October, igii. 



American Hm Journal 



bee-keeper should at times conclude that 

 bees did move eggs. I think, however, 

 that a really close observer would readily 

 find how queen-cells came into certain 

 unexpected places. 



Several years ago I had a colony that 

 became hopelessly queenless. They lost 

 their virgin queen at mating-time. But 

 in due course of time they had a fine 

 queen-cell started — only one. This was an 

 extra-fine cell, with sides nicely corru- 

 gated, as all queen-cells should be. I 

 knew in my own mind that these bees 

 had stolen an egg from which to rear a 

 queen, and that later I would have some- 

 thing remarkable to report to the bee- 

 papers, as all the books and journals I 

 had read on apiculture stated that queen- 

 cells built over the drone-lar\'3E would 

 be smooth, and not show the corrugations 

 on the sides as do those built over work- 

 er-larvae. That this is not always the case, 

 however, has been proven to me more 

 than once since then. I continued to 

 watch this big, fine cell with pride and 

 interest, for 1 was proud of such a fine 

 one, and was especially interested be- 

 cause I was sure in my own mind, at 

 least, that the bees had built it over a 

 stolen egg. But on the 25th day there 

 hatched out of the cell — what do you 

 think? A big, fine drone — that was all! 



I have often seen cells built over drone- 

 larvae, but the inmate generally dies about 

 the time the cell is sealed, or soon there- 

 after. Many other similar cases that have 

 come under my observation could be re- 

 ported where it appeared at first that the 

 bees had moved an egg from one comb to 

 another, but further investigation always 

 showed that the eggs were layed in the 

 usual way, either by a queen or by lay- 

 ing workers. And as to the case men- 

 tioned by Mr. Anderson, in which the 

 cells appeared above an excluder, he must 

 know as well as many other bee-keepers, 

 that some queens pass freely through an 

 excluder, and this is the way I account 

 for the cells above the excluder in his 

 case. 



In 2 cases have I seen queens lay eggs 

 in queen-cells above an excluder in this 

 way, and I mentioned this in Gleanings 

 in Bee Culture about 10 years ago. So 

 I have positive proof that queens do at 

 least sometimes place these eggs in the 

 queen-cells in these unexpected places, but 

 I have no proof as yet that bees do move 

 eggs. I am not prepared to say they 

 never do, but I very seriously doubt it. 

 What say you, Mr. Scholl ? 



Rescue, Texas. L. B. Smith. 



Not having watched the many colo 

 nies closely, as most of the bee-keep- 

 ers are prone to do, when I have 

 made increase or found colonies 

 queenless for some reason or other, 

 I am not prepared to say whether 

 bees really move eggs, as claimed by 

 some writers, or whether they do not 

 do so, as claimed by others. There 

 is room for more close observation, 

 and I shall watch closer after this 

 myself, if I find the time. My ex- 

 cuse is that I practice extensive bee- 

 keeping to such an extent I have 

 neglected much of the intensive part 

 or such bee-keeping as many fol- 

 low, and in which they are permitted 

 to watch things closer than I have 

 been able to do. 



Another reason is, that such cases 

 do not happen every day, and it is 

 sometimes very seldom that a person 

 stumbles on a case of this kind. I 

 remember only one case that seemed 

 as if the bees had moved an egg to 

 an adjoining comb, and from which 

 a fjucen (not a "big, fine drone") 

 hatched in due time. I do not know 



how the egg or larva from which this 

 queen was reared got into the adjoin- 

 ing comb, which was an emptj' one 

 given to the nucleus when the divis- 

 ion was made, and had contained 

 neither brood nor honey, or anything 

 else. The only eggs, larvs, or brood, 

 that was given to this nucleus was 

 in one comb taken from a strong 



colony. A lot of queen-cells were 

 constructed on this comb, and all of 

 them were used for making more 

 nuclei, using the one cell on the ad- 

 joining comb for one of these also. 

 Now, how did that egg or larva get 

 there? I am not prepared to say, 

 and it has been a puzzle to me ever 

 since — a period of 17 years. 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Nangled Section Comb Honey 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Not long ago I went to see a begin- 

 ner in bee-keeping, and on going to see 

 his honey I noted that quite a few of 

 the sections had holes torn out of the 

 cappings of the combs in different 

 places. On asking him what caused 

 these places, he said that his honey had 

 gotten so torn in taking it off the hives 

 that he called it "mangled honey." 



