»5B 



Swarming Bees. 



Vol. XL 



young brood cannot be produced, and we 

 find that such stocks are compelled to await 

 the approach of warm weather. Here we 

 have the basis of prosperity in a nut-shell. 

 If we cannot so manage that our hives will 

 be populous to their greatest capacity, we 

 may as well give up the idea of perfect suc- 

 cess at once. 



If the hive be well filled, the queen is fully 

 aware that a large portion of her increase, 

 which the laws of nature compel her to 

 give, must leave her domicil ; and she also, 

 through instinct, learns tliat each swarm 

 must be provided with a queen-regent, like 

 herself, in order to perpetuate their species. 

 These queens, or rather princesses, are pro- 

 duced from the common egg from which is- 

 sue the workers, or from a common worker- 

 grub, in its primary stages of advancement 

 by a particular treatment. This fact is shown 

 by the mode of artificial swarming, now 

 practised to some extent; the philosophy of 

 which is this: If a piece of comb, contain- 

 ing the young brood of different stages of 

 maturity, be attached to the top of an empty 

 liive, and a quantity of bees be placed there- 

 in, having no queen, they will select a cer- 

 tain aged grub from the comb afforded them, 

 and by a particular process of nursing and 

 feedmg (tlie nature of which never was nor 

 ever will be known by us) they will produce 

 a perfect (jiieen, and proceed in their avoca- 

 tion as usual. Without this piece of comb 

 no power or ingenuity of man could cause 

 the bees to perform a single day's labor. 



As each swarm requires a princess from 

 the old stock, from two to six are generally 

 produced every spring, and such as are not 

 wanted are immediately put to death, as it 

 is entirely out of the question for more than 

 one to exist in the same hive, unless it be 

 during the short period awaiting the issue of 

 a swarm. A very remarkable circumstance 

 occurs in the development of these young 

 princesses ; they are so timed in their matu- 

 rity as to issue from their cells respectively 

 just as they are wanted to take their depart- 

 ure with the swarms. That is, giving them 

 a short period after quitting their cells, to 

 gain strength for the journey, say forty-eight 

 hours. It must here be borne in mind, that 

 where there is sufficient room, as in very 

 large hives, the queen sees no necessity of 

 swarming, and consequently takes no mea 

 sures to furnish the young princesses. 



Indeed it often occurs that she neglects to 

 do this in cases where the greatest necessity 

 exists for them, and as a swarm never leaves 

 in such a case, we find many of our hives 

 loaded with bees, clustering around and be- 

 low during the entire warm season, which 

 we watch with anxiety from day to day, or 



hour to hour, wondering what can keep them 

 pell-bound to their tenement ! As the needle 

 invariably points to the north pole, and no 

 human power can change this law of nature, 

 so is the queen-bee the load-stone that draws 

 every bee to her. The broiling rays of a 

 summer-sun, famine, nay, the prospect of a 

 certain death cannot move them. But when 

 a young queen sallies forth on the wing of 

 uncertain destiny, she is the magnet that 

 draws after her a goodly portion of the ani- 

 mated mass. Whither she goes they follow, 

 and as she would gather her subjects around 

 her, preparatory to the journey, she selects 

 a slender branch of some small tree and 

 alights. The bees at once commence clus- 

 tering around her, perhaps some few minutes 

 before the last have left the hive. Whether 

 the bees ever select a habitation before leav- 

 ing the hive, is a matter of doubt with me. 

 They sometimes do take at once, after issu- 

 ing, to some suitable tenement, such as a 

 decayed hive, or some hole in a building, 

 or perhaps they may cluster for a few 

 minutes, and then rapidly take their flight 

 to the forest. All of this may be and pro- 

 bably is concerted after swarming. In con- 

 firmation of this, I once had a swarm issue 

 from the hive in which the day previous it 

 had been lodged, and after revolving a long 

 time in the air, settled down upon the very 

 hive from which they had just issued. Now 

 here is an instance where a particular loca- 

 tion is fixed upon while en the wing. What 

 caused this singular operation I cannot say, 

 unless it was that they took some dislike to 

 the hive and afterwards concluded to try it 

 again. In order to remove such a difficulty, 

 I took another hive, and as soon as they had 

 fully clustered set it upon a table, and also 

 set the hive with the bees upon its side near 

 it; then with a dusting brush swept them 

 gently down upon the table, and they quietly 

 entered the new hive, and did well. 



The number of bees produced from April 

 to July, in a strong stock, may be estimated 

 at 20,000 to 30,000. The first swarms 

 I have generally found to be the largest, 

 though some consider, that in general, the 

 second are so. The third are usually small. 

 The period between first and second swarms 

 is nine days ; between second and third, six 

 or seven, and if yet another, the next day or 

 two. The time, however, is dependant upon 

 the weather. If we have hot, sultry wea- 

 ther, the bees mature more rapidly, and are 

 increased in numbers, and consequently 

 throw off swarms faster, but we need never 

 look for a second swarm sooner than a week, 

 and if the weather be cold and wet, it may 

 be delayed fourteen days. 



There is a catastrophe attending a rainy 



