THOUSAND ANSWERS ^ 237 



cell looked just like any other bee. It is quite possible that it was 

 a worker. Sometimes a worker crawls into a queen-cell after the 

 queen has left it, although the capping of the cell looks as if the 

 queen has not yet emerged. If that was the case, then the queen 

 was left in the hive and the colony is all right. You cannot be cer- 

 tain about the queen by the carrying of pollen. If you do not find 

 eggs in the hive about 10 days after the last swarm issued, or at 

 least in two weeks, you may decide the colony is queenless, in 

 which case you will give it a queen, unless you prefer to unite it 

 with the weakest afterswarm. The chances are that both after- 

 swarms have queens all right. The likelihood is that they will 

 build up without any help from the first swarm, which can be left 

 undisturbed at its work of gathering honey. Of course, if the bees 

 do not gather enough for winter you will have to feed. It is not 

 likely you will have any difficulty in telling a queen when you see 

 one, by its greater size, especially length. No need to go over 

 your hives for queen-cells now, after swarming is over. 



Swarm Prevention. — Q. Do you like to destroy all .queen-cells 

 but one, or clip the queen's wings for the prevention of swarming? 



A. To prevent a prime swarm, neither one will answer. De- 

 stroying not merely all but one, but all cells, will generally delay 

 swarming, and sometimes prevent it, but too often the bees will 

 swarm in spite of cell killing. Clipping the queen doesn't have 

 the slightest effect in preventing swarming. All it does is to pre- 

 vent the queen from flying with the swarm, and when the bees 

 find that the queen is not with them they return to the hive. But 

 if the beekeeper does not interfere, the bees will swarm just as 

 soon as a young queen is reared. 



Q. Will a young queen swarm out after she commences to 

 lay? I can't remember having had one do so where I knew the 

 queen to be a young one. Some writers claim a queen never 

 lays drone-eggs the first season, and I never found queen-cells 

 started in a normal colony without more or less drone-brood in 

 evidence. 



A. The answer to your question must be a little mixed. If 

 you allow a young queen to be reared in a hive, you may count 

 oil no swarming before the next season. If you introduce a young 

 queen, it !r])ends. If the colony is in no humor for swarming at 

 the time the queen is introduced, then no swarming. If in the 

 swarming humor already, they'll swarm in spite of the tender 

 youth of the queen. I once had a queen swarm in less than a 



