QUEENS. 



869 



QUEENS. 



get. Wlien a, queen proves a drone-layer be- 

 fore the purchaser can receive any benefit 

 from her, we think another should be sent. 

 Of course, we can not give a rule for settling 

 all such matters, but we would most ear- 

 nestly advise that all try to do as we would 

 be done by, and every one be ready to bear a 

 little more than due share of such losses as 

 may come up. 



Well, queens not only turn suddenly to 

 drone-layers, but they sometimes produce 

 about an equal number of each kind of eggs. 

 In all these cases, where the queen lays 

 drone-eggs when she evidently intended to 

 lay worker-eggs, they are in worker-cells; 

 also the number of eggs laid usually rapid- 

 ly decreases. The bees, as well as queen, 

 evidently begin to think that something is 

 wrong ; queen-cells are soon started, and aft- 

 er the young queen is hatched she becomes 

 fertile, and begins to help her mother. All 

 liands evidently think that any kind of 

 queen is better than none, hence a queen is 

 seldom dragged out of the hive, as a worker- 

 bee is, because she is ailing. 



Very early in the spring, late in the fall, or 

 at any time when forage is not abundant, 

 a queen will pass right by drone-cells, taking 

 no notice of them. We have often tried to 

 get eggs in drone-cells by feeding, and can 

 not but conclude that the queen knows 

 what an egg will produce, and just what 

 ''wires to pull" to have every egg laid in a 

 drone-cell produce a drone. We think it 

 very likely the workers have something to do 

 with this matter, but we have never been 

 able to make out by what means they signi- 

 fy to the queen that some eggs in drone-cells, 

 or even queen - cells, would be desirable. 

 There seems to be a constant understanding 

 in the hive as to what is going to be done 

 next, and consequently there is no clashing. 

 We wish, friends, the human family could 

 understand each other as well. In our api- 

 ary there seems to be, in strong stocks, a 

 kind of understanding that eggs shall be laid 

 in drone-cells about the last of March, and 

 we have drones, therefore, some time in 

 April, ready for the first queens that may, 

 by any accident, make their appearance. 

 Those who insist that there is only one 

 kind of eggs can satisfy themselves very 

 easily by taking an egg from either a drone 

 or worker cell and placing it in the bottom 

 of a cell of the other kind. They will get 

 a drone in a worker-cell, or a worker in a 

 drone-cell. Again : If you give a young 

 laying queen a hive su])plied only with drone 

 combs, she will rear worker brood in these 



drone-cells, and the mouth of the cells will 

 be contracted with wax, as mentioned under 

 Honey-comb. 



When they get ready to swarm they build 

 shallow queen-cells, in \\ hich the queen then 

 lays a worker-egg. Although we never 

 saw her lay an egg in a queen-cell, we are 

 satisfied that she does it, from the way in 

 which it is put in. Like the rest of the eggs, 

 it is fastened to the center of the bottom 

 ,of the cell by one of its ends, and we sup- 

 pose, when first deposited, it is covered with 

 a sort of glutinous matter that makes it stick 

 firmly where it first touches. We know that 

 bees have the skill to remove both eggs and 

 larvse, for we have several times known them 

 to take eggs and brood to an old dry comb 

 when no queen was present in the hive. 



Occasionally a queen is found that will 

 never lay at all ; again, queens that laid 

 eggs which never liatched into larvse have 

 been several times reported. We have had 

 several such, and they were in appearance 

 fine nice-looking queens. 



After having told you thus much of the 

 faults and imperfections of queens, we would 

 add, for their credit, that when once proper- 

 ly installed in a strong colony they are about 

 as safe property as any thing, because, 

 in the great majority of cases, they live and 

 thrive for years. We have never heard of 

 any disease among queens, and, while a 

 worker lives only a few months, they often 

 1 live 3 or 4 years. One that was imported 

 from Italy by Dadant furnished us brood and 

 , eggs for queen-rearing for four summers. 

 I We then sold her for $2.00, and she died in 

 I being sent less than .50 miles. She was very 

 I large and heavy, and, probably, being so old 

 I could not cling to the sides of the cage like 

 a younger one. We have never heard of 

 queens being troubled with any thing but a 

 European parasite, which quickly disappear- 

 ed when introduced into American apiaries. 

 See Enemies of Bees. 



LOSS OF queen. 



It is a very important matter to be able to 

 know at once when a queen is lost. During 

 the months of May and June the loss of a 

 queen from the hive a single day will make 

 quite a marked difference in the honey crop. 

 If we assume the number of eggs a queen 

 may lay in a day to be 3000, by taking her 

 away a single day we should, in the course 

 of events, be just that number of bees short 

 right during a yield of honey. To put it 

 very moderately, a quart of bees might be 

 taken out of the hive by simply caging th^ 



