9 
The eggs, larva or grubs, and the young bees before they emerge 
from the cells in which the eggs were laid, 
10. Brood. are called the “brood,” Under normal 
conditions the egg remains as such for 
three days, after which the grub or larva appears (O, Fig. 3). 
The grub is fed by the worker bees for from five to eight days ; 
the mouth of the cell is then sealed over. The time passed in 
these, the earlier stages, varies, as indicated in the following 
table, which should be committed to memory :— 
Approximate Number of Days in each Stage. 
fa Ege Grub or Pupa in | Age when Bee 
% Larva. | Sealed Cell. | leaves the Cell. 
= I 
Queen, 3 5 rd | 15 days. 
Worker. 3 6 12 2 ee 
Drone, 3 8 14 | 25: 4, 
When full-fed the grub or larva spins a cocoon, within which 
it becomes transformed into a nymph or pupa, which after a 
final moult becomes a young bee. The brood in all its stages 
requires great warmth. 
When a stock has so increased in numbers that the bees have 
not room enough to work, a swarm or new 
11. Swarms. colony is sent out, provided that there are 
unhatched queens in the hive to take the 
place of the old one, who will leave with the first swarm, which 
consists chiefly of the older bees. Although only one fertile 
queen is necessary for one stock, the workers often have as many 
as ten to fifteen queen cells in the hive. When the most ad- 
vanced of the young queens is about to emerge from her cell, 
the old queen attempts to destroy her; but if the bees intend 
to swarm they do not permit this, and the queen and bees of 
the hive get into a very excited state; hundreds of bees fly 
about near the hive, and finally the old queen leaves with a 
swarm consisting of some thousands of bees, taking with them 
sufficient provisions to last about four days. After circling 
about in the air for a few minutes they settle on some suitable 
object, usually a bush or the branch of a tree, and there await 
the return of scouts, sent out to find suitable quarters for the 
new colony. The bee-keeper should then get the main body 
of the bees, with the queen, into a hive as soon as possible (98), 
(76), for if he waits until the scouts return, the bees that have 
settled will rise and follow the scouts to a distance of perhaps 
several miles. The stock from which a swarm has issued, 
though it consists of the younger bees, is called the “ parent 
stock,” and, as a rule, provides very little surplus honey after 
the swarm has left. A strong natural swarm would weigh from 
four to six pounds, and would contain about 4,000 to 5,000 
