54 PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING 



by giving ample room for the requirements of the 

 colony, the deposing of old queens, and provision 

 for a sufficiency of ventilation and shade during 

 hot weather. 



If a hive swarms, however good the manage- 

 ment a certain amount of honey is lost, so that 

 the greatest amount of surplus can only be secured 

 by the checking of this propensity so far as is pos- 

 sible. Much may be done to this end on the lines 

 laid down, but steps must be taken in time. If 

 no attention is given until the bees have de- 

 cided to swarm, which is known by the fact of 

 their building queen-cells, attempts at prevention, 

 if not quite useless, are very nearly so. 



It is most difficult to check swarming when' 

 queen-cells have been once started. The swarm 

 usually issues at the capping of the first queen- 

 cell, and is accompanied by the old queen. The 

 bees will only issue if the weather be fine and 

 warm, and the time usually selected is between 

 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Should there come a period 

 of adverse weather the bees may not leave the 

 hive, but, tearing down the queen-cells, either 

 await a more favourable opportunity or abandon 

 the idea for the season. 



When a swarm leaves the hive the bees fly forth 

 in a thick stream, and after circling round for a 

 few minutes in the air alight in a dense cluster, 

 generally on a neighbouring tree or bush. As 

 soon as they have become quiet they should be 

 hived %t once. If they are left alone, after a 



