SWARMING 
791 
colonies, as in artificial swaiming. Usually 
the term swarming means the issuing of 
normal swarms when the colony is pros¬ 
perous, only a part of the bees leaving the 
hives. Normal swarming is, therefore, a 
division of the colony for the purpose of 
reproduction. The term “swarming out” is 
usually applied to the migration of the 
entire colony as in the case of lack of food 
(hunger swarms), recently hived swarms 
that are dissatisfied, swarms that leave be¬ 
cause of American foul brood, and small 
nuclei that swarm out with the young queen 
when she takes her mating flight or be¬ 
cause the little colony is dissatisfied. The 
migrating family of bees is called a swarm, 
tho this term is sometimes applied to the 
colony after it has established itself in its 
new home, to distinguish the new colony 
from the parent colony. In a strict sense 
the term swarm applies only during migra¬ 
tion. As soon as a swarm establishes itself 
in its new home it is called a colony. 
CHAIN OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO SWARMING. 
A colony of bees that is normal and pros¬ 
perous increases its brood in the spring as 
its adult population increases, either until 
all the available brood-comb is occupied or 
until the queen reaches the limit of her ca¬ 
pacity in egg-laying. Early in the spring- 
only worker brood is reared, but when the 
colony becomes stronger the rearing of 
drone brood is begun, thus providing for 
male bees in anticipation of swarming. Fi¬ 
nally, when the brood-chamber becomes 
crowded with emerging and recently 
emerged young bees and the combs are well 
filled with brood, several queen-cells may 
be started. When eggs are placed in these 
partially built queen-cells the colony has 
then taken definite steps in preparation for 
swarming, the swarm usually issuing eight 
or nine days later at about the time the 
more advanced queen-cells are sealed. The 
exact time of the issuing of the swarm de¬ 
pends to some extent upon the weather. 
Sometimes it must be postponed a few 
days on account of rain, and sometimes 
during hot weather the swarm will issue 
before any of the queen-cells are sealed, 
especially if the bees are Italians. Normal 
swarms usually issue between 10 a. m. and 
2 p. m. In hot weather most of the swarm¬ 
ing is over by noon. 
SYMPTOMS OF SWARMING. 
In their natural state and when neglected 
or poorly managed the bees usually slow 
down in their work after queen-cells have 
been started in preparation for swarming, 
especially during a few days just previous 
to the time the swarm issues. The field 
workers in increasing numbers stay in the 
hive instead of working in the fields, bring¬ 
ing about a crowded condition sometimes 
resulting in a great cluster of bees hanging- 
on the outside of the hive. This clustering 
on the outside of the hive was formerly 
considered a symptom of swarming pro¬ 
vided it occurred during a honey flow, but 
it is by no means a reliable symptom. Clus¬ 
tering out during warm weather when there 
is a dearth of nectar is quite another thing 
and has nothing to do with swarming. 
A more reliable symptom that the colony 
is preparing to swarm is a lack of the 
usual flight at the entrance, due to many of 
the field bees staying at home. When this 
is noticeable, by looking into the supers it 
will be noted that they are crowded with 
bees, sometimes wedged into every nook 
and corner, this being quite unlike the nor¬ 
mal condition in the supers. These idle 
bees are usually filled with honey, which 
makes them appear unusually large be¬ 
cause of their distended abdomens. These 
conditions when present during a honey 
flow are practically a sure indication that 
the colony is preparing to swarm. In well- 
managed colonies this slowing down of field 
work does not always occur, but little if 
any difference in the work being noticeable 
even on the day the swarm issues. 
The only certain indication of swarming 
is the presence of queen-cells containing 
eggs or larvae during the swarming season. 
By noting the advancement of the queen- 
cells it is often possible to predict on what 
day the swarm will issue. Queen-cells built 
under the swarming impulse are sometimes 
called “swarming cells” to distinguish them 
from queen-cells built at other times to 
supersede the old queen. See How to Dis¬ 
tinguish Between Sw t arming Cells and 
Supersedure Cells, page 815. 
THE PRIME SWARM. 
When the first swarm issues a varying 
proportion of the adult bees, together with 
the old queen, fly from the hive, leaving be- 
