SWARMING.—Chapter XI. 
queen will be found, in all probability, hopping about near the entrance, 
sometimes attended by a little company of worker bees after she has been 
missed by them. Carefully put her in a queen-cage and temporarily 
leave her in a safe place out of the sun. Now the super or supers of 
the hive from which the swarm has issued (and in which supers the bees 
have already started to work) should be taken off the old brood-cham- 
ber and set on the ground near by. The brood-chamber itself should now 
be removed from its stand and its entrance turned in the opposite direction 
from which it formerly stood or with its entrance turned only part way 
around, so the returning field bees will not enter it. If any bees begin to en- 
ter the old hive, either cover it up or move it farther away. On the stand 
where the old hive had stood, now place the new hive containing frames of 
drawn comb or frames of foundation. Have the entrance face the same di- 
rection as did that of the old hive just removed. Now, on top of the frames 
place a queen-excluder (the rimmed side up always). Above the queen-ex- 
cluder place the super or supers that have just before been taken from the 
old hive, and put on the cover. Next, place the queen, still retained in her 
cage, at the front of the entrance; or, better still, shove the caged queen 
‘just inside of the entrance out of the possible heat of the sun’s rays, raising 
the front of the hive a little by blocking up at the front corners if neces- 
sary. The swarm, which may still be in the air or may have clustered, will 
soon discover that the queen is not with them and will return hastily to the 
old location, and, finding the queen there, will rush into the new hive. 
After the bees are well started going in, the queen may be released from 
her cage and she will hurriedly enter with them. 
If there is no honey flow on at the time and no honey in the supers 
that are transferred from the old hive to the new, the beginner should ex- 
change at least one or two frames of foundation of the new hive for one 
or two frames containing some honey taken from the old hive. The honey 
so given is necessary to keep the bees from starving until nectar can be 
gathered from the flowers. 
It will surprise the beginner to note how soon this new first swarm 
goes to work with the greatest energy in its new home. No other bees work 
with quite so great vigor as do those of a newly hived, natural swarm. 
The colony in the old hive is left standing at theside of the new hive 
for seven days when it should be moved to a new location, this being done 
at the time the bees are flying freely, as early in the afternoon, and the 
hive handled so carefully that the bees are not disturbed. When done in 
this way they do not seem to realize the change and go to the fields without 
noting their new location. When they return from the fields they go to 
their old location, and, not finding their own hive, they enter the new hive, 
thus joining the swarm. When done properly, this so depletes the parent 
colony of its bees just when the young queens are ready to emerge that it 
can not send out after-swarms, and at the same time the young bees, drawn 
from the parent colony, are added to the swarm where they are most useful 
in helping store honey in the supers. (See pages 87-88). 
Soon a new queen will emerge from a queen-cell that had been started 
before the swarm left the parent colony. The so-called “old” or parent 
colony (which is in fact really the rewest kind of colony because made up 
of all newly emerged bees) can be left to shift for itself, except, if the 
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