348 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May 1. 



combs were well filled with honey, and a fair 

 number of bees were in the hive; but not a 

 trace of brood at any stage could be seen. On 

 the evening of the same day I sent off an order 

 for a gray Carnlolan queen, as I was anxious 

 to try that strain. On the 14th I gave that 

 colony a frame of brood, some of which was 

 sealed, and others in all stages. I know but 

 little about the best method of management of 

 bees, but I wanted to see what effect the intro- 

 duction of brood into the hive would have up- 

 on the bees. I thought possibly it might make 

 them anxious for a queen, and that thus they 

 would more readily welcome the new queen 

 when she would come. 



On the next day, the 15th, my queen came. 

 Before placing the cage in the hive I examined 

 the frame of brood to see whether they had be- 

 gun to construct queen-cells; but there was no 

 indication whatever in that direction. As the 

 bees did not seem to be anxious to release the 

 queen I examined that one frame every day, 

 but no trace of a queen-cell was seen. 



On the 19th, four days after the introduction 

 of the queen-cage, 1 concluded to make a more 

 thorough investigation. This time I examined 

 all the frames, and I found a number of queen- 

 cells throughout the hive — some on the third 

 frame from the frame of brood. The bees had 

 transferred larvas into the queen-cells, and one 

 queen-cell was capped, and one cell had a larva 

 just hatched. They had also transferred con- 

 siderable brood into worker-cells and into drone- 

 cells. Some of the drone brood and worker 

 brood was capped. The drone-cells were in the 

 third frame from the introduced frame. On 

 some of the frames I found about ten square 

 inches, every contiguous cell filled with brood. 

 The bees had evidently a hard job on their 

 hands. Some of the brood was not in natural 

 position in the cell; but, instead of lying paral- 

 lel to the surface of the comb, much of the 

 larvfe had one side deeper in the cell than the 

 other side. Again, the bees were not able to 

 place the larva?- in the bottom of the cell, but 

 nearly all were lodged about half way down. 



I am now convinced that bees do transfer 

 brood in different stages of development. They 

 transfer it to quite a distance; and, while in 

 this case the tendency seems to have been to 

 group the transferred larva), yet on some of the 

 frames a single cell containing brood was found. 



From the noted condition of the hive, and 

 from some facts that I know about the colony, 

 I think the queen was lost in May. 



Daniel Fleisher. 



[Perhaps my friend Greinerwill insist that 

 this is not a case in point, because he was talk- 

 ing about eggs. If bees will transfer larva) 

 they will eggs; and, to refer to that " old chest- 

 nut" again, I have seen the bees carry eggs. If 

 they carry eggs they can also put them in cells. 

 —Ed.] 



Look here, friend Greiner, you think you're 

 misunderstood all around; but it seems to me 



I'm the one that's misunderstood, if you think 

 I wanted to treat lightly what you said on 

 page 142; for I consider it a matter of no small 

 consequence to know whether eggs can be kept 

 in safety for some time out of the hive, and have 

 done some little experimenting in that line, 

 although none of my efforts have so far been 

 successful. It surely would 'be a nice thing if 

 we knew how to keep eggs out of a hive for 

 even three or four days, and then have the bees 

 hatch them out; for in that case there could be 

 quite a business sending eggs by mail. 



I'm rather ashamed to say it never occurred 

 to me before that it made any difference how 

 fresh or how old an egg was, so long as it had 

 been kept by the bees and had not yet hatched 

 out into a grub. But since you mention it, it 

 looks very reasonable to suppose that, as soon 

 as the hatching process has commenced, the 

 egg begins to change, and will not endure re- 

 moval from the heat of the bees. After a hen 

 has been sitting on an egg three days I suppose 

 it will be spoiled if chilled, although before the 

 hen commences to sit on it it may be almost 

 frozen without impairing its vitality. Reason- 

 ing by analogy, if we understand that the pro- 

 cess of incubation commences immediately 

 when the queen lays the egg, it will be as far 

 advanced when ten hours old as the egg of the 

 hen after it has been sat upon three days. So 

 if the queen is laying regularly, and we want 

 to take out eggs that are fresh enough to keep, 

 we'll find only about one out of every eight eggs 

 in the hive of that description. 



Now about bees moving eggs. I think you 

 are right in believing that nothing is proved 

 one way or another as to whether bees can 

 move eggs from one cell to another, and then 

 hatch them out, simply by the fact that a work- 

 er has been seen carrying an egg in its mouth. 

 It might be carrying it the same as it would 

 carry a piece of dirt. 



But if the teaching of others is correct, you 

 are wrong in thinking that the egg is so firmly 

 cemented to the bottom of the cell that a work- 

 er can not move it, and also in thinking that, 

 in all stages, the bees would have to fasten the 

 egg in the cell " standing on end." I do not 

 know from my own observation that " an egg 

 in a c^ll is changed every 24 hours," but I think 

 I have seen that distinctly stated by more than 

 one writer, albeit by no one this side the ocean. 

 I quote what is said by no less an authority than 

 Thos. Wm. Cowan. In the " Honey Bee," page 

 10, he says, "It will be noticed that the egg 

 stands in a position parallel to the sides of the 

 cell, and this position it retains the first day. 

 On the second day it is inclined at an angle of 

 about 45°, and on the third day it assumes a 

 horizontal position, resting perfectly flat on the 

 base of the cell." It seems a little strange that 

 American books make no mention of this, as it 

 is a matter that can very easily be proved or 

 disproved. 



