A friend of mine has had a stock in a large room eight years, that has never swarmed, and is still prosperous! I think it very probable that this queen will gradually decay, and possibly become barren, some weeks before she dies; if so, this stock will soon die off. A few such cases will probably occur in swarming hives, perhaps one in fifty, but generally such old and feeble queens are lost when they leave with the swarm, especially in windy weather. As long as they are able to go with the swarm, and sometimes when they are not, I have found them sufficiently prolific for all purposes. I would rather risk their fecundity, and hive the swarm, than to allow the bees to return to the parent stock, and wait eight or nine days for a young queen to mature. A great many will remain idle, even if there is room to work in the boxes.
Notwithstanding I have given the method of pruning in the chapter on hives, (page 23, Chapter II.) it will be necessary to give the tyro in bee-culture a few more particulars. The season for doing it is of importance.
The month of March has been recommended by several; others prefer April, August, or September. Here, as usual, I shall have to differ from them all, preferring still another period, for which I offer my reasons, supposing, of course, that the reader is conscious of a freeman's privilege, that is, to adopt whatever method he thinks proper, on this, as on any other point.
There is but one period from February till October, when prosperous stocks are free from young brood in the combs. If combs are taken out when occupied, there must be a loss of all the young bees they contain; which may be avoided. The old queen leaves with the first swarm; all the eggs she leaves in the worker-cells will be matured in about twenty-one days, consequently this is the time to clear out the old combs with the least waste. A few drones will be found in the cells, that would require a few days more to hatch, but these are of no account. Also a few very young larvæ and some eggs may be sometimes found, the product of the young queen; these few must be wasted, but as the bees have expended no labor upon them as yet, it is better to sacrifice these than the greater number left by her mother, which have consumed their portion of food; the bees have sealed them up, and now only require the necessary time to mature, to make a valuable addition to the stock.