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sealing, this means that the old hive may have a new queen 
in about seven days after the leaving of the top swarm. In 
about two days more this new queen will be able to fly, so 
that bee-keepers expect the second swarm on the ninth day 
after the first. During those two days of waiting one or 
two of the other queens may be so far developed as to be 
ready to come out of the cell, but the worker bees will see 
to it that they are retained in the cell until the first hatched 
queen has left with the swarm. During the period of 
detention those imprisoned queens will be fed through a tiny 
hole in the cell. It is just at this time that piping can be 
heard. It is most noticeable at dusk when all around is quiet, 
and there are two distinct sounds. There is the clear note 
like “peep peep,” emanating from the queen which is loose 
on the comb, and a deeper note, like “waa waa,” produced by 
the other queens inside the cells) The hearing of those two 
sounds means two things to the bee-keeper; (1) that a swarm 
will issue in a day or two, and (2) that it will be accompanied 
by a virgin queen. The outside preparation for swarming 
consists in searching the country round about for a new home. 
The scouts travel far farther than foragers, and may be 
observed round hollow trees, going into cracks in roofs, or 
carefully examining empty hives. They are looking for a 
new home for the prospective swarm, but, if the owner of the 
swarm knows his business, and is able to attend to it, his 
swarm will never be allowed to take up residence. 
The actual swarming occurs near the middle of a fine 
day. Bees pour out of the hive in a continuous stream, and 
fill the air like a cloud of midges. At first they dart 
about in all directions, but they soon begin to cluster on a 
selected spot, very frequently within the garden in which 
the hive is located, at any rate very rarely more than a short 
distance away When fully clustered there is a mass of bees 
clinging closely together. If on a small branch it sometimes 
bends with their weight right down to the ground. As soon 
as the cluster has begun to form, the scouts go off once more 
to see whether the new home is still available, and in due 
course they will return to take away the swarm. The 
