AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL Sj 



according to the season and situation) thie hive will be 

 getting overcrowded, and unless more room is given 

 by enlarging the hive, the bees prepare for swarming. 



PREPARATION FOR SWARMING. 



Several queen cells are built in which eggs are 

 deposited, and on the eighth or ninth day the cells are 

 sealed ; if the weather be favourable at this time the first 

 swarm of the season comes off headed by the old queen. 

 The bees having filled their honey-sacs with food, which 

 will last them over three days, are ready at once to start 

 comb building in their new home. The bees left behind 

 in the old hive have several young queens maturing, 

 lest one or more of them should fail, they have also 

 drones flying at this time, and an ample stock of workers, 

 maturing by degrees — therefore all the elements of their 

 future strength. If the old queen has left with her 

 swarm just when the first queen cells were closed then 

 the first young queen will emerge in eight or nine days, 

 and in the meantime the stock will have been recruited 

 by a large number of young bees. If they still feel themi- 

 selves over-strong, or are still actuated by a desire for 

 swarming, the first young queens may go off with one 

 or more after-swarms : if not, the first out will remain in 

 possession of the hive, and all the others will be 

 destroyed in their cells. In five or six days more the 

 young queen will probably be fertilised, and shortlv after 

 will begin tO' lay eggs. This is the natural course of 

 swarming, which provides for a multiplication of the 

 self-sustaining stocks or colonies, and at the same time 

 for a succession of young queens. 



SIZE OF SWARMS. 



The size of swarms varies according to the strength 

 of the colonies from which they issue. If swarming 

 has been delayed by enlarging the hive in time, the first 

 swarm will be very much larger through being kept back. 



