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.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI
From a photograph by] [W. Dixon
A Swarm]
A swarm is a wonderful sight, for the bees are almost perfectly still,
and hang in a glistening mass, clinging to one another by their tiny
hooked claws. Sometimes the leading bees of a swarm choose queer places
in which to cluster: one lot, for instance, swarmed on to the beard of
a gardener, whilst another found a resting-place on the neck of a horse
which was standing under some trees!
As soon as the bees have swarmed on the branch, or wherever they may
have settled, scouts are sent out to look for a suitable place for the
new home. They return with news of some spot which they think would
serve the purpose. This scout thinks that the hollow tree she has
found would be best, but another says that a little cave in the rocks
would be better. Meanwhile more scouts are despatched, and when all
the different proposals have been considered, and all possible places
discussed, it is finally settled where the future home shall be. Headed
by the scouts, who now act as guides, the swarm then takes to flight
once more, and will not stop until it reaches the chosen spot. Wherever
or whatever it may be matters not, for the bees will have to commence
at the very beginning of the cycle of home life, and as soon as they
are all inside the new home the wax-makers will climb to the highest
points, hang in chains, and begin to make the wax for the combs,
exactly as we saw in a previous chapter.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVII
The Bees in their New Home]