THE AMERICAN 
BEE-KEEPERS’ GUIDE. 
CHAPTER I. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 
A SWARM OR A COLONY OF BEES. 
A colony of bees in a normal condition, or during 
the swarming months, consists of three kinds — a queen, 
a few hundred drones, and several thousand workers — 
although it is not necessary that these three kinds of 
bees be present to have a swarm. A queen, with a 
handful of worker-bees is, properly viewed, a swarm; 
and if there are as many as sixty thousand to a single 
queen, it is yet but a swarm. 
The following table of the average number, measure, 
