Firstly, it must be mentioned that swarming is the result of so great an increase in the population of a hive that work cannot efficiently be carried on, in consequence of the crowd of bees. In ordinarily good seasons the queen has produced so large a progeny by the second or third week in May, that a colony will be ready to start. The workers, being previously impelled by the growing numbers of the hive, will have prepared some royal cells. As the time for the emerging of the princesses approaches, the old queen, in her rage at the thought of coming rivals, attempts to destroy her future compeers. In this, however, she is thwarted by her otherwise obsequious attendants. In her wrath, she utters a succession of shrill, angry notes, having the sound of "peep, peep." To this one or more of the unhatched queens will reply in similar tones; and these constitute what is known to bee-keepers as "piping." It is especially noticeable previous to the issue of swarms after the first, and may be heard, particularly in the morning and evening, on placing the ear to the side or back of a hive about to send off another colony, and especially about the eighth day after the first issue. Another indication of the approach of swarming is the clustering of bees in idleness near and outside the entrance of the hive. This is specially observable if, through unfavourable weather, an enforced delay occurs in the departure of the colony. When the old queen has become sensible that she must depart with a portion of her subjects, she usually chooses a fine morning for her exodus; and, under ordinary circumstances, takes her flight between the hours of ten and one in the day. Occasionally, however, from some cause, she will delay her start, and the writer has had one instance in his own experience in which the swarm came out at the unusually late hour of a few minutes after five in the afternoon. All the bees who are about to accompany their sovereign, take the precaution of securing a supply of food sufficient to last them several days; for they instinctively know they will be so occupied in wax-making and the internal preparations of their new home, that there will be no opportunity for them to get supplies out of doors, while, of course, they expect to tenant an empty dwelling. When all is ready, and their honey-bags are distended to the full, they rush to the entrance, from which they excitedly pour by hundreds and thousands. Among them is their proper sovereign; for, as we have already hinted, it is always, except in the rarest cases, that the old queen heads, or rather accompanies, the swarm. Dzierzon records one case in which the old queen refused to quit the hive, and three strong swarms were led forth, within a few days of each other, by her royal daughters. [Illustration: Fig. 60.--A Swarm.]