174 
TIIIC HIVE AND HONKY-BEE. 
chapter on Loss of the Queen.) As an old queen leaves 
the hive only with a new swarm, the loss of her wings* in 
no way interferes with her usefulness, or the attachment 
of the bees. If, in spite of her inability to fly, she is bent 
on emigrating, though she has a “ will,” she can find “ no 
way,” but helplessly falls to the ground, instead of gaily 
mounting into the air. If the bees find her, they cluster 
around her, and may be easily secured by the Apiarian; 
if she is not found, they return to the parent-stock, to 
await the maturity of the young queens. As soon as the 
piping of the first-hatched queen is heard (p. 121), the 
Apiarian may force his swarm, unless—having fair warning 
of their intentions—he prefers to allow them to swarm in 
the natural way. The number of queens nearly ready to 
hatch which are usually found in such a stock, may be 
profitably used in the swarming season. 
As the queen can not get through an opening 5-32dsf 
of an inch high, which will just pass a loaded worker, if 
the entrance to the hive be contracted to this dimension, 
she will not be able to leave with a swarm : (see PI. III., 
Figs. 11, 12.) 
This method of preventing swarming,! requires great 
* Bees communicate with each other by their antenna, and Huber has proved 
that queens deprived of these, drop their eggs without care, and are unfit for pre¬ 
siding over a hive. 
t Huber does not give the size necessary for confining a queen; but lfe speaks 
of adjusting a glass tube , so as to pass out a worker, and not a queen. The small¬ 
est queen I ever saw, could not pass through my blocks. Although the workers 
are at first slightly annoyed by them, they soon become accustomed to them, os 
they do not confuse them, by presenting tho entrance in a new place. The ventila¬ 
tion not depending on this contracted entrance, abundance of air can be given to 
die bees, when the blocks are adjusted to confine the queen. 
\ Ill health, for the last two Summers, has prevented mo from giving this 
nethod of swarming such a full trial that I can confidently indorse it, except for 
temporary purposes; though I hove little doubt that it may be made entirely to 
prevent the issue of swarms. If so, it will bo of groat sorvice to those who fear 
to open a hive to remove the royal cells, or cut off the wings of a queen. If 
as soon as piping is heard, the entrance is contracted for about a week, tho bees 
may allow the young queens to engage in mortal combat. In this case, the block* 
