1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



125 



on the outside of the hive for days and 

 sometimes for weeks, because they are 

 unable to sufficiently ventilate the in- 

 side of the brood-chamber and supers. 

 We must remember that every corner, 

 every story of a hive is in absolute 

 need of a current of fresh air which is 

 supplied at great pains by establishing 

 a line of fanning bees, incessantly forc- 

 ing pure air in and foul air out. Yet 

 in many colonies there may be but a 

 shallow entrance, partly closed by 

 clustering bees, and perhaps on the in- 

 side above the brood-combs there may 

 be some partitions, queen-excluders, 

 separators, honey-boards, etc., all in 

 the way of ventilation. We raise our 

 hives from the bottom, in front, from 

 one to two inches, when there is a like- 

 lihood of the bees being unable to ven- 

 tilate otherwise. We have even set the 

 supers back a half inch or so, during 

 the hottest days, to secure a current of 

 air through the brood-chamber in very 

 hot weather. But this must not be 

 continued too long, for it might inter- 

 fere with the storing of honey in the 

 front of the supers if the weather 

 changed. The bottom ventilation, how- 

 ever, must be ample, ample enough in 

 fact to allow all the bees to work, so 

 that none will remain clustering on the 

 outside during the continuation of the 

 honey crop. 



4. As help to ventilation and comfort 

 by decreasing the heat, a good roof is 

 needed when the hives are exposed to 

 the sun. We use coarse roofs on our 

 hives, even when they are located in 

 the shade of trees. Our roofs are made 

 very cheaply of large discarded dry 

 goods boxes and are flat. They are 

 cleated with 2x2 inch scantling on the 

 rear underside and a 1x2 inch strip un- 

 der the front end. This secures a slope 

 of an inch, which may be turned the 

 other way to shed water in rear. The 

 roofs are much wider than the hive and 

 shelter the top from the effects of the 

 weather. 



5. The queen must be young. Some 

 beekeepers believe in requeening every 

 season after the honey crop. I do not 

 believe in so radical a measure. In fact, 

 I would not feel capable of killing a 

 first-class queen after only one sea- 

 son of use. But I do believe in keep- 

 ing only prolific queens and if the 

 queen has proven under grade she 

 should be replaced. Old queens who 

 are losing their fertility are a frequent 

 source of swarming. The workers pre- 

 pare to supersede them, just as soon 

 as they notice their reduced laying, by 

 rearing queen-cells. The old queen in 

 a pique leaves with a swarm. So we 

 must replace our old queens every fall 

 or late summer. 



6. A large number of drones is an 

 incentive to swarming. Some of the 

 old-time beekeepers thought the drones 

 were beneficial because the colonies 

 having many drones swarm readily. 

 They considered swarming a desirable 

 thing. So it was, when dividing or 

 artificial increase was unknown. They 

 also thought the drones were useful in 

 keeping the brood warm. So they 

 would be if they did not have to be 

 kept warm themselves when they are 

 reared and also if the bees did not kill 

 them, as they are sure to do, in bad 

 weather. 



There is not any doubt that the ex- 

 cess of drones in the hive promotes 

 swarming. Those big, noisy fellows 

 remain in the way, all day long, except 



for a flight during the warmest hours, 

 being then still more in the way of the 

 active workers. Although, as Dr. Bru- 

 ennich says, there is a certain fondness 

 of the workers for the drones, during 

 the crop, which changes to hate after- 

 wards when they see them helping 

 themselves from their hard earned 

 stores, yet their numbers make for dis- 

 comfort and a crowded condition 



In a state of nature, according to the 

 best authorities, bees build from one- 

 seventh to one-tenth of their combs of 

 drone size, in the brood-chamber. If 

 only one-twentieth of the combs of a 

 normal colony were filled with drone- 

 brood, this would supply nearly 2500 

 drones per colony. We should permit 

 only two or three of our very best 

 breeders to rear so large a number of 

 drones, for 5000 to 10,000 drones are 

 enough for any apiary. 



