32 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



indicate her whereabouts to the beekeeper. If she is not given back 

 to the bees, or if the beekeeper is away and the queen perishes, the 

 bees, after a day more or less of uneasiness, settle down to work again. 

 If they have plenty of ventilation and storage room they rarely 

 swarm with the young queen which succeeds the first swarming. 



If the queen is not clipped and the swarm clusters where it can be 

 reached, it is usually easiest to shake it into a basket or box, cover 

 it with a cloth, carry it to the stand it came from, and when the new 

 hive is ready, pour out the bees in front of and against the hive just 

 as if they were so many beans. Keep empty hives which are awaiting 

 swarms in some cool place or shaded. Bees do not readily enter hot 

 hives. 



FORCED SWARMING. 



When a colony seems to be preparing to swarm, indicated by great 

 population, starting of queen cells, bees hanging in masses on front 

 of hive or about the entrance, it is the practice of some beekeepers 

 to shake the bees from the combs, giving the bees a new hive on the 

 old stand as in natural swarming, transferring to it the supers with 

 the contained bees and giving the old brood chamber with its combs 

 to some other colony to care for. Some vary this method by leaving 

 about half the combs unshaken and placing the old hive at one side 

 of the new. In a week it is changed to the other side of the new hive, 

 and a week later back again ; this is to throw the force of young field 

 bees into the "swarm." 



Another variation is to give the brood from which the " swarm" 

 was shaken, to some Avcak colony, a week or so later de-queen it, and 

 the next day shake most of the bees into or before the swarm. In 

 forced swarming it is well to make the "swarm" enter the new 

 hive through a queen-excluding honey board temporarily placed 

 under the hive body or through an "entrance guard" of excluder 

 metal or through a drone trap. This shuts out all the drones. The 

 queen is put inside the hive. It is wise to leave the guard or "ex- 

 cluder board" in place for a few days, for "forced swarms" some- 



