As a rule, though, the old queen comes out with the first swarm, but I have known cases in which swarming has been delayed, when as many as five queens, including the old one, have come out with the first swarm. In a very strong hive a virgin queen will sometimes come out with a first swarm, but in such cases the swarm, as a rule, is a very small one.
The hive used for a swarm should be scrupulously clean and contain sufficient frames and combs for the requirements of the swarm. It is usual to place only one thin quilt over the frames for the first few days after a swarm has been given possession.
Hives containing newly placed swarms are usually allowed to stay until the evening of the day before they are removed, but, of course, if the situation is an inconvenient one, or if the hive is liable to be a nuisance to the public, it should be taken away at once.
If allowed to remain it must be sheltered from the rays of the sun or the heat will cause the bees again to issue forth.
Should a swarm not be required by the bee-keeper he must return it to the hive whence it issued very early on the morning following the day of swarming.
Each bee in a swarm usually carries sufficient food to meet its requirements for one day, so that should a bee-keeper receive a swarm from a distance he should feed it as soon as it arrives. All swarms should be fed if the natural supply of nectar be scanty.
Excessive Swarming.—Where bees are given to excessive swarming some bee-keepers trim one of the wings of the queen to hinder her flight,—a method also adopted to distinguish the ages of queens: the right wing of one year's queens being cut, and the left of those of the following year. Of course, the wings of a virgin queen should never be trimmed, for mating is thereby prevented.
Swarm Preventing.—The bee-keeper who works for surplus honey does all he can to prevent his bees from swarming, and thus increases both his stock of bees and supplies of honey.
Anyone who has even but slightly studied the ways of bees will have noticed that they store their honey above the brood in response to one of the wonderful instincts bestowed upon them by nature, and it is by taking advantage of this fact that the bee-keeper who is working for profit assures himself of one point of success. It is the method of working standard frames from the brood-chamber as a super by which each hive is practically made into two—a queenless colony above and a brood stock below. I have tried pretty well all the systems used in England and have proved this to be the most successful in securing the purpose aimed at. For thereby the queen is given plenty of room in which to lay her eggs, and the bees plenty of accommodation in which to store their honey.
The method of working this plan is as follows. The bees should be stimulated in the spring and as soon as the weather is favourable to swarming the strongest hive should be examined. It the frames are seen to be covered by the bees, and almost full of brood or stores, everything is in order for the scheme. The essential point in it is the removal of the combs from the brood-chamber minus the queen.