The Townsend Bee Book 41 
clustered together. The hives containing the parent colonies 
should be removed just as in the case of a single swarm, and empty 
hives put on the old stands. Partly filled supers from the old hives 
should be put on the new hives, and entrance-guards fastened over 
the entrances. It is best to do this at once, for the bees of the 
newly hived swarm should not be disturbed for three or four days, 
or else they may decide that their new quarters are not _just right, 
and that they had better leave. When nearly all the bees of the 
two swarms have clustered, about half of them should be shaken 
into the swarm-catcher and taken to one of the new hives. A 
queen-cage should be provided, for one of the queens will have to 
be found and caged temporarily. Before shaking, a wide board 
should be leaned up against the front of the hive for an alighting- 
board. As before, a few of the bees should now be emptied on this 
board; and, since there is a queen-excluding guard over the en- 
trance, only the workers can get in. As soon as the few bees set 
up the ‘‘ call ’’ the rest should be dumped on the board, a little 
further from the hive than before, in order to give more of a 
chance for finding the queens as they run up. When this first lot 
of bees is run in, whether the queen is found or not, the other por- 
tion of the swarm should be secured and dumped in front of the 
other hive similarly arranged. During this process, usually both 
queens are found, and I have never failed to find at least one of 
them. If both are found, one is run into each hive, and then the 
amount of bees equalized (if not already so), and everything will 
be well. If only one queen is found, she should be caged and kept 
in the shade where nothing can harm her, and the entrance-guards 
removed. In fifteen or twenty minutes the bees of the queenless 
colony will make a demonstration, and, if left long enough with- 
out their queen, will come out and mix with bees of the adjoining 
hives. Before this can take place the caged queen should be al- 
lowed to run in as soon as possible. A welcome hum will greet her 
as she enters. 
The clipped-queen plan for handling swarms is too compli- 
cated for a beginner, no matter how good it looks on paper. 
