34 NATURAL SWARMING. 



appears from this that the immediate cause of after-swarming 

 springs from a desire to avoid a quarrel among the " women 

 folks." The piping cannot be mistaken for any other sound 

 given by the bees, and may always be heard the morning or 

 evening preceding the issue of any swarm after the first. If 

 a second swarm is to issue, piping will usually be heard, by hold 

 ing the ear close' to the hive, on the morning or evening of the 

 eighth or ninth day from the departure of the first swarm ; and, 

 for third swarms, on the next evening or morning after the issue 

 of the second. If it is not heard by the fourteenth day, from 

 the time the first swarm left, no after-swarm need be expected. 

 In good seasons or in favored localities, second swarms, if early, 

 will generally lay up sufficient stores for winter, and are valua- 

 ble on account of having vigorous young queens. But, in this 

 latitude, if after-swarms are cast the old stock is often greatly 

 weakened, and consequently more exposed to the inroads of the 

 moth, besides seldom storing surplus honey after swarming. The 

 swarms also often fail to secure stores for winter, and have to be 

 broken up in the fall. A safer and more profitable course is to 

 allow but one swarm to issue from a stock the same season. 

 With movable-comb hives, the issue of after-swarms is easily and 

 surely prevented, by opening the hive in five or six days after 

 the first swarm leaves and taking away all the queen cells but 

 one. By this course, we may keep all our stocks, both old and 

 new, strong and prosperous. We give directions concerning afterswarms 

 because from sickness, or otherwise, the beekeeper may be unable to 

 give attention before they issue. All swarms after the second should 



