CLIPPING THE QUEENS 101 
Certain conditions favor natural swarming, as, for instance, 
small hives that are soon filled with brood and honey, leaving 
the queen little room in which to lay, and the workers no place 
to store the incoming nectar. The old-time bee-keeper usually 
placed but one super on top of the hives and when that was full 
took it off and replaced it with another. As a matter of course, 
when the hive became crowded the bees began to hang out in 
large clusters for want of room, and the owner decided that they 
were preparing to swarm, which they usually did before many 
days. The practical apiarist will not tolerate this hanging 
out. He knows that, as a rule, either the bees are crowded for 
room, or there is not sufficient ventilation. 
Tf on examination he finds an abundance of room for storage, 
he gives a larger entrance, or, if the weather is very hot, even 
lifts the hive off the bottom board a half inch or more and 
supports it on blocks at each corner. 
A heavy honey flow seems to act as a check on swarming, 
and in localities where the honey flow comes on with a rush and 
continues heavy during the principal period of nectar secretion, 
there will be less difficulty in controlling swarming. In such 
localities, if the bees are furnished with plenty of room in which 
to store the honey, and the brood nest is large enough to permit the 
queen to continue her activities, the bees will apparently have no 
instinct but to gather honey as rapidly as possible. If the flow 
stops suddenly, there may even be little if any swarming. On 
the other hand, in most of the northern States, where there is a 
light flow from fruit bloom and dandelion in advance of the 
clover flow, the bees are likely to be swarming full tilt at about 
the beginning of the best flow. 
Clipping the Queens.—It is a common practice among apiar- 
ists to clip the wings of the queens to prevent their escaping with 
the swarms. If the bee-keeper is constantly on hand this plan 
works very well. When the swarm issues and the air is full 
of bees, the bee-keeper goes to the hive from which they have 
issued and usually will have little trouble in finding the queen 
