360 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OfE. Doc. 



conclusive evidence is found in the sealed brood. Worker brood, 

 when it is sealed, presents a flat surface; but if drone brood be in the 

 worker cells, the cappings will be raised, looking much like a lot of 

 little marbles. 



But when drone brood is found in worker cells, it is not always 

 the case that a bad queen is present. There may be no queen at all. 

 When a colony has been queenless for some time, a number of work- 

 ers may undertake the duty of egg-laying, and such eggs will produce 

 only drones. The cappings of the brood in worker cells will show 

 the same raised appearance as in the case of a drone-laying queen. 

 Even before any brood is sealed, you may tell the presence of laying 

 workers by the way in which the eggs are laid. They are somewhat 

 scattering, instead of having every cell regularly filled, as in the case 

 of a good queen, and the laying workers have a preference for drone 

 cells and queen cells. If you find drone comb filled with eggs while 

 worker cells remain unoccupied, you may suspect laying workers. 

 If you find two or more eggs in many of the drone cells, and es- 

 pecially if you find a whole lot of eggs piled into one queen cell, you 

 may feel sure you have a case of laying workers. Often the first 

 intimation of laying workers will be one or more eggs in a queen 

 cell and no other eggs present. 



Whether you have a drone-laying queen or laying workers, the 

 remedy is the same; break up the colony and unite with others. 



CLIPPING QUEENS. 



At the time of spring overhauling is a good time to clip all queens 

 that have whole wings. Not all bee-keepers approve of clipping 

 queens, but a large number do. The advantage is that a swarm 

 with a clipped queen cannot sail off to parts unknown if you do not 

 happen to be on hand to take care of them. You may lose the clipped 

 queen, but it is better to lose the queen than to lose both bees and 

 queen. 



There are two wings on each side. If you cut off two-thirds of the 

 large wing on one side, the queen cannot fly. It is just as con- 

 venient to cut off" both wings on one side, and it is easier to tell at 

 a glance that such queen is clipped. 



Be sure that you never clip a virgin queen. If a'ou do she will 

 never rear anything but drones, for she cannot fly out to meet the 

 drones. As soon as a queen is found to be laying it is safe to clip 

 her, for she is fertilized once for life. 



A queen may be clipped with a pair of scissors or a sharp knife. 

 In catching a queen, do not grasp her by the abdomen, which is 



