Symptoms of Swarming.—The symptoms preceding a first swarm are the rapid increase in numbers clustering, or hanging out, and drones becoming numerous and unusually active. Those of an after-swarm are much more certain, for, nine or ten days after the departure of the first swarm, a singular noise, called "piping," may be heard in the stock. The first note, says Mr. Golding, is long and plaintive, and is uttered by the princess already at liberty; she traverses the hive, and stops upon, or near, the royal cells which still contain brood, and emits her long plaintive note. This, when the other young queens are sufficiently forward, generally in about two days, is answered by them from within their cells in a quick, short, hoarse note; after these last have been heard for about two days the swarm may be expected to come off. Third swarms should either be returned to the parent hive, or added to a second swarm, for by themselves they are totally valueless. Sometimes an early first swarm, when additional room is not supplied at the time required, will send out another swarm: this generally occurs in about a month, but it is a thing by no means to be desired, and should carefully be prevented by giving timely room.
Hiving.—"Whatever system is adopted let everything be in readiness for the reception of swarms, for even where the depriving system is followed, from some oversight on the part of the apiarian a swarm will occasionally occur. Watch the swarm in silence, and after it has once collected, lose no time in housing it into a new, clean and dry hive (its weight with the floor-board being first taken and marked upon it), and let it he placed where it is to remain within ten or fifteen minutes after the time of its being hived; it will not be necessary even to wait till the Bees clustered in front or on the sides of the hive are reunited to their companions inside, as they are never long in being so.
Hives with Comb in Them.—Hives of comb, in which swarms of the last year have died, should be carefully preserved for hiving swarms into them; it gives a swarm treated in this manner full three weeks' advantage over another put at the same time into an empty hive.
Putting Glasses of Small Hives upon Swarms.—The most proper time for putting the bell-glass, or small hive, or box, upon a swarm, will be from the eighteenth to the twenty-first day after their being hived; and should it be quickly filled, and more room required, which may be known by the crowded state of the Bees inside the glass, and by their being seen to cluster at the mouth of the hive at nine or ten in the morning, let no time be lost in lifting up the glass, and placing between it and the stock hive a small hive or box with a hole in the top. (See [page 8]). It is necessary to use this precaution at all times, but more especially in a rainy season, as a greater disposition amongst the Bees to swarm then prevails. "Dry weather makes plenty of honey, and moist of swarms," says good Mr. Purchase; and, however, incorrect this position may at first sight appear, the attentive observer will quickly become convinced of its truth.
Second Swarms.—A second swarm generally leaves the hive about nine days after the first; but the time may be exactly ascertained by standing quietly beside the hive after sunset, when the queen may be distinctly heard "totun in hir treble voic," (Butler's Feminin Monarchi, Ed. 1643), which is a certain indication that a second swarm will leave the hive. Should two or three queens be heard one after the other, it will be on the following day, if the weather be not very unfavourable. Should the queens continue to pipe after the departure of a second swarm, a third will certainly follow in a few days; but if one or two queens be found dead beneath the hive on the next morning, no more swarms can be expected.
UNITING SWARMS.
I must here observe that second and third swarms are very seldom, if ever, worth preserving by themselves; but two second swarms, when joined, are very little inferior in value to a first swarm, and the union is very easily effected in the following manner:—When two second swarms, or a second and third, come off on the same day, hive them separately, and leave them till an hour and a half after sunset; then spread a cloth upon the ground, upon which, by a smart and sudden movement, shake all the Bees out of one of the hives, and immediately take the other and place it gently over the Bees that are heaped together upon the cloth, wedging up one side about half an inch, that the Bees outside may pass under, and they will instantly ascend into it and join those which, not having been disturbed, are quiet in their new abode. Next morning before sunrise, remove this newly-united hive to the place in which it is to remain. This doubled population will work with double success, and in the most perfect harmony, and generally become a strong stock, from which much profit may be derived.
Two second swarms, or a second and third, may be joined in the same manner, although one of them may have swarmed some days or even weeks later than the other; taking care, however, not to make the first one enter the second, but the second the first. A third and a fourth parcel of Bees may be joined to them at different times in the same way till the stock becomes strong. It is almost impossible sufficiently to impress upon the mind of every one who keeps Bees the necessity of having his stocks all strong; for weak stocks are very troublesome, very expensive, and seldom, if ever, afford any profit.
Mr. Taylor says, "The stronger the colony at the outset, the better the Bees will work, and the more prosperous it will become. I never knew a weak one do well long; and a little extra expense at first is amply rewarded by succeeding years of prosperity and ultimate profit." And again, "Thus strength in one year begets it in succeeding ones; and this principle ought to be borne in mine by those who imagine that the deficient population of one season will be made up in the next, and that the loss of Bees in the winter is of secondary consequence, forgetting how influential is their warmth to the earlier and increased productive powers of the queen; and how important it is, in the opening spring, to be able to spare from the home duties of the hive a number of collectors to add to the stores, which would otherwise not keep pace with the cravings of the rising generation."
It is a remarkable fact, that two weak stocks joined will collect double the quantity of honey, and consume much less, than two of the same age and strength kept separately. Stocks must be joined after sunset, upon the day that one of them has swarmed; and the double stock must be placed upon the stand it previously occupied; great care must be taken not to shake the hive, nor must it be turned up. The combs being new and tender, will easily break, and the stock by that means be destroyed.