When I asked him further in the 

 matter, he explained that his crop was 

 not as great per colony as the year be- 

 fore, and that very many more of the 

 combs in the sections were attached to 

 the separators than he had ever known 

 before. He also told me that, do the 

 best he could, the cappings would hold 

 to the attachment, rather than to the 

 combs in the sections, and so in sep- 

 arating them, the nice white sides of 

 the section honey became mangled. 

 This expression of "mangled honey" 

 was something new to me, but the 

 trouble is not new to the most of us 

 who use separators, which includes 

 nearly all of those working for section 

 honey, as there are few at the present 

 time who try to produce section honey 

 without separators. 



In further conversation with this bee- 

 keeper he told nie that a few of his col- 

 onies gave perfect combs, but the ma- 

 jority gave such honey as I was looking 

 at. This was as I used to have matters 

 with my bees ; but after a close watch- 

 ing I found that if all colonies were 

 put in the same condition as were those 

 which gave the perfect combs, the re- 

 sult would, nine times out of ten, be 

 the same. I feel that it is the duty of 

 every apiarist having any trouble of any 

 kind with his bees, to put his whole 

 soul into the matter of finding out how 

 to master the same. This is what has 

 made such men as Dr. Miller, C. P. 

 Dadant, N. E. France, and a host of 

 others, "intelligent bee-keepers," by 

 creating in them a desire and a deter- 

 mination to mtislir every problem 

 which has come before them during 

 their bee-keeping lives. 



From much watching and experi- 

 menting, I found that some of the 

 things which contributed toward an 

 attaching of combs to the separators 

 were the following : 



First, and greatest to bring on this 

 trouble, lies in not having the hives 

 stand level, for the bees always build 

 their combs perpendicular. Especially 

 is this true where oblong sections are 



used, the same standing the tallest way 

 up, as, with such, it requires very little 

 out of the perpendicular for the lower 

 end of the comb to come near enough 

 to the bottom of the separator so that 

 the bees incline it still nearer so that 

 they can attach a brace-comb out from 

 it, and attach it to the separator so that 

 such comb may be held stationary. 

 They nearly always look out for brac- 

 ing in this way where the septum of 

 the comb comes as near as ^s inch of 

 any part of the hive. It will be remem- 

 bered that the most natural home of 

 the bee, while in a state of nature, is 

 "the hollow tree," which is likely to be 

 swayed and tossed about tumultuously 

 with every high wind or thunder-storm 

 of the year; therefore, this well-devel- 

 oped instinct of attaching combs to 

 everything stationary is a very wise 

 provison of Nature; otherwise, with a 

 sudden windstorm during an extremely 

 hot afternoon, while the combs were 

 soft and the honey they contained 

 warm, the whole mass might go down 

 in a heap, to the damage if not destruc- 

 tion of the colony. 



Now, it is not necessarythat the hive 

 be leveled both ways, unless the combs 

 in the brood-chamber run in an oppo- 

 site direction from those in the sec- 

 tions; but it is very necessary to have 

 the hive level in the direction of the 

 open sides of the sections, if we would 

 produce the nice section honey re- 

 quired for market in this Twentieth 

 Century. Many think they are able to 

 do this leveling well enough with the 

 "eye," but with the majority of bee- 

 keepers, especially beginners, it is bet- 

 ter to use a spirit-level for this work. 

 And what is better still, is to make 

 each stand, to be occupied with comb- 

 honey-producing colonies, from cement 

 and sand, having the same level before 

 it hardens, when no further looking 

 after will be needed for a lifetime. 



Then, another trouble arises from 

 the starters put in the sections so as to 

 secure the straight building of comb. 

 If these are put in in a slip-shod way, 

 so that they partly pull off, or fall 

 down, from the weight of the bees be- 

 fore they thoroughly attach them to 

 the top of the sections, poor combs 

 and many braces will be the result. 

 Then, if care is not taken to have these 

 starters run true with the sections, they 

 will be angling enough so that the 

 bees, from the same desire manifested 

 in their tree-home, will swing the 

 edges of the combs around and attach 

 them to the separators near the bottom 

 instead of to the sides of the sections 



