When autumn comes, and the flowers vanish, the bees gather round the queen on the combs of the hive; we see some of them in Plate XXV. The builders block up the doorway with wax until only a narrow passage is left, just large enough to allow them to travel in and out. This is done to keep out the cold of winter, for then it is necessary for the temperature inside the hive to be as high as possible.
In this cluster the bees pass the winter in a kind of sleep. They eat the honey which they have stored, and wait for the arrival of spring. The outermost bees of the cluster are of course the coldest, and so that each may take a turn at being on the outside, they constantly change places. They only leave the hive on a few occasions during this time, and then it is to take a short flight for exercise.
Plate XXV
From a photograph by] [E. Hawks
Bees clustering in Winter
When the bright sunshine comes, and the crocuses tell of the coming of spring, the bees begin to bestir themselves. Sometimes when it has been snowing, and the snow is lying on the ground, the bees are deceived by the glare into thinking that spring has come; they fly out to look for flowers, but many of them are killed by the cold. When spring is actually at hand, however, the pollen gatherers are despatched to the crocuses and other early flowers. They come back laden with pollen, and as soon as the queen bee sees this she commences to lay. These eggs will develop into the bees which will carry on the work of the hive during the summer. The bees which have slept through the winter only live long enough to look after these eggs, and to bring the young bees safely into the world.
It is interesting to note that the amount of nectar and pollen gathered will, to a certain extent, regulate the number of eggs that the queen will lay. If food is scarce she will not lay many, for if she did a great number would have no food and all would die of starvation. If, on the other hand, honey and pollen are abundant, hundreds or even thousands of eggs will be laid in a single day. The number is increased, too, as spring merges into summer, and for a fortnight or three weeks in May or June, the hive is at its busiest. During this period the fields are white with clover, and the flowers are at their best. This time is known as the honey flow, and if the hive be a prosperous one, the honey does literally flow into the combs.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE SWARM
IT is not known exactly why bees swarm, and it has been said that it is because the hive becomes overpopulated. When the hive becomes crowded early in the summer, the bees build queen cells, and in them royal princesses are reared, as we have already seen. When the time approaches for them to leave the cells, the old queen begins to get very excited, for she seems to know that a rival is about to be born. She would like to rush to the cells and put the young princesses to death, and indeed she would do this, were not the cells guarded by the other bees, who anticipate trouble with the old queen. So, though she may make the attempt, after being repulsed time after time she will give up, and adopt another procedure. She seems to realise that her rule in the hive is at an end, and so she determines to leave it on the first fine day, with as many of the other bees as will accompany her, and to fly to pastures new. All is then commotion with the bees that will go with her, and they seem to eagerly await the signal to be off. No one knows how it is decided which bees shall go, or which shall remain, for old or young, builders or foragers, may go or stay. All who are going, however, take in supplies of honey, and when the appointed time has arrived the swarm issues from the door of the hive in a thick black stream. The old queen will be among them, and they generally fly to some tree close at hand. A suitable spot is chosen, on one of the branches perhaps, and the leading bees settle there. These are quickly joined by the others, so that in a few seconds the cluster is as large as an orange. It grows larger and larger, until after a few minutes from the time the bees left the hive in a mad throng, they will all be quietly hanging in a pear-shaped mass like those in Plate XXVI.
Plate XXVI