82 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hive, during wliicli other mature young queens 

 emerge, and internal discord is engendered, 

 eacli <iucen soon liaving its own party of ad- 

 herents. I have ofteiT been annoyed liy the be- 

 havior of such after-swarms, issuing and return- 

 ing four or five times on the same day, ejecting 

 on eacli occasion most of tlie honey with Avhicli 

 they were gorged. Besides tliis loss, there is, 

 moreover, Ihe loss of much ]irecious time ; and 

 when the swarm actually leaves, we cannot 

 feel assured that the trouble and vexation is 

 ended. 



After-swarming must therefore be prevented, 

 and this can be done by removing the stock 

 from which a prime swarm has come, to some 

 other location in the apiary, and placing the 

 swarm where the parent stock stood. With 

 very rare exceptions this process will prove 

 efficient, and it is conceded by all that the prime 

 swarm is thereby greatly strengthened by re- 

 turning bees, and will be more sure to tlirive 

 than one set elsewhere, while the parent stock 

 retains its old position. The only question is 

 whether the latter is not unduly weakened by 

 the removal, since it loses nearly all the forag- 

 ing bees, except such as adhere to the brood 

 combs, as none that leave the hive on the en- 

 suing three days in quest of either honey, pol- 

 len, or water, Avill return to it, but seek the old 

 location and join the swarm. Long experience 

 has taught us, however, that no real injury re- 

 sults therefrom, because for nearly three weeks 

 after the departure of the swarm about a thou- 

 sand bees emerge dailj' from the brood cells, 

 and several thousand of the old ones, engaged 

 in nursing the brood, remained behind when 

 the swarm left. Nor is it likely to happen that 

 the brood will be destroyed from want of ade- 

 quate warmth, since the temperature is usually 

 high at the swarming season, and the brood is 

 known to be remarkably tenacious of life. 



Since ISoO, when we adopted this process, not 

 a hive in our apiary thus transposed has be- 

 come ciueenless; but it is indispensable that the 

 transposition be made imnwdlatcly after hiving 

 the swarm. We have fre([ueutl}' been able to 

 catch the queen as she came out with the swarm. 

 In such cases we remove the hive as soon astiie j 

 swarui has issued, and set an empty one in its ; 

 place to receive the swarm when it returns, as \ 

 it quickly will on missing the queen. As soon 

 as a considerable number of bees begin to fan at 

 the entrance of this hive, we gently place the i 

 queen among them, and thus secure the swarm : 

 without the trouble of hiving it or the risk of 

 its absconding". 



The Baron of Berlepsch suggests that a wet 

 cloth should be laid over the opening in the top 

 of the parent hive, and kept constantly damp, 

 because the bees require much water for their { 

 brood, and during tlie first two or three days i 

 those going for it fail to return. It may be a ' 

 good, prudential measure, though we have | 

 never resorted to it. j 



It has also been proposed to remove some j 

 strong stock which has not swarmed, and does I 

 not appear likely to do so, and set in its place * 

 the parent hive from which a sv,'arm has | 

 issued. The latterwould thus be reinforced from 

 the surplus population of the removed stock. 



and be enabled to furnish a strong after-swarm. 

 But this would, in fact, be promoting and not 

 preventing after-swarming, and is thus diametri- 

 cally opposed to the system which we advocate. 

 Certain it is that of the large num-lier of parent 

 stocks which we have transposed in this man- 

 ner, not one even became enfeebled, and all of 

 them proved to be excellent honey-stocks in 

 the following year. They will recruit sooner, 

 and more rarely become queenless, than if they 

 had remained in their original position. 



The result of all these observations is that the 

 multiplication of stocks must be carried on very 

 gradually in agricultural districts, and must 

 cease as soon as the bee-keeper has obtained the 

 full number of stocks which he purposes should 

 constitute his apiary. Unless he does this, he 

 must not expect to derive profit from his bees. 



Natural Swarming. 



None but populous and well-supplied colonies 

 I can produce early and large natural swarms, 

 i The chief means of promoting the issuing of 

 I such swarms is by stimulative feeding in the 

 I spring, and contracting the size of the hive. Of 

 i these Ave have already treated at large, and 

 \ shall now"merely add some special remarks. 

 \ 1. Several German authors of distinction 

 \ speak of uvprepared prime swarms — that is, 

 such as issue before queen cells have been buiil 

 I or capped. But since such swarms are regularly 

 followed by after-swarms, and they alwaj';) 

 ! constitute exceptional cases, we do not deen. 

 ' them deserving of i)articular notice, any nior(v 

 than the Lilipulian swarms described by Von 

 Berlepsch, because these, too, are of rare occur- 

 rence in Avell -managed apiaries. We once 

 ; found one of the latter description, which had 

 settled on the leafless branch of a tree, in a glo- 

 bular mass'not larger than an ordinary apple, 

 but soon returned to Uie hive A few hours 

 later it issued again, and once more clustered 

 \ ou the tree. Wc noAV examined its hive, and 

 found therein neither brood nor honey. It was 

 literally a ine- (h'rant swann, and thus in reality 

 no swarm at all in the projier sense of the term, 

 but a reduced and impoverished stock, con- 

 strained by famine to desert its home. Such 

 usually seek admission in some better-supplied 

 colon.y, and are almost invariably destroyed in 

 the attempt. Whoever undertakes to Aviuter 

 Aveak stocks Avill frec^uently have the mortifica- 

 tion to find some of them thus taking French 

 leave as the spring approaches. 



2. There are no certain signs of sAvarming, 

 though prime SAvarms generally "hang out" 

 for some time before they leave, occasionally 

 coA'ering the entire front of the hive, or hang- 

 ing from the alighting board in a dense cluster. 

 In hot Aveather this sometimes continues for 

 Aveeks, and in the end no sAvarm issues. Even 

 though drones are seen flying as early as ten 

 o'clock in the forenoon, Avhen the returning 

 bees, honey and pollen laden, do not cuter the 

 hive, but mingle quietly Avith the outlying bees, 

 and Avhen individual workers are seen running 

 Avildly on the outlying mass, Avagging their ab- 

 domens, all those appearances may prove to be 

 deceptive. They are no certain indications 

 that a swarm will issue on that O.'^y. The surest 



