16 BEES. 
The colony on the old stand (parent colony) has the advantage of 
the bees which emerge from the brood. After a time (usually about 
nine days), the queens in their cells are ready to emerge. If the col- 
ony is only moderately strong the first queen to emerge is allowed by 
the workers to tear down the other queen cells and kill the queens not 
yet emerged, but if a ‘“‘second swarm” is to be given off the queen 
cells are protected. 
If the weather permits, after from five to eight days the young 
queen flies from the hive to mate with a drone. Mating usually 
occurs but once during the life of the queen and always takes place 
on the wing. In this single mating she receives enough sperma- 
tozoa to last throughout her hfe. She returns to the hive after 
mating, and in abeut two days begins egg laying. The queen never 
leaves the hive except at mating time or with a swarm, and her sole 
duty in the colony is to lay eggs to keep up the population. 
When the flowers are in bloom which furnish most nectar, the bees 
usually gather more honey than they need for their own use, and 
this the bee keeper can safely remove. ‘They continue the collection 
of honey and other activities until cold weather comes on in the fall, 
when brood rearing ceases; they then become relatively quiet, 
remaining in the hive all winter, except for short flights on warm 
days. When the main honey flow is over, the drones are usually 
driven from the hive. By that time the virgin queens have been 
mated and drones are of no further use. They are not usually 
stung to death, but are merely carried or driven from the hive by 
the workers and starve. A colony of bees which for any reason is 
without a queen does not expel the drones. 
Many abnormal conditions may arise in the activity of a colony, 
and it is therefore necessary for the bee keeper to understand most of 
these, so that when they occur he may overcome them. If a virgin 
queen is prevented from mating she generally dies, but occasionally 
begins to lay eggs after about four weeks. In this event, however, 
all of the eggs which develop become males. Such a queen is 
commonly called a “ drone-layer.”’ 
If the virgin queen is lost while on her flight or the colony at 
any other time is left queenless without means of rearing additional 
queens, it sometimes happens that some of the workers begin to lay 
egos. These eggs also develop only into drones. 
It also happens at times that when a queen becomes old her supply 
of spermatozoa is exhausted, at which time her eggs also develop 
only into drones. These facts are the basis of the theory that the 
drone of the bee is developed from an unfertilized egg or is partheno- 
genetic. <A full discussion of this point is impossible at this time. 
The work of the hive is very nicely apportioned among the 
inmates, so that there is little lost effort. As has been stated, the 
397 
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