SWARMING. 
217 
the fact. Take them to some place out of the sun, as 
a less number will fly during the operation. 
HOW TO FIND QUEEN, WHEN TWO STRANGERS ARE TOGETHER. 
First, look into the lower hive for a dead queen, and, 
if none is found there, look thoroughly, as far as pos- 
sible, for a little compact cluster of bfces, the size of a 
hen’s egg, that may be rolled about without separat- 
ing. Secure this cluster in a tumbler ; it is quite sure 
one of the queens is a prisoner in the middle ;* should 
two be seen, get both. Then divide the bees, and give 
the one destitute, a queen ; or, if you have two, one to 
each, as the case may be. It would be well first to 
see if the queen was alive, by removing the bees from 
about her. But should you find nothing of the kind, 
spread a sheet on the ground, shake the bees on one 
end of it, and set the hive on the other; they will im- 
mediately begin a march for the hive. You may now 
see the cluster, and may not; but they will spread out 
in marching, and give a good chance to see her ma- 
jesty, when a tumbler is the most convenient thing to 
set over her. No matter if a few bees are shut up 
* All stranger queens, introduced into a stock or swarm, are secured 
and detained in this manner by the workers, hut whether they dispatch 
them, or this is a means adopted to incite them to a deadly conflict, 
writers do not agree, and I shall not attempt a decision, as I never 
saw the bees voluntarily release a queen thus confined. But I have 
seen queens, when no bees interfered, rush together in a fatal rencoun- 
ter, and one of them was soon left a fallen victim of the contest. ’Tis 
said it never happens that both are killed in these battles, — perhaps 
not. As I never saw quite all of these royal combats, of course I can- 
not decide. 
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