74 Beekeeping 



Peculiarities of bees in swarming. 



A bee normally returns from the field to its own hive and, 

 while it may make mistakes, it "knows" its own location. 

 This is accomplished by the exercise of a memory of loca- 

 tion (p. 179). When the swarm issues, the memory of the 

 old location is abandoned (not destroyed), but if the queen 

 is lost or removed this memory is again called into action 

 and the bees return to the old hive. If the queen goes 

 with the swarm, it may be placed in a new hive, even right 

 beside the old one if desired, and the bees no longer retiun 

 to the old hive. On the return from future trips to the 

 field they go directly to the new home. The memory of 

 the old location is no longer called into action and is finally 

 lost. This is accomplished also in artificial swarming but 

 perhaps not to so marked a degree. 



When a swarm issues and the air is filled with the circling 

 bees, it sometimes happens that other colonies which are 

 preparing to swarm will send out swarms prematurely and 

 the various swarms will mingle in the air and in the cluster. 

 Even if this does not happen, drones from various colonies 

 join the swarm. These facts indicate that swarming bees 

 have an attractive influence toward other bees. This has 

 been attributed to the noise made by flying bees, which is 

 so well known to beekeepers and which is sometimes called 

 the "swarm tone." Since it is not surely determined that 

 bees hear, it may be that this attraction is not one of sound 

 but may be one of smell. 



The issuing of premature swarms and of numerous after- 

 swarms may become so common as to demoralize the apiary 

 and swarms may issue several at a time, without queens, 

 when no queen cells have been built or when the colony 

 has recently swarmed. Several swarms may unite in one 

 cluster. The impulse to swarm is known among beekeepers 

 as the "swarming fever" and the exaggerated conditions 

 just described are often discussed as if this "fever" were 

 infectious. Under such conditions, the usual rules for 

 swarming laid down by the beekeeper are seemingly dis- 



