586 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug:. 25, 1904. 



enters the hive of another colony which is not intending to 

 swarm, at least not soon. Both queens get balled and killed, 

 making successful swarming impossible. It's a long time to 

 wait for a young queen, and the excitables find it a relief to 

 their feelings to try the swarming flurry occasionally — and 

 gradually get the more quiet home-bees into the same way of 

 feeling. Usually an intruding swarm preserves its queen, 

 and comes out the next day without the bees intruded upon 

 going with it in any great numbers — and that ends the mat- 

 ter. Presumably the two crowds spend the night making 

 faces at each other. 



Going back into the hive is quite common among after- 

 swarms. One would expect (their queens being much better 

 on the wing) that is would be rare. Not ready to prove 

 anything about it, but suspect two cases among them also, 

 perhaps three. In the first case the young queen is abnormally 

 rattle-headed, and after flying around a little while — some- 

 times a long while — she goes home. The bees are left to fol- 

 low when their patience fails — often after remaining in cluster 

 quite a long spell — occasionally will even submit to be hived 

 and stay a few minutes. In the second and still more abnor- 

 mal case they swarm when no queen at all has emerged yet — 

 greatly excited in their minds, and want to try if they can't 

 expedite matters by a swarm rush. Very possibly when 

 there is a queen present with the swarm the bees and not she 

 are sometimes responsible for a return. This would make a 

 third case. Page 499. 



( 



Dr. Miller's Answers 





Send Questions either to the oflBce of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Drone-Laying Queen. 



1. I have a colony of bees hived June 23 which I am 

 confident was the first swarm from the parent hive this sea- 

 son, and I supposed, of course, that the old queen was with 

 them, but to my surprise I have found that all the brood and 

 brood-combs are drone. Can you explain the cause? 



2. Can I kill this drone-laying queen and unite the work- 

 ers with another weak colony? If so, how? Or, will there 

 be danger of the bees balling the fertile queen of the other 

 colony? Illinois. 



Answers. — i. It is quite often the case that when a queen 

 becomes old the contents of her spermatheca are exhausted, 

 and she then lays drone-eggs in worker-cells ; but the change 

 is usually gradual, just a few drones at first, becoming more 

 and more until all are drones. 



2. Yes, you can unite in different ways. One way is to kill 

 the bad queen, and two or three days later give a frame with 

 adhering bees to the weak colony, and another frame eacli 

 day after. But when you have given enough so the weak 

 colony becomes as strong as the other, you need not hesitate 

 to give all the rest at one time. 



Supposed Mating of Clipped Queen. 



I see you say that it is a physical impossibility for a queen 

 to mate that is clipped. My father-in-law, an honest Chris- 

 tian man, had a case just like that. About June 12 a first 

 swarm came from a colony (he saw,., it cast the swarm). In 

 due time he saw a second swarm issue from the same hive. 

 The queen would not stay in, so he cut off both wings. I 

 told him later that he had fixed her. But today I examined 

 the condition of the colony, and found a clipped queen laying 

 splendidly. The hive was three-fourths full of worker-comb, 

 with brood in all stages from eggs to hatching bees. To say 

 I was surprised puts it mildly. There was an alighting board 



two or three feet square in front of the hive which had been 

 there since they were put in. I can vouch for these facts. 

 He had cut off three-quarters of the wings. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — I liave had several cases of the same kind, ex- 

 cepting that there was no clipped virgin in the case. July 27, 

 this year, I took the queen from No. iii and put her in a 

 colony fifteen numbers farther on in the row. Eight days 

 later I found plenty of eggs and young brood in No. ill, and 

 was surprised to find a clipped queen present. The likelihood 

 is that a neighboring colony swarmed, and its queen entered 

 No. III. Is it not possible that the same thing occurred in 

 your case? 



Late Brood-Rearing— Bees of Swarm Killed. 



1. I notice that late brood-rearing is recommended. How 

 would you encourage it ? 



2. I have a swarm that issued on June 8, which did fair- 

 ly well. But on the morning of .\ugust 4 I found about half 

 a pint of dead bees on the ground and on the alighting-board. 

 Why did they kill them ? Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — i. With a fall flow of even moderate extent 

 there is no need to do anything to keep up late brood-rearing. 

 Young queens, however, are more reliable than old ones. If 

 the flow stops early, breeding can be kept up by light feeding 

 every other night. 



2. It is quite possible that a puny afterswarm from 

 somewhere else tried to enter, and the bees were killed. 



Clipping Queens to Lay in Queen-Cells— Excluders 

 Under Section Supers. 



On page 535 Mr. Tfiomas Broderick says that to clip a 

 queen will induce her to lay in queen-cells, and I wish you 

 would give me some light on this subject, as I am clipping a 

 number of my queens, though I never found that this induced 

 them to lay in queen-cells. Are not a great number of the 

 bee-keepers recommending clipping all queens? 



2. Do you think that a queen-excluder will do much in 

 preventing the storing of honey in sections? If so, to what 

 extent ? 



3. Would you advise taking the chances of having some 

 sections filled with brood rather than to use a queen-ex- 

 cluder? Texas. 



Answers. — i. I have been clipping all my queens for 

 years and never supposed it made any difference about their 

 laying in queen-cells. I don't see why it should. Perhaps 

 Mr. Broderick will enlighten us on this point. 



2. Of course it hinders free passage at least a fittle, and 

 to that extent is a hindrance to storijig; but that hindrance 

 might not amount to one pound in a thousand. Yet it may 

 amount to more. 



3. Witji separators and sections filled w-ith foundation 

 there seems no need for excluders. At least I don't find brood 

 in one section in a thousand. 



Perhaps Excited- Uniting Colonies— Shaken Swarm. 



1. I had a pint of bees and a queen in a hive. The queen 

 was a virgin, and when she took her wedding-flight the bees 

 swarmed out with her and lit on a cedar-tree near by. Why 

 did they do this? 



2. I returned the swarm and gave them about a pint 

 more bees and ' some brood. Two days later the queen left 

 the hive and returned fertilized. Of this I am sure. Two 

 days later the queen and two-thirds of the bees were gone. 

 Where did they go? Is it possible that they went into some 

 neighboring hive? 



3. What is the best method of uniting? 



4. What is a shaken swarm? ^Iaine. 



Answers. — i. I don't know; perhaps from mere excite- 

 ment. It is not at all an uncommon thing, 



2. Quite likely; although it is impossible to say. 



3. Hard In say. One good way is to make one of the 



