen emerges from 

 her cell about seven days after the 

 first swarra leaves. If more swarms 

 issue they usually come out two days 

 after, or from the ninth to the tenth 

 dav after the first, and never later 

 than the sixteenth day. The old 

 queen goes with the first or prime 

 swarm, and a young queen with all 

 after-swarms, while bees of all ages 

 accompany all swarms, whether hav- 

 ing a young or an old queen. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



— ■ I ■ ^1 



"How to Manage Bees '" is a 50c 

 book for beginners in bee keeping. 

 We will send it postpaid for 25c. 



