154 SWAEMING. 



necessary to occupy several pages in maintaining it. After 

 the swarm has left, you have only to examine the combs, 

 to he assured that she is nOwhere in the hive. The absence 

 of eggs in the cells is other proof. 



HIVJSS SHOULD BE EEADY. 



We will now suppose that some of your colonies are 

 ready to send out swarms, and will also presume that the 

 empty hives for the reception of swarms are in readiness. 

 To prepare a hive after the swarm has issued, indicates 

 bad management ; negligence here, argues negligence 

 elsewhere ; it is one of the premonitions of " bad luck." 



You will also want a number of bottom boards expressly 

 for hiving. Get a board a little larger than the bottom of 

 the hive, nail strips across the ends on the under side, to 

 prevent warping ; in the middle cut out a space five or six 

 inches square, and cover with wire-cloth. These are for 

 your large swarms in very hot weather, to be used for 

 four or five days. It is much safer to use them than to 

 raise the hive an inch or two for ventilation. They are 

 also essential on many other occasions. 



IMMEDIATB INDICATIONS OF A SWARM. 



When the day is fair, and there is not too much wind, 

 first swarms generally issue from 10 A. M., till 3 P. M. 

 The first outside indication of a swarm will be an unusual 

 number of bees about the entrance, from one to sixty 

 minutes before they start. The utmost confusion seems 

 to prevail, bees run about in every direction, and the en- 

 trance is apparently closed by the mass of bees ; present- 

 ly a column from the interior, forces a passage to the open 

 air ; they rush out by hundreds, vibrating their wings, and 

 when a few inches from the entrance, rise in the air ; some 

 rush up the side of the hive, others to the edge of the 

 bottom-board. If you have seen the old queen come out 



