When a swarm is seen issuing or in the air, the best thing to do is, in general, simply to wait a bit. The weather is usually rather warm then, and rushing about to get tin pans, dinner gongs, spraying outfits, etc., aside from its disagreeableness, may get one so excited and into such a perspiration as to unfit him to do with the bees that which is likely to be necessary a few minutes later. The bees will probably gather in a clump on a tree or bush near the apiary, and however formidable getting them into the hive may at first seem, nothing will be simpler than shaking them into their new hive, or into a basket or box, from which they may be poured in front of the hive, just as one would pour out a measure of wheat or beans. If any stick to the basket or box, invert it and give a sharp thump with one edge against the ground. If the hive has been standing in the shade so that the boards composing it are not heated, and if it be now well shaded and plenty of ventilation be given above and below, the bees are almost certain to take possession at once and begin work actively.
The securing of swarms can be made, however, even simpler than this by having the colonies placed several feet apart on a smooth lawn or dooryard and clipping one wing of each laying queen so as to prevent her flying. The prime or first swarm from each hive is accompanied by the old queen, and if she be clipped she will of course fall from the alighting board to the ground and may be secured in a cage. The bees will circle about a few times and return. Meanwhile the only thing for the attendant to do is to replace the parent colony by an empty hive. The returning bees will enter the latter and the queen may be allowed to go in with them, the cage being placed with its open end directly against the entrance to insure this. The swarm is thus made to hive itself.
The parent colony removed to a new stand a rod or more away will rarely give a second swarm. But to make certain all queen cells except one may be cut out four or five days after the issuance of the first swarm. At the same time one-third to one-half of the remaining bee's of the removed colony may be shaken at the entrance of the hive containing the swarm. This reduces the population of the parent colony greatly, but the loss is soon made good by the young workers emerging daily, and the new queen which will issue from the single queen cell, spared when cutting out cells, will soon restock the hive with brood. The shaking out of additional bees, coupled with the removal of all queen cells but one, will prevent for the time all further swarming from the given hive, and in most instances end it for the season. The bees thus added to the newly hived swarm, even though too young to enter the field at once as honey gatherers, will nevertheless release from inside work an equal number of older bees, enabling the latter to go out as field bees.
Each after-swarm (second, third, etc.), it should be borne in mind, is accompanied by one or more unimpregnated queens, and these must not be clipped until they have flown out and mated. The regular deposition of eggs in worker cells may nearly always be regarded as a safe sign that mating has taken place. Eggs will usually be found in such cells within the first ten days of the queen's life. After-swarms may remain in the air, circling about for some time, and they frequently cluster high—a good reason, in addition to the more important fact that their issuance is not consistent with the production of the most surplus honey, for the prevention of all after-swarming.
Where an increase of colonies is desired, and in case no one can be near the apiary to care for natural swarms with clipped queens, some one of the artificial methods of forming new colonies may be advantageously employed. Natural swarming is, however, to be preferred to a poor system of artificial increase. And no matter which of the artificial methods be adopted, it should be cautiously followed, lest, should unfavorable weather appear suddenly, considerable labor and expense be incurred to prevent disastrous results. It is also of prime importance not to weaken materially the gathering powers of strong colonies just at the opening of the harvest or during its progress; hence, whatever division takes place then must leave the field force—the gatherers—in one mass and in normal condition for work, that is, not discouraged by being queenless, and not overburdened by having brood without a sufficient number of nurse bees to care for it.