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SO that both divisions can again become 

 strong in time for the honey flow, that 

 swarming can be considered desirable. 

 The Story of Swarming Briefly Told. 

 In preparation for swarming, the bees 

 build several queen-cells, which can easily 

 be seen usually along the lower edge of the 

 brood combs. These are built singly or in 

 clusters of two or three cells with the open- 

 ing downward. They somewhat resemble a 

 peanut shell in appearance. About the time 

 the cells are sealed (about eight days after 

 the egg was laid) the swarm issues, aceom- 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1922 





The queqn-cells are the large ones at the left, some- 

 what resembling peanuts. 



panied by the old queen. About eight days 

 later the young queens begin to emerge, and, 

 if not prevented, several after-swarms will 

 issue, one coming out every day or two until 

 the colony is so depleted that there are no 

 longer enough bees to divide up among the 

 young queens. Finally all but one of the 

 remaining young queens are killed, the sur- 

 viving one to become the new mother of the 

 colony. If the bees are permitted to carry 

 out this program completely, the splendid, 

 strong colonies are ruined, so far as gather- 

 ing an immediate honey crop is concerned. 



How to Prevent Loss from Swarming. 



If a swarm issues when plenty of room is 

 given as previously described, the working 

 force can be kept together, the work in the 

 supers continued without interruption and 

 after-swarming prevented by the following 

 procedure: When a swarm issues look for 

 the queen (if she has been clipped as ad- 

 vised last month.) on the ground in, front 

 of the hive. When she is found put her into 

 a small wire-cloth cage or queen-catcher and 

 lay the cage with the confined queen in the 

 shade. Move the hive from its stand, turn- 

 ing its entrance away from its former posi- 



tion. Place a new hive where the old one 

 stood, having frames with full sheets of 

 foundation, and, if available, one empty 

 comb. Transfer the supers from the old hive 

 to the new (if extracting-supers, none con- 

 taining brood should be transferred), put 

 the covers on both hives, thrust the cage 

 containing the queen part way into the en- 

 trance of the new hive and wait for the 

 swarm to return and enter the new hive. 

 They may return within a few minutes with- 

 out clustering or they may cluster before re- 

 turning. The old hive should be set far 

 enough away so none of the returning bees 

 will enter it, or covered with a cloth until 

 the swarm has returned. When most of the 

 bees have entered the new hive the queen 

 should be released, care being taken that 

 she goes into the hive. 



If the queen is not clipped the hives 

 should be arranged in the same way while 

 the swarm is out; then when the bees have 

 clustered the cluster can be shaken into a 

 basket or light box, carried to the new hive 

 and the bees poured out at the entrance, care 

 being taken to start some of them into the 

 entrance, when the rest will follow. If a 

 queen and drone trap is used instead of clip- 

 ping the queen, the procedure is similar to. 

 that for the clipped queen. 



To Prevent After-swarming. 



After the swarm has entered the hive and 

 quieted down, the old hive should be moved 

 back close beside the new one, but with its 

 entrance turned away about a foot from the 

 ncAV hive. A day or two later it should be 

 turned so tlie two hives are side by side, 

 with their entrances close together. 



On the seventh day after the swarm is- 

 sued, choosing a time when the bees are 

 working freely in the fields, preferably early 

 in the afternoon if the day is fine, just when 

 the most bees are flying in front of the hive, 

 the old hive should be picked up and moved 

 away to a new location for increase. This 

 moving should be done so carefully that the 

 bees are not disturbed so that none of them 

 will note the change in their location when 

 they go to the fields; and it should not be 

 located close to other hives where return- 

 ings bees from another colony might enter 

 it by mistake. When this is done the parent 

 colony is so depleted of its bees just at the 

 time the young queens are ready to emerge 

 that it is too weak to send out an .after- 

 swarm, the field bees on returning all join- 

 ing the colony on the old stand. When 

 swarming occurs at the beginning of or 

 during the honey flow, this plan is espe- 

 cially desirable. In this case the parent 

 colony usually does not produce any surplus 

 honey, but work in the supers on the new 

 liives goes on without interruption. Colo- 

 nies managed in this way usually produce 

 as much honey as those of equal strength 

 which do not swarm, and sometimes even 

 more; for recently hived swarms, if satis- 

 fied, work with greater energy tlian other 

 colonies. 



