240 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1918 



the super, or, early in the season, when no 

 super is used, it is placed just above the 

 l)rood chamber; and over all is placed the 

 lieavier outer cover. 



Since we are attempting to describe a very- 

 cheap outfit, no mention has been made of an 

 alighting board, but, of course, the hive 

 bottom should rest on some support to keep 

 it from contact with the ground, and a board 

 sloping up to the entrance is quite a help to 

 the bees as they return laden with honey. 



The brood chamber itself furnishes the best 

 opportunity for studying the bees since in 

 this one apartment all the activities of the 

 hive are conducted. Here will be found the 

 three kinds of bees — queen, workers, and 



Queen, drone and worker. 



drones. Each is raised in its own peculiar 

 kind of cell, and each has its own special 

 work to perform. 



The smallest bees in the hive are undevel- 

 oped females, known as workers. Of the in- 

 mates of the hive, these make up the great 

 majority, there being from 25,000 to 75,000 

 or more in each colony. Their development 

 from the depositing of the egg to the adult 

 bee requires about 21 days. When first 

 hatched, their bodies are covered with soft 

 hair which gradually wears off as they be- 

 come older. 



With the excejition of the first day or two, 

 their first two weeks are spent as nurse bees, 

 in which capacity they partially digest pollen 

 and honey and feed to the larvae and queen, 

 and also build comb and do other work about 

 the interior of the hive. After this, they 







At the center, hatching brood; above and at the 

 right, cells containing larvaa in different stages of 

 development; F, larvic nearly ready to seal. B. C, 

 1), and E, queen cells ; B, partially built ; C, one 

 from which queen has hatched; D, capped cell; E, 

 onci with side torn down in order to kill contained 

 queen. 



begin gathering honey from the fields, leav- 

 ing the house work to the young emerging 

 bees. Altho workers may live over six months, 

 yet during the busy season their length of 

 life is quite short, only six or seven weeks. 



Among the workers may often be noticed 

 a few large, blunt, clumsy-looking bees. 

 These are the male bees or drones, and are 

 developed in 24 days from unfertilized eggs 

 which the queen is able to lay at will. The 

 drones are not as long as the queen, but are 

 much stouter than either workers or queen. 

 They have no power to sting or to gather 

 honey, their sole function being the fertiliza- 

 tion of the queen. 



The largest, longest bee in the hive is the 

 queen. Her plumpness varies somewhat, be- 

 ing greatest at the height of her egg laying. 

 After she has become mated she has a very 

 sedate and dignified bearing and may be eas- 

 ily distinguished by this characteristic. A 

 dozen or so of the bees nearest the queen 

 often form a little circle, facing toward her 

 and caressing her with their antennse. 



The queen cell in which the queen is rais- 

 ed is in shape and size somewhat like a pea- 

 nut, or long slender acorn, with the smaller 

 end hanging downward. As soon as the tiny 

 egg in the queen cell hatches (three days), 

 the nurse bees feed it "royal jelly," which 

 is a concentrated, partially digested mixture 









Capped brood in lower left corner, pollen above and 

 at the right. 



of honey and pollen. After feeding six days, 

 the cell is closed, or "sealed," and on the 

 16th day from the laying of the egg, the 

 queen bites her way thru her self-spun cocoon 

 and emerges. After taking a little honey she 

 tries to kill any queen present, and either 

 she or the bees destroy all capped queen cells. 

 In about six days she takes her wedding flight 

 and a day or two later begins laying. During 

 the height of the season she may easily lay 

 ."),000 eggs a day. Queens may live four or 

 five years, but are only at their best the first 

 two years. 



When glancing thru the brood chamber, 

 around the outsides of the combs will be 

 noticed cells about 1/5 inch in diameter, 

 whose coverings, or cappings, are of white, 

 yellow or bluish-white wax, and seem some- 

 what -flattened in appearance. These cells 

 contain honey which has been placed in a 

 convenient position for feeding the young 

 brood. 



Just inside of this honey and toward the 

 center of the comb may be noticed cells not 

 cai)i)cd over but containing a yellow, red, 

 green, or perhaps dark brown substance. This 

 is pollen which the bees have obtained from 



