AFTER-SWARMING 
19 
ment has stopped much of the adulteration 
of honey with commercial invert sugar. 
Furthermore, since the passage and gen¬ 
eral enforcement of federal and state pure- 
food laws, honey adulteration, instead of 
being common, is becoming exceedingly rare. 
AFTER-SWARMING. —All swarms that 
come out after the first swarm, or are led 
out by a virgin queen or a plurality of 
them are generally termed after-swarms; 
and all swarms after the first are accom¬ 
panied by such queens. There may be 
from one all the way up to a half-dozen 
swarms, depending on the yield of honey, 
amount of brood or larvae, and the weath¬ 
er; but whatever the number, they are all 
led off by queens reared from one lot of 
queen-cells, and the number of bees ac¬ 
companying them is, of necessity, less each 
time. The last ones frequently contain no 
more than a pint of bees, and, if hived in 
the old way, would be of little use under 
almost any circumstances; yet when sup¬ 
plied with combs already built and filled 
with honey, such as every enlightened api¬ 
arist should always keep in store, they may 
develop into the very best of colonies, for 
they have young and vigorous queens. 
It has been said that when a colony has 
decided to send out no more swarms, all 
the young queens in the hive are sent out, 
or, it may be, allowed to go out with the 
last one. Whether this is time or not is 
uncertain; but during the swarming sea¬ 
son, some novice writes about the wonder¬ 
ful fact of his having found three or four, 
or it may be half a dozen queens in one 
swarm. On one occasion, a friend, who 
weighed something over 200, ascended to 
the top of an apple tree during a hot July 
day to hive a small third swarm. He soon 
came down, in breathless haste, to inform 
us that the swarm was all queens; and, in 
proof of it, he brought two or three in his 
closed-up hands. 
Years ago after-swaiming was considered 
a sort of necessary evil that had to be tol¬ 
erated because it could not be obviated; 
but in no well-regulated apiary should it be 
allowed. Many consider it good practice 
to permit one swarm—the first one. After 
that all others are restrained. Cutting out 
all the queen-cells but one may have the 
effect of preventing a second swarm; but 
the practice is objectionable—chiefly be¬ 
cause one cannot be sure that he destroys 
all but one. If there are two cells not the 
same age the occupant of one of them, 
when she emerges, is likely to bring out an 
after-swarm; indeed, as long as there are 
young queens to hatch, there are likely to 
be after-swarms up to the number of three 
or four. 
But many practical honey-producers con¬ 
sider cell-cutting for the prevention of 
these little swarms as waste of time, altho 
they may and do cut out cells to prevent 
prime or first-swarms. There are some who 
deem it advisable to prevent swarming. The 
plan usually adopted to prevent after¬ 
swarms is about as follows: 
The wings of all laying queens in the api¬ 
ary should be clipped, or entrance guards 
should be placed over the entrances of all 
colonies having laying queens. As soon as 
the first swarm comes forth, and while the 
bees are in the air, the queen, if clipped, is 
found in front of the entrance of the old 
hive. She is caged, and the old hive is 
lifted off the old stand, and an empty one 
containing frames of foundation or empty 
combs is put in its place. A perforated 
zinc honey-board is then put on top, and 
finally the supers, taken from the old 
hive. The queen in her cage is placed in 
front of the entrance, and the old hive is 
next carried to an entirely new location. 
In the meantime the swarm returns to find 
the queen at the old stand; and when the 
bees are well started to running into the 
entrance she is released, and allowed to go 
in with them. Most of the old or flying 
bees that happen to be left in the old colo¬ 
ny, now on the new location, will go back to 
the old stand to strengthen further the 
swarm. This will so depopulate the parent 
colony that there will hardly be bees enough 
left to cause any after-swarming, and the 
surplus of young queens will have to fight 
it out among themselves—the “survival of 
the fittest” being of course, the only one 
left. She will be mated in the regular way. 
and the few bees with her will not, of 
course, follow her. In a short time com¬ 
paratively the old parent colony will be 
strong enough for winter. 
heddon’s method. 
The first swarm is allowed to come forth; 
