February, '21] paddock: value of good queens 101 



Section on Apiculture 



(T| 'ednesday Evening) 



The meeting of the Section on Apiculture of the American Association 

 of Economic Entomologists was held Wednesday evening, December 29, 

 1920, at the University of Chicago, and was called to order at 8.15 p. m. 

 by the Chairman, Mr. F. B. Paddock of Ames, Iowa. 



Secretary G. M. Bentley: It becomes my duty to introduce the 

 first speaker of the evening, our Chairman, Mr. Paddock. He will 

 address us on "Better Queens." 



THE VALUE OF GOOD QUEENS 



By F. B. Paddock, Ames, Iowa 



Increased production and efficiency of production are terms which 

 have come to mean a great deal to all of us during the last few years. 

 Among beekeepers these terms have less meaning than among most any 

 other class of producer. Several factors are needed to place honey 

 production on a sound basis. To even enumerate the more important 

 factors is without the scope of this paper. Only one factor is given for 

 consideration; better queens. 



During the past season observations have been made in an apiary 

 which was originally composed of 60 colonies. The start was made by 

 the purchase of 40 3-frame nuclei and 20 3-pound packages. All of the 

 bees arrived and were installed about April 27. The queens were 

 raised in the period just preceding shipment. In the two weeks 

 following installation some queens were lost and such nuclei were dis- 

 tributed, a frame or so in a place, among the remaining nuclei. Since 

 all the bees were in the same yard, all placed on foundation, all fed 

 apparently equal, all given any and every attention possible, it can 

 be said that the environment of the colonies was as nearly equal as it 

 is possible to provide. 



On June Gth an examination was made of the 14 colonies originating 

 from packages and the 31 colonies originating from nuclei. A more or 

 less arbitrary standard was used but the ratings were applied equally 

 in every case. These were Excellent for those colonies with G frames 

 of brood, Good for 5-frame, Medium for 4-frame in modified Dadant 

 hive. 



Of the package colonies on June 5th, 12 were rated as Excellent and 

 2 as Medium. The results of the season in honey gathered arc shown 

 in Table I. Of the 2 Mediiun colonies, 1 produced no surplus honey 

 and 1 produced }4 super. A full modified Dadant super is taken to 



