THE HONEY BEE FAMH^Y 39 



for the purpose of founding a new establish- 

 ment, the bees will fill their sacs with honey so 

 that they are prepared to begin building combs 

 at once. The swarm may remain clustered for 

 several hovirs, or even for a day or two, in rare 

 cases. The beekeeper should be prepared to 

 hive his swarm at once to prevent them from 

 absconding, or leaving for parts unknown. It 

 is evident that scouts are out in search of a new 

 home. It often happens that bees will be seen 

 about a suitable opening for several days, when 

 suddenly a swarm will appear and take pos- 

 session. Where swarms remain clustered for 

 long periods, it is apparent that the scouts have 

 not yet found a suitable habitation. 



The parent queen will leave the hive with 

 the new swarm, which also attracts most of the 

 field bees. The first queen to emerge from the 

 cell after the swarm has left will usually seek 

 for other queen cells and at once kill her rivals, 

 unless she is prevented from doing so by the 



