AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 89 



hives likely to be required for the season's increase 

 should be placed in position, according to the directions 

 given in Chapter V., attention being paid to the proper 

 bedding and levelling of the bottom boards. 



ISSUE OF THE SWARM. 



Swarms as a rule come off between 9 a.m. and noon, 

 but sometimes a little earlier or later in the day. 



There is a great stampede from the hive, the bees 

 tumbling over each other in their excitement, as though 

 they were glad to leave their old home to form a new 

 colony elsewhere. The queen, as a rule, does not leave 

 the hive among the first of the bees, but usually among 

 the first third of them. After all the bees constituting 

 the swarm have been whirling in the air for a short time, 

 they usually settle on some convenient place close at 

 hand ; if on the limb of a tree or shrub, the cluster when 

 all have settled will be in the form of a large bunch of 

 grapes. The reason generally accepted for the swarm 

 settling near at hand is, that the queen being laden with 

 eggs, she is not in a condition to fly far, and therefore 

 is obliged to settle to get rid of them in preparation for 

 a long flight. When a second swarm headed by a virgin 

 queen issues, the foregoing of course does not apply, 

 but it may settle close at hand all the same or it may fly 

 a long distance first. 



DECAMPING SWARMS. 



Sometimes, though rarely, the bees will have selected 

 their new home before swarming ; in such cases after 

 circling in the air for a short time the bees will make 

 straight for their chosen domicile, and unless that domi- 

 cile happens to be some receptacle close at hand such 

 swarms are usually lost. 



TAKING AND HIVING SWARMS. 



Swarms should always be taken as soon after the bees 

 have settled as possible, as they cannot always be de- 



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