SWARMING 
803 
is sometimes a good plan in comb-honey 
production to have frames of foundation 
drawn out in the second story of the 
strongest colonies at the very beginning of 
the honey flow to hold down swarming, and 
then use these newly built combs containing 
unsealed honey on which to hive swarms. 
If the beekeeper runs out of hives and 
frames during the swarming season he can 
utilize the hive of a parent colony, choosing 
one that swarmed ten days or more pre¬ 
viously. In this case the bees in the parent 
colony can be shaken from their combs in 
front of the recently hived swarm standing 
by its side (see Where to Locate Newly 
Hived Swarms, page 801) ; then this hive, 
together with the comb containing now only 
sealed brood, can be used for hiving an¬ 
other swarm. When such combs are used 
there are so few vacant cells that the bees 
will not neglect super work on account of 
the empty combs below, but the few cells 
that are vacant will soon be occupied by 
eggs which the queen will lay soon after the 
swarm is hived. As the remaining brood 
emerges the vacated cells are usually pre¬ 
pared for eggs until toward the close of the 
season when the bees will put in more 
honey. 
When either narrow strips of foundation 
or full sheets of foundation are used in the 
new brood-chamber a queen-excluder should 
be placed between the brood-chamber and 
the supers at the time of hiving the swarm, 
since otherwise the queen would probably 
establish a brood-nest in the supers. 
SWARMING OUT. 
Sometimes newly hived swarms “swarm 
out,” deserting their new hive and abscond¬ 
ing if the queen is not clipped. They may 
do this within an hour or two after being 
hived or the next day and sometimes even 
on the third day after being hived. Swarm¬ 
ing out may occur either with natural 
swarms or artificial swarms. The tendency 
for newly hived swarms to swarm out is 
greater some seasons than others. This 
trouble is apparently a result of a lack of 
room in the new hive or of discomfort from 
some other cause, tho sometimes newly hived 
swarms will leave the hive when there is no 
apparent cause for their dissatisfaction. 
Swarming out can be prevented, or at 
least greatly reduced, by placing an empty 
hive-body below the new brood-chamber for 
two or three days; by providing ample ven¬ 
tilation and shade for the new hive at the 
time of hiving the swarm, and by using 
one or more empty combs which had been 
previously used for brood-rearing in the 
new brood-chamber instead of frames of 
foundation exclusively. 
If the queen is clipped, colonies that 
swarm out can not abscond unless by chance 
they unite with another swarm that has a 
queen able to fly that happens to be out at 
the same time. When bees swarm out they 
can be handled in the same manner as a 
swarm with a clipped queen (see directions 
under After-swarming), by simply cag¬ 
ing the queen, thrusting the cage into 
the entrance and waiting for the swarm 
to return. Sometimes it is not necessary 
to make any change of conditions to 
induce the bees to stay after they have 
swarmed out once or twice. Sometimes, 
when bees swarm out they become demor¬ 
alized and do not all return to their 
own hive, some going into adjacent hives. 
When bees swarm out in the absence of the 
beekeeper the queen is liable to be lost by 
entering another hive. If the queen is not 
clipped it is well to place an entrance 
guard or an Alley trap over the entrance 
for a few days if the bees are inclined to 
swarm out. This will prevent the escape 
of the queen, and the bees will return to 
their hive. 
THE CAUSE OF SWARMING. 
Since swarming is the natural method 
of reproduction of colonies, upon which 
the existence of the species depends in 
nature, beekeepers are willing to accept the 
deeply seated reproductive instinct as the 
fundamental cause of swarming, but they 
want to know just what calls forth this in- ' 
stinct at certain times and why it is appar¬ 
ently dormant at other times. It is well 
known that some colonies go thru the 
season piling up a large surplus of honey, 
apparently without a thought of swarming, 
while other colonies in the same apiary 
stubbornly persist in carrying out their 
program of swarming; that some seasons 
practically all colonies go thru the season 
without attempting to swarm, while in 
other seasons a majority of the colonies at¬ 
tempt to swarm; and that in some localities, 
as in some parts of the tropics, well-man- 
aged colonies seldom swarm, while in other 