Some beekeepers see no way to de- 

 stroy drones, but to use a drone-trap. 

 That is to say, during the busiest, 

 warmest season, when their bees need 

 the greatest amount of ventilation, they 

 place in front of the entrance a cage 

 made to catch drones and queens, the 

 very worst encumbrance that may be 

 devised, for the sake of catching the 

 drones as they emerge, having to re- 

 move them every evening or sufTer the 

 odor and encumbrance of dead drones 

 in front of each hive. 



Some other beekeepers think of do- 

 ing better by cutting off the heads of 

 the drone-brood, in the cells, with a 

 sharp knife. ■ This is a terrible mess. 

 It compels the bees to pull out all those 

 drones and carry them out of the hive. 

 Then the same drone-comb is carefully 

 cleaned and within a day or two the 

 queen again fills it with eggs that will 

 produce a second batch of drones. 

 That is to say, we have spent a lot of 

 energy rearing expensive drones, and 

 now we are rearing another lot. 



It is probably impossible to rear no 

 drones at all, but if we remove all the 

 drone-comb, early in the season, as 

 nearly as we can, and replace it with 

 worker-comb, there will be drones 

 reared only in imperfect cells here and 

 there or in out-of-the-way corners. 

 Iiistead of rearing 2000 or more, we 

 will perhaps rear 200 or less in each 

 colony, a very important difference 

 when we consider the comfort of the 

 colony. Remember that- if we leave 

 the bees to their own devices, when we 



remove the drone-comb, in early spring 

 they will be sure to build drone-comb 

 in the same spot. So it is important 

 to replace it with worker-comb. 



It has often been stated that bees will 

 tear down worker-comb to build drone- 

 comb in its place. I believe this is an 

 error of observation. Four different 

 experimenters, to my knowledge, have 

 tried the hiving of a swarm in a hive 

 full of drone-comb. If bees would tear 

 down one kind of comb readily, to 

 build in the other kind, they surely 

 would have done it in these cases. But 

 in each case, the bees followed the 

 same method. They did not tear the 

 comb to rebuild it, but only narrowed 

 the mouth of the cells to worker size 

 and the queen laid worker eggs in 

 them. The names of the experimen- 

 ters who tried this are: K. Drory, of 

 Bordeaux, former editor of the Rucher 

 Du Sud Quest; Mr. Thomas W. Cowan, 

 editor of the British Bee Journal ; Dr. 

 Bruennich, of Switzerland, and myself. 



There are instances, however, of bees 

 building drone - comb on imperfect 

 worker foundation. They are rare and 

 are usually due to some defect of the 

 foundation, which may have been 

 stretched slightly in laminating. At 

 the meeting of the beekeepers of Mid- 

 dlebury, Vt., the past summer, Mr. 

 Crane mentioned having had about a 

 dozen sheets of foundation thus 

 changed, out of some 2000 used by him 

 the past summer. These are only acci- 

 dents. Accidents also are instances of 

 bees building drone-cells on one side 

 of the comb, while worker-cells are on 

 the opposite side. In such a case the 

 regular base is not followed and the 

 cells lap over, showing plainly that 

 they ivere irregularly built. Mr. Latham 

 exhibited to me two square inches of 

 such comb during the summer of 1916. 

 These are only accidents. Such combs 

 should be remelted and replaced by 

 well built combs. 



When we replace the drone-comb 

 with worker-comb in all but our best 

 colonies, we do away with undesirable 

 drones, for the mating of the queens. 

 We save food which would be wasted 

 on these undesirable beings, since the 

 drone costs at least one-half more to 

 rear than a worker, and has to be fed 

 as long as he lives. 



Replace the drone-comb with worker- 

 comb, as much as possible in your 



ONE OF L. L. ANDREWS APIARIES IN THE WILD BUCKWHEAT 



