QUEENS. 



367 



QUEENS. 



The two ends of the prong are split, and a 

 light rubber band secured in the manner in- 

 dicated. 



This band must be stretched just tight 

 enough so tliat, when the implement strad- 

 dles a bee, the rubber band will hold it 

 securely. Eor the purpose of determining 

 just when the right amount of tension is 

 secured, try it on common bees as they 

 walk across on the combs. If it fails 

 to hold one of them the band should be 

 stretched a little tighter; and if not then 

 sufficient, a heavier band should be used. 

 After having perfected it on ordinary bees, 

 use it on a queen-bee, and clip her wings in 

 the manner shown. 



Xto9' 



WILLIS QUEEN - CLIPPIXG DEVICE, AND 

 HOW USED. 



This is the invention of Mr. K. D. Willis, 

 of Montrose, Col.; and after having tested 

 the same w^e find that the implement works 

 very satisfactorily. 



Ill handling, the fingers sometimes taint 

 the queens and cause bees to ball them after 

 they have been clipped. This little device 

 would obviate any trouble of that kind. 



There are some bee-keepers, among whom 



may be mentioned Friedman Greiner, of 



New York, who prefer to clip the queen 



without ])icking her up off the C(jmb. One 



r^ J edge of the frame is rested on the hive, as 



*'*''''^ shown on the prre o o ding page, while the free 



"^^hand with a pair of line-jjointed scissors 



quickly clips the wings of her majesty as 



she stops for a moment on the comb. 



Practice first on drones or workers before 

 essaying the act on a queen. It is needful 

 to work quickly and with considerable pre- 

 cision. Clumsy movements will be liable to 

 cripple a queen seriously. It would be better 

 to pick her up and follow any other method 

 described. 



HOW QUEENS LAY TWO KINDS OF EGGS. 



That queens lay two kinds of eggs we 

 think few are inclined to dispute, since the 

 experiments with the microscope have de- 

 cided the matter so clearly, as given under 

 Drones. Suppose a young queen goes out 

 to meet the drones so late in the fall or so 

 early in the spring that there are none ; 

 what is the consequence? Well, sometimes 

 she will never lay at all; but frequently 

 she commences to lay when 3 or 4 weeks 

 old, and her eggs produce only drones. In 

 fact, she can produce no other eggs, having 

 never been fertilized. How shall we dis- 

 tinguish such queens from fertile ones? 

 We can not decide positively concerning 

 them, by any means we know now, until 

 their brood is ready to seal up; then we will 

 know by the round, raised capping of the 

 brood, like bullets laid on a board, as we 

 explained under Drones. We can give a 

 pretty good guess by noticing the way in 

 which she lays the eggs; if they are few and 

 scattering, and sometimes, or often, in 

 ch'one-cells, coupled with the fact that she 

 did not commence laying until two w^eeks 

 or more old, we had better not send her off 

 as an untested queen until some of her brood 

 is sealed over. A young queen, if properly 

 fertilized, never, or very rarely, lays an egg 

 in a drone-cell; and when she commences to 

 lay, she fills cell after cell in regular order, 

 as men hoe a field of corn ; her work also 

 has a neat and finished appearance that says 

 at once to the expert, " I am all right." 



Now, friends, do not think us contradic- 

 tory w^hen we tell you that a young queen 

 in rare cases does begin with all, or nearly 

 all, drone-eggs, but, after a while, lays en- 

 tirely worker-eggs as regularly as one could 

 wish.* We do not know w^hy this is: perhaps 

 she has not yet got used to the "machinery." 

 Once more, you must bear with us in tell- 

 ing you that any queen, the best one you 

 ever saw, is liable, any day of her life, to 

 begin laying drone eggs altogether, or in 



* It has been suggested that this phenomenon may be 

 accounted for by the fact that fertile workers were in 

 the hive before the young queen began to lay; and the 

 drone eggs are not from the queen but the fertile work- 

 ers, and that, when the queen begins, she lays worker 

 eggs at the very start, while the fertile workers are de- 

 stroyed, and hence the drone eggs disappear. We are 

 free to admit this is possible. 



