SWARMING.—Chapter XI. 
mutual agreement, yvenerally between 9 a. m. and 2 p. m. on a warm day, 
from a strong colony having plenty of brood and honey, most of the old 
bees with the queen (and perhaps a few of the young bees) will rush pell- 
well out of the hive until the air is full of them going in every direction. 
This grand rush from the hive generally continues for only three or four 
minutes. : y 
If the queen’s wings have been clipped (see page 114), as should have 
been done earlier, of course she can not fly; but she will crawl out of the 
entrance and will be found in the grass near by, attempting to join the 
swarm. 
In the parent hive are left the young bees that care for the brood, 
and capped queen-cells from which a queen will be provided for the now 
queenless colony. 
The swarm at first, appearing like a cloud of black particles, soars 
about for a short time and then generally settles on some branch of a 
near-by tree or bush; but, if the queen is clipped, the swarm may return 
to its hive without clustering, as soon as the bees discover that the queen 
is not with them. Seldom does the swarm steal to a new home at some 
distance without first settling near the old home hive. If discovered while 
still in flight, the owner of the bees will accomplish nothing by beating tin 
pans, ringing bells, or making other noise to make them settle. If a fine 
spray of water from a fountain pump or even from a pail or dipper can 
he thrown on the swarm in its flight, it is likely to settle very quickly. 
Causes of Swarming. 
Without going into 
lengthy discussion and 
theories of why bees 
swarm, the beginner 
should know that swarm- 
ing is the bees’ method of 
reproduction of colonies; 
and it is, therefore, nat- 
ural for them to swarm 
when they have become 
strong enough to divide, 
provided, of course, there 
is enough nectar in the 
flowers to make them 
prosperous, The desire 
to swarm is usually 
brought about by a con- 
gestion of bees in the 
hive, especially within the 
brood-chamber, and lack 
of sufficient ventilation— 
in other words, over- 
erowding of the hive, re- Bees sometimes cluster on the outside of the hive 
a s S before taking their swarm flight. The two hives in 
sulting jin discomfort or the foreground show this condition. 
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