SWARMING. 41 



CHAPTEE VI. 



SWAEMING. 



It is our intentiou to explain this more fully when we 

 come to the practical part of this work. Though it is one 

 of the most interesting parts of bee-history, swarming and 

 aU its adjuncts are very difficult to explain, or put in 

 a tangible form. The building of drone -combs, and 

 the formation of royal cells, long before they are wanted, 

 indicate that swarming is a law amongst bees — it is an 

 instinct of their being, and tends to their preservation. 



In spring months hives have not very much honey in 

 them. The combs afford plenty of scope for hatching 

 brood ; and young bees are born much faster than they 

 die. Hives soon become " choke-full." Sometimes clus- 

 ters of bees, like bunches of grapes, hang outside. They 

 are ready to swarm. Preparations are made for the im- 

 portant event. The bees well know, long before it comes 

 to pass, that the queen (call her the old or mother queen) 

 goes with the first swarm from every hive. "What about 

 a successor to the throne ? "When the swarm shall have 

 gone, there will be no queen in the hive, no fresh-laid 

 eggs. These wonderful creatures know aU this, and there- 

 fore never fail to set eggs in royal cells, and thus have 

 young queens on the way when they send off a colony. 

 Generally the eggs for young queens are set about four 

 days before swarming takes place. Inclement weather 



