174 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



ficient to commend it; the bee-keeper is master of the 

 situation, and is not dependent upon the whims of the 

 bees as to when they shall swarm — an inestimable boon to 

 those who have out-apiaries, and indeed to any one who 

 does not wish the trouble of watching for swarms. 



STRONGER FORCE IN FORCED SWARMING. 



It also gives the bee-keeper control over the number 

 of bees that shall remain with the swarm. In natural 

 swarming there may be too few bees go with the swarm 

 for best results in storing, while there may still be not 

 enough for any hope of good work in the parent colony, 

 with a possibility of this latter force being still further 

 divided by after-swarms. In the case of a forced swarm, 

 all the bees may be allowed to remain on the old stand 

 except merely enough to care for the brood which is taken 

 away, put on a new stand, and with the addition of a 

 queen or a queen-cell allowed to start out on its career as 

 an independent colony. 



SHAKING OFF ALL BEES. 



Or, the forced swarm may be made still stronger, by 

 giving it all the bees, and distributing the brood to nuclei, 

 weak colonies, or wherever it will do most good. In no 

 case, however, would it be a prudent thing in this locality 

 to follow the recommendation of some, by putting the 

 brood on a new stand without any bees, trusting to the 

 warmth of the weather to hatch out young bees fast 

 enough to care for the brood. If such a colony — if you 

 can call it a colony — should not fall a prey to the robbers, 

 there would in most cases be a serious loss of brood from 

 starvation and chilling. 



