792 
SWARMING 
hind them some adult worker bees, a large 
number of unemerged young bees, and sev¬ 
eral unemerged young queens. This is called 
the prime swarm to distinguish it from 
after-swarms which may issue from the par¬ 
ent hive about a week later. The number 
of bees that accompany the swarm depends 
somewhat upon the weather. Swarms are 
usually smaller when the weather is cool 
and larger when the weather is hot. 
Just why some go and others stay is not 
known. While the division may be some¬ 
what according to age, there is apparently 
no fixed rule for this. Many of the older 
field bees remain in the parent colony, and 
often during hot weather many bees too 
young to fly attempt to accompany the 
swarm. Some of the drones accompany the 
swarm, but many of them remain in the 
hive. Sometimes three-fourths or more of 
the bees go with the swarm. Swarms from 
strong colonies sometimes weigh from 10 to 
15 pounds, but usually they weigh less. 
Sometimes the queen leaves the hive 
among the first, but oftener she leaves after 
half or more of the swarming bees have 
left, and sometimes she is among the last 
to leave. Occasionally she does not find 
her way out of the hive at all, in which ease 
the swarm will return unless it unites with 
another swarm having a queen. 
As the swarming bees rush from the hive 
they circle about in the air, covering a 
wide area at first but gradually drawing 
together and finally clustering on some con¬ 
venient support such as the limb of a tree. 
After an interval usually varying from 
about 15 minutes to several hours, or even 
in exceptional cases a day or more, they 
break cluster and fly away to find a new 
home. Occasionally a swarm will leave the 
hive and go directly to a hollow tree or 
empty hive, apparently having previously 
selected their new home; but, as a rule, 
they cluster near the apiary before going 
aw T ay. 
There is considerable evidence indicating 
that scouts are sent out to find a new home 
either previous to swarming or while the 
swarm is clustered. Many have noticed a 
few bees working around a hollow tree or 
an empty hive shortly before a swarm came 
and entered, and the remarkable directness 
of the flight of the swarm from the hive or 
clustering place to a hollow tree or other 
suitable abode would be difficult to explain 
in any other way. For this reason the ad¬ 
vice is usually given to hive the swarm as 
soon as it has clustered and move it away 
so returning scouts cannot lead the swarm 
away. Sometimes swarms travel several 
miles before finding a new home, clustering 
and breaking cluster several times while on 
the way. 
Swarming bees are usually good-natured 
and pay little if any attention to the bee¬ 
keeper, even when he walks about in the 
midst of the circling bees. Sometimes, how¬ 
ever, after they have been clustered for 
some time they will sting viciously when 
disturbed, especially if they have remained 
clustered for several hours or overnight. 
There is also considerable difference in the 
way the bees behave depending upon the 
weather, so it is not safe to assume that 
swarming bees are always good-natured. 
Before leaving their hive, the swarming 
bees fill themselves with honey, so that they 
take their lunch with them when seeking a 
new home. They are, therefore, prepared 
to begin building comb in their new home 
almost immediately. Within a few days 
the newly formed colony becomes well es¬ 
tablished. The queen begins to lay in the 
newly built combs before the cells are fully 
drawn out, and, if nectar is abundant, 
comb-building and the storing of honey are 
carried on rapidly. During the first few 
days the bees build only worker comb; but 
usually, after building the equivalent of 
four to six standard frames of comb, they 
begin to build drone-sized cells. If the 
queen is old they usually begin to build 
drone-cells earlier than if the queen is 
young and vigorous. Apparently when 
the bees build worker comb faster than the 
queen can fill it with eggs, they begin build¬ 
ing the larger cells, these being for the 
storage of honey. If a swarm is hived on 
one or two empty combs, the remainder of 
the hive being vacant, the bees begin at once 
building drone-sized cells. 
AFTER-SWARMS. 
About a week after the prime swarm is¬ 
sued the first of the young queens emerges 
from her cell if the swarm issued at the 
time the first queen-cells were sealed. In¬ 
stead of destroying the other young queens 
and permitting this first-emerged young 
queen to become the new mother of the col¬ 
ony, the bees, if left alone, usually swami 
