SECONDARY SWARMS. 233 



were found lying dead on its bottom-board. The swarm was 

 returned, and, the next morning, two more dead queens were 

 found. As the colony afterwards prospered, eight queens, at 

 least, must have left the parent-colony in a single swarm 1 



Young queens, whose ovaries are not burdened with eggs, 

 are much quicker on the wing than old ones, and frequently 

 fly much farther from the parent-stock before they alight. 



The bee-keepers of old, who were not acquainted with the 

 habits of bees, noticing that primary-swarms were more pop- 

 ulous than after-sv,-arms, used to brimstone (STG) the old 

 colony which had swarmed, and its after-swarm, considering 

 the first swarm as the best of the three; but this apparent 

 superiority was often of short duration, for the first swarm 

 is nearly always accompanied by the old queen. We know 

 better now, since we consider the age of the queen as one of 

 the qualities of a colony. 



448. After-swarms are much more prone to abscond or 

 leave, after hiving, than primary-swarms. It is probably ow- 

 ing to the fact that the young queen has to go out for her 

 bridal trip (131), and the bees sometimes leave with her. A 

 comb of misealed brood (166) given them will usually pre- 

 vent this. An absconding swarm often leaves without settling. 



449. After the departure of the second swarm, the oldest 

 remaining queen leaves her cell; and if another swarm is to 

 come forth, piping will still he heard ; and so before the issue 

 of each swarm after the first. It will sometimes be heard for 

 a short time after the issue of the second swarm, even when 

 the bees do not intend to swarm again. The third swarm usu- 

 ally leaves the hive on the second or third day after the sec- 

 ond swarm, and the others, at intervals of about a day. We 

 once had five swarms from one stock, in less than two weeks. 

 In warm latitudes, more than twice this number of swarms 

 have been known to issue, in one season, from a single colony. 



After-swarms seriously reduce the strength of the parent- 

 stock; since by the time they issue, nearly all the brood left 

 by the old queen has hatched, and no more eggs can be laid 



