40 BEGINNER'S BEE BOOK 



bees. It often happens, however, that the bees 

 have the swarming fever to such an extent that 

 they are not satisfied with casting a prime 

 swarm but will at once prepare for an after- 

 swarm. In this case the queen is not permitted 

 to injure the others still in the ceUs, but after 

 a day or two a second swarm with this new 

 queen will emerge. It often happens that sev- 

 eral virgin queens will emerge and go with an 

 after- swarm. Sometimes several after- swarms 

 issue at brief intervals until the parent colony 

 is reduced to a point where it is almost 

 worthless. 



Excessive swarming results disastrously to 

 the dreams of a honey crop on the part of the 

 beekeeper. "Where natural swarming is per- 

 mitted, steps should be taken to see that not 

 more than one swarm is permitted to issue. The 

 usual method is to place the new swarm on the 

 old stand and to move the old hive some dis- 

 tance away. In this way the returning field 



