166 thk bee-kebpbr's guide ; 



before a cell is built — Mr. Doolittle says the first swarms of 

 the season never leave until there are capped cells — if the bees 

 are crowded, the hives unshaded, and the ventilation insuffi- 

 cient, some bright day, usually about eleven o'clock, after a'n 

 unusual disquiet both inside and outside the hive, a large part 

 of the worker-bees — being off duty for the day, and having 

 previously loaded their honey-sacs — rush forth from the hive 

 as if alarmed by the cry of fire. Crowded, unshaded and illy 

 ventilated hives hasten swarming. Swarming rarely takes 

 place except on bright, pleasant days, and is most common 

 from eleven to two o'clock. The bees seem off duty for the 

 day. They load their honey-stomachs, and amid a great com- 

 motion inside the hive and out, they push forth with the 

 queen, though she is never leader, and is frequently late in her 

 exit. Dr. Miller once had a swarm from a colony from which 

 he had taken a queen an hour before. Of course, the swarm 

 returned to the hive. 



It is often asserted that bees do no gathering on the day 

 they swarm, previous to leaving the hive. This is not true. 

 Mr. Doolittle thinks they are just as active as on other days. 

 The queen, however, is off duty for some time before the swarm 

 leaves. She even lays scantily for two or three days prior to 

 this event. This makes the queen lighter, and prepares her 

 for her long, wearying flight. In her new home she does no 

 laying for several hours. The assertion that bees always 

 cluster on the outside preliminary to swarming, is not true. 

 The crowded hive makes this common, though in a well-man- 

 aged apiary it is very infrequent. The bees, once started on 

 their quest for a. new home, after many gyrations about the 

 old one, dart forth to alight upon some bush (Fig. 76), limb, or 

 fence, though in one case I knew the first swarm of bees to 

 leave at once for parts unknown, without even waiting to 

 cluster. After thus meditating for the space of from one to 

 three hours, upon a future course, they again take wing and 

 leave for their new home, which they have probably already 

 sought out, and fixed up. 



Some suppose the bees look up a home before leaving the 

 hive, while others claim that scouts are in search of one while 

 the bees are clustered. The fact that bees take a right-line to 



