Texas Beekeeping. 101 



wings in the third year, the age of each queen may be known at a 

 glance. As the average life is three years, it is hardly necessary to 

 have another manner of clipping for the fourth year, when all new 

 queens are again clipped on the right wings. Any queens kept over 

 three years may have another distinguishing clipping mark on one 

 or the other wing, in addition to the regular manner of clipping each 

 year. 



It is an easy matter to handle a swarm with a clipped queen. Un- 

 able to go with the swarm, she will be found crawling on the ground 

 in front of the hive from which it has issued. She may be caged, 

 and after the old hive has been removed to one side and a new one 

 with full sheets of foundation put in its place, the cage be laid in 

 front of the entrance. The swarm may cluster or not, but it will soon 

 discover that its queen is not with it, and immediately return to 

 the old location and enter the new hive. As the bees do so the queen 

 is released and enters with them, and thus the swarm hives itself, 

 even if it had alighted in a tall tree or other inaecessable place. 



However, there are some objections to clipping queens. If no- 

 body is around to attend to the queen and to replacing the hives, the 

 old queen may become lost, the bees rear a new queen, and swarm 

 again as soon as she hatches, unless they have given it up. The 

 queen, being a virgin, the swarm may not cluster but may go away 

 at once if not hived in the usual way. If the old queen has found 

 her way back to the old hive, the bees may not be satisfied upon their 

 return and may swarm again and again, until they become weary, 

 kill the old queen, and rear a new one, with the results stated. But it 

 is possible to tell by outside appearances of a colony whether it has 

 swarmed, and if, upon examination, this is found to be true, or queen 

 cells are found, the colony may be divided, or shaken into a new 

 hive, as soon as discovered. 



It is a good policy to have all queens clipped, especially in distant 

 out-yards only visited occassionally, as the loss of a clipped queen 

 alone is not so serious as the loss sustained by an undipped 

 queen leaving with the bees of a swarm. The chances are that swarm- 

 ing with clipped queens can be thwarted in many instances and the 

 bees saved. 



NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL INCREASE. 



Ordinarily, bees increase fast enough for most persons by natural 

 swarming, even upon keeping this within the limit of one good swarm 

 to each colony inclined to swarm, as there are always some colonies 

 that do not swarm. The desire of the experienced beekeeper is to pre- 

 vent swarming, rather than to allow the bees to increase this way. 

 If increase is desired, it is made artificially, by dividing strong col- 

 onies at a time, usually after the honey flows are over, when this 

 will not interfere with honey storing. It is always advisable not to 

 divide the colonies too often. Increase should be made slowly, and it 

 is not wise to more than double the number of colonies in a season. 

 The stronger in number of bees each division is, the better they will 

 progress. 



The most commonly used method is that of forming small colonies, 

 or nuclei, by simply taking two or more combs of hatching brood. 



