1877. 



GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTl'llE. 



15 



l)l<)oni, would fill the hive completely, ami 

 the young queen after connnenciuff to lay, 

 woiilil often till her combs for the second 

 ♦lay's work ; then if slie turnwl uj) missinj? 

 "i»u tlie third day, we use<l to wonder wliat in 

 the worl<l WHS the matter. Sometimes these 

 little swarma would he found hangius on 

 n currant or raspljerry bush as (juietly and 

 <lemiuvly as if that was the way bees always 

 «lid, and at other times when we had hunted 

 through all availiil)le places for a truant (;ol- 

 <Hiy and given them up in despair, they 

 would coine circling back and cluster ([uiet- 

 ly almost under oiu- (very) inexperienced 

 noses. 



There is still another kind of absconding 

 that seems to be for no other reason than 

 that the bees are displeased with tiieir hive, 

 or its surroundings, and at times it seems 

 rather <litficult to assign any good reason for 

 tlieir having suddenly deserted. We have 

 known a colony to swarm out and desert 

 their hive because it was too cold and open, 

 iiud we liave known them to desert because 

 the combs were soiled and lilthy from dys- 

 entery in tlie spring. They very often, swarm 

 out, because they are out of stores, and this 

 generally happens about the first day in 

 vspring tliat is sufficiently warm and sinuiy. 

 V\'e have known them to swarm out because 

 their entrance was too large, and if we are 

 not mistaken, because it was too small. We 

 have also known them to swarm out because 

 tl>ey were so "liestered"" with a neighboring 

 ant hill — see ants — that they evidently 

 thought patience ceased to be a virtue. 



^laify times they swarm out in spring 

 where no other cause can be assigned than 

 they are weak and discouragetl, and in such 

 ca.ses tliey usually try to make their way in- 

 to other colonies. While it may not always 

 he possible to assign a reason for such be- ; 

 liaviour with medium or fair colonies, we 

 may rest assured that goo<l stiong colonies 

 with ample supplies of seale<l stores seldom 

 if ever, go into any such foolishness. 



Ily way of summing up it may be well to 

 say : if you would not lo.se your bees by nat- 

 ural swarming, clip the wings of all ciueens ! 

 as soon as they commence laying, then look 

 to them often and know what is going on in 

 the apiary every day during the swarming 

 season. If you woidd not ha\e runaway 

 swarms in the spring and while (jueens are 

 being fertilized, confine yo\u- experiments to 

 pecks of bees instead of pints. 



AFTZB. S^VARMIira. We miglit 

 ^lefme this by saying that all swarms that ' 

 <Mjme out, or are led out by a v i itoi x <^ueen% I 



are termed after swarms, and all swai-mf; 

 that eome out within ten or fifteen days af- 

 ter the lirst swarm, are accompanied by sucii 

 queens. Tliere may be from one. all the way 

 up to a lialf do/en (»r even moie, depending 

 on the yield of honey, amount of brood or 

 larva-, an«l the weather; but whatever 

 the nund»er, they are all le<l off by qtieens 

 reared from one lot of (pieen (tells, and the 

 nund)er of bees accompanying them, is of a 

 necessity, less each time. The last one fre- 

 <iuently contains no more than a i)iut of 

 l)ees, and if hived in the old way, woidd be 

 of little use under almost any circumstances, 

 yet when sui»plied with combs already buill 

 and stored with honey, su(th as every en- 

 lightened apiarist should always keep in 

 store, tliey may be made the very best of 

 colonies, for they have young and vigorous 

 queens, and often are ecpial to any in the 

 apiary, the next season. This after swarm- 

 ing is often considertMl a great nuisance, or 

 misfortime, but where bees can Ik* sold, at 

 even tolerable figmes, we would advise ta- 

 king care of all that may come out iu tlie 

 manner indicated. In fact we know of no ea- 

 sier or simpler way of raising bees, but imless 

 the apiary and bees in the vicinity are j)retty 

 thoroughly Italianizeil. there is much great- 

 er risk of getting poor hybrids, than with 

 the different ways of artificial swarming 

 where we rear our (jueen cells from choice 

 selectied brood. 



There is one very annising feature in iv- 

 gard to these after swarms. When they 

 have decided to send out no more swarms, 

 all the yomig (|ueens in the hive, are sent 

 out. or it may be, allowed to go out with the 

 last one, and every few days dining the 

 swanning .season, .some "new hand"" writes 

 us about the wonderful fact of his having 

 fomid three or four, or it nniy l>e a half doz- 

 en (pieens in one swarm. On one occasio]i 

 a friend who weighe<i something over 200. 

 ascended to the top of an apple tree during 

 a hot July day to hive a very small third 

 swann. He soon came down in breathless 

 ha.ste to inform us that the swarm was alt 

 queens, and in proof of it, brought tw(» or 

 three in his closed up hands. 



The queens with these after swarms .sel- 

 dom lay in the drone cells at all the first 

 season, and the bees therefore build almost 

 entirely worker comb, wfiich is additional 

 reason for taking care of them, and supply- 

 ing them with stoivs from other colonies. 

 However, we would advise as a general rule, 

 preventing too nuich after swarming if it 

 can be done without much troiUile. but if 



