;U6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Junk 1 



under two heads — either absohitely queen- 

 less or temporarily queenless, the succeeding 

 (jueen to remain a virgin. 



Of the colonies under the first head, colo- 

 nies have gone queenless in late fall or early 

 w inter, and colonies have gone queenless in 

 late spring or early summer. The result 

 has always been the same— no eggs, no 

 brood. No matter how long such colonies 

 were left, in no case have eggs appeared. 

 All colonies showing eggs came under the 

 second head, and every one had a queen. 



Why, with so many chances for laying 

 workers to set uj) their rule, have none ever 

 ap[)eared in these colonies? Is there any 

 answer other than the title which heads this 

 small article— the laying worker is a rara 

 avis? 



One is led to think that, in all probability, 

 the vast majority of cases of so-called laying 

 workers are cases of undersized virgin queens. 

 That one painstaking observer should not 

 find a true case in twenty years, though he 

 had scores, if not hundreds, of apparent 

 cases, should not be considered a circum- 

 stance to be lightly passed over. The actual 

 finding of worthless queens is better evidence 

 than the failure to find any queen. 



During the past summer I had one or two 

 rather annoving cases. For a time I began 

 to suspect that no queen was present. It 

 was only after persistent search, a search 

 which called into play all my skill, that I 

 eventually in each case spotted the insignif- 

 icant queen. The removal of each queen 

 was followed by an easy introduction of a 

 good queen. 



Though I do not deny the existence of 

 laying workers, I am forced to think that 

 they have been given credit for being much 

 more common than they are, and for being, 

 in consequence, of much greater importance 

 than they are. I lirmly believe that more 

 careful search will, in the majority of cases 

 of laying workers, reveal what the bees rec- 

 ognize as a queen, but what is easily over- 

 looked by the bee-keeper because she has 

 not every attribute of a queen. 



Much greater care must be exercised in 

 the search for this queen than in the search 

 for a normal queen, (^ueen and bees both 

 fail to act in a perfectly normal manner. 

 The queen is more inclined to hide than is 

 the sound queen, and the workers are less 

 inclined to indicate to the bee-keei)er the 

 locality of the queen, Though the queen is 

 recognized as a queen, she gets little homage. 

 The best way to find such a queen is to 

 l)roceed as follows: Open the hive gently, 

 and quietly remove combs from both sides, 

 liefore removing any combs it is also well to 

 lay a strip of cloth lengthwise over the combs 

 containing the eggs and brood. Continue 

 to remove combs from each side till only 

 two are left. If careful selection has been 

 made, these two will, in the vast majority 

 of instances, hold the queen. Now split 

 these two combs apart with a ((uick motion, 

 and give a rapid glance over their inner sur- 

 faces. If the queen is not seen inside of ten 

 seconds, replace these two combs; but either 



leave the others outside, or, if placed in hive, 

 leave them two or three bee-si)aces away 

 from the central two. In about fifteen min- 

 utes take another look between those inner 

 combs. 



Do not look for a plump queen which 

 moves majestically about the frame, nor one 

 which slides with folded wings quietly un- 

 der the bees. Look rather for a nervous bee 

 with wings partly outspread, a bee somewhat 

 larger than a worker, but with actions un- 

 like those of a worker. When one knows 

 what to look for, these small ttighty ((ueens 

 are nearly as easy to find as are the normal 

 queens. 



One strong argument in favor of the belief 

 that laying workers are of rare occurrence 

 lies in the fact that nearly every remedy, if 

 not all, will as certainly get rid of such a 

 queen as I have described. The queen is 

 never found, and this is usually accepted as 

 sufficient evidence that there existed a bona- 

 fide case of laying workers. 



It has been suggested that laying workers 

 are evidence of Cyprian blood. As the writ- 

 er has been in the habit of sticking to bees 

 with a goodly percentage of black blood, 

 his failure to find laying workers may be 

 thus easily exj)lained. It might be worth 

 while to gather more comi^lete data along 

 this line. If there are apiarists who have 

 had laying workers of other than Cyprian 

 or Golden stock, why not hear from them? 

 But let proof be olTered. Failure to find a 

 queen is no proof at all. Some of these lit- 

 tle queens go through excluder zinc (quicker 

 than you can say Jack Robinson. The only 

 satisfactory proof is to catch a worker in the 

 act of laying an egg. One can divide a col- 

 ony of supposed laying workers; and if eggs 

 continue to appear in both portions, this is 

 fair proof. 



Norwich, Conn, 



[While we believe laying-workers are un- 

 common we are sorry we can not agree with 

 our correspondent on another point. There 

 is a wide ditlerence between the work of 

 dwarf or scrub queens and that of laying 

 workers. In a well-regulated apiary, es|)e- 

 cially where its owner keeps up with the 

 times, laying workers, or the evidence of 

 their work, is very rarely found. In fact, 

 we are almost inclined to think that almost 

 any one who allows such pests to develop 

 among his bees is not much of a bee-keei)er. 

 One of two things is true — he is either care- 

 less or ignorant. 



Every (|ueen-breeder is very familiar with 

 these scrub or dwarf queens. Some of them 

 are so small that they are very difficult to 

 lind. They are not a rare bird in a large 

 queen-rearing yard. But one thing is sure 

 — it is quite impossible to introduce a queen, 

 laying or virgin, to a colony having one of 

 these worker-like (|ueens. On the other 

 hand, it is quite i)ossible to introduce a lay- 

 ing (|ueen or virgin in a hive of laying work- 

 ers. To give a ripe cell is the usual remedy 

 for the nuisance. We never, in all our ex- 

 perience (and we have raised thousands of 

 queens') seen a case where a scrub queen 



