SWARMING. 127 



to be operated upon must be strong-. (2) There must be drones 

 hatching, or on the wing, to fertilise the young queens. (3) 

 The day must be fine, so that there may be sufficient flying 

 bees to form the swarms. (4) The brood must be carefully 

 protected from cold. (5) The swarms must be fed for a few 

 days, especially if they have no sealed honey in the combs 

 given them. 



224. One Swarm from One Colony From the stock to be 



swarmed remove a frame of brood with the ciueen and adhering 

 bees, and place it in a new hive. Add, say, six frames of comb, 

 or of foundation, three on either side of the occupied frame : 

 close up the dummy ; put on the quilts and roof : and set the 

 new hive upon the stand of the parent stock, removing the 

 latter to another position at least six feet away. All the flying 

 bees of the parent stock, returning to their old stand, will 

 form the swarm. The parent hive should be given a frame of 

 comb in the place of the frame removed ; not a frame of founda- 

 tion, if comb can be procured, because queenless bees are 

 disposed to build cells suited to the storing of honey rather 

 than to the rearing of workers, and this is to be avoided. If 

 a fertile queen be introduced (295) to the parent stock in the 

 evening-, no time will be lost in brood rearing. If a fertile 

 queen cannot be supplied, one or two ripe queen cells may 

 be given. If neither queen nor queen cells be available, the 

 bees will rear a queen for themselves. 



225. One Stronger Swarm from Two Colonies Prepare a 



hive (S) with seven or eight frames of wired foundation. 

 Remove a strong stock (A) to one side, and place the 

 hive S on A's stand. Set a hiving board, with a white cloth 

 upon it (233) and sloping from the ground to the alighting- 

 board of hive S. Smoke the bees of hive A, and take out the 

 frames one by one, brushing, shaking, or thumping (184) the 

 bees on to the hiving board, until all have been removed from 

 hive A, when they will run into hive S, and will be strengthened 

 by the addition of all the flying bees of A returning- to their 

 old stand. The frames of hive A having been returned to their 

 hive, and kept covered, to avoid the danger of chilling the 

 brood (338), remove a second strong stock (B) to a new posi- 

 tion, and place hive A upon B's stand. All the fljdng bees 

 of hive B, numbering many thousands, will enter hive A, to 

 rear the brood and to raise a new queen for themselves. If, in 

 the evening-, a fertile queen be introduced to A (299), breeding 

 will proceed without interruption, and much valuable time will 

 be saved. By this method an extra strong swarm is secured 

 without unduly reducing- the strength of the two stocks 

 operated upon. 



226. Using Three or More Stocks. — When there are more 

 than two stocks available for the purpose, the above method 



