SWARMING. 
193 
as commenced work in the spring. That young bees 
leave, any one may be satisfied on seeing a swarm 
issue ; a great many too young and weak to fly 
will drop down in front of the hive, having come out 
now for the first time, and perhaps some of them had 
not been out of the cell an hour ; these very young 
bees are known by the color. 
CAUSE OF THE QUEEN’S INABILITY TO FLY SUGGESTED. • 
The old queen often gets down in the same way ; 
but I would assign another cause for her inability to 
fly ; that is, I would suggest it to be her burden of 
eggs. 
EVIDENCE OF THE OLD QUEEN’S LEAVING. 
That the old queen does leave with the first swarm 
is indicated by several things : one is, eggs may often 
be found on the board the next morning ; another, 
when the first swarm has left, and before any of these 
royal cells hatch, the bees may be driven out and no 
queen will be found, or you may drive out the bees at * 
the end of three weeks, and the brood of workers will 
be about all hatched, the drone brood not quite as 
near. The combs may also contain some eggs, aud 
perhaps some very young larvce, that have been de- 
posited by the young queen, which begins to lay usu- 
ally sixteen or eighteen days after the first swarm. 
This shows a cessation of laying eggs for about two 
weeks. First swarms will have eggs in the cells as 
soon as they are made to hold them, which is often 
within 24 hours after being hived ; occasionally a new 
piece of comb will fall down, and, if the cells are deep 
