142 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



all the queens but one are generally destroyed, and when 

 the swarm is thrown back one of the two queens is de- 

 stroyed, and no more swarming takes place. 



There is in the history of swarming a critical time for 

 old hives and second swarms. A day or two after second 

 swarms have left their mother hives, queens go out to 

 meet drones — the queens of both old and second-swarm 

 hives. The bees become very uneasy if their queens stay 

 long away. Sometimes they never return. They are lost 

 on their marriage-tours. "When the bees of a hive find 

 they have lost their queen, they make manifest their 

 loss by their wild commotion and bewilderment. ITo 

 one can witness this commotion without seeing that 

 something is wrong. The bees every now and then 

 are in a state of wild excitement, rushing hither and 

 thither in search of the lost queen. They have no 

 eggs, and therefore are unable of themselves to make good 

 their loss. What should be done with hives thus bereft 

 of their queens ? If surplus queens can be obtained, they 

 should be introduced at' once to these queenless hives. 

 If ripe queens cannot be olstained, probably royal cells 

 containing infantile queens may be had. One of these 

 cut out of their hives, and placed between two combs of 

 the queenless hive, answers well, for the bees soon cement 

 it to their own combs, and bestow proper care on their 

 now infant and future queen. In the case of the swarm, 

 it will be rather dangerous to turn the hive upside down, 

 with a view to place a royal cell between the little bits of 

 combs which may have been formed, these being apt to 

 fall when the hive is jarred, or turned, or held unlevel. 

 Even the smoke should be gently blown into a swarm 

 recently hived. But if one person lifts the hive oif the 

 board, say three feet perpendicularly, and another person 



