596 



GLEANINGS -IN BEE CULTURE 



HOW SHOULD BEES, PARTICULARLY QUEEN BEES, BE SHIPPED IN 



POUND PACKAGES? 



BY T. DWTGHT "WHITMAN 



Different shippers liavc their own ways 

 of preparing packages of bees for ship- 

 ment. 



Having to make a fresh start this spring, 

 1 decided to try buying bees by the pound 

 to avoid danger of disease. I used no old 

 fombs, and only the best of the old fi'ames, 

 which were dijiped in boiling lye and thor- 

 oughly washed afterward in several changes 

 of water. All Jiive-bodies were burned out. 



The frames, after being dried in the sun, 

 were wired, and full sheets of foundation 

 inserted. Bees were ordered from two places 

 in California, each distant three days by 

 rail. 



One shipper (A) used the standard Root 

 shipping-cage with water-bottle, the queens 

 coming loose in (he boxes with the other 

 bees. The other shipper (B) used home- 

 made boxes with solid sides and ends wii]\ 

 lop and bottom of screen wire, a small 

 trough for candy feed. The queen lay in a 

 mailing-cage inside the box, and no water 

 was supplied. 



The first shipment from breeder A reach- 

 ed me April 5 (about ten days after date 

 ]:»romised), at which time the plum, cherry, 

 currant, pears, apples, and Scotch broom 

 were in bloom. In this shipment there were 

 eight one-pound packages (Root cages) 

 with four untested queens loose in four 

 marked boxes. 



Colonies 1 and 2 were made of two 

 l)ounds of bees with untested queens run 

 into double hive as described in Gleanings, 

 June 15, 1915, page 497. In each compart- 

 ment of this double hive were three full 

 fram.es of foundation and a division-board 

 feeder with two cups of sugar and two of 

 hot water. 



The bees were shaken in front of this 

 hive at 10 A. m., April 5. At noon the next 

 day the bees had made good progress in 

 drawing out the foundation; and the queen 

 in No. 1 was laying. The queen in No. 

 2, however, did not lay until the next day. 

 The Aveather conditions were as follows: 

 April 5, very fine ; 6, dull with rain at 6 P. 

 M.; 7, showers; 8, fine; 9, very fine. 



The bees in all of the boxes had consumed 

 all of the feed, and in some of the cages the 

 water-bottles were empty. There was quite 

 M number of dead bees in some of the cages, 

 tiiose having water but no feed showing llie 

 most dead bees. 



The shipment from breeder B arrived 

 April 10. These Avere in home-made boxes 

 Avith the queen.s confined in Benton cages 



inside the boxes. Most of them had been 

 released by the bees. Their supply of feed 

 was almost used up, no Avater was supplied, 

 and, to my surprise, there were very few 

 dead bees. 



These bees Avere put in the same kind of 

 hive as the others. Colony No. 5 Avas made 

 of tAvo pounds of bees with an untested 

 queen that Avas still in Benton cage on ar- 

 ii\al. The hive contained the same number 

 of frames of foundation and feeder with 

 the same amount of feed as used before. 



Weather conditions: April 10, fine and 

 warm; 11, shoAvers; 12, early fine, folloAved 

 Avith showers; 13, fine, Avindj-; 14—19, very 

 fine. 



The bees prompth' dreAV out the founda- 

 tion. Five days later, as the queen was not 

 laying I put in a frame of drawn comb 

 Avith eggs and found, on the 21st, that 

 queen-cells had started, but the queen was 

 not laying, and so I broke up the hive. 



Colony No. Avas made of tAVo pounds of 

 bees Avith untested queen from breeder B ; 

 but in this case she had been released from 

 the Benton cage, while en route, by the 

 bees. They were run in Avilh the queen in 

 the other side of the double hive on three 

 full frames of foundation Avith division- 

 board feeder. They Avere given the same 

 feed as the others at the same time, April 

 10. 



This queen began to lay three days later, 

 but scattered her eggs badly, and queen- 

 cells Avere started on May 5, twenty-three 

 days later. 



Other packages from breeder A gave 

 results as folloAA^s: Nos. 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10 

 shoAved egg's in two daj'S. Of those from 

 breeder B, colony No. 7 shoAved eggs in four 

 days but had queen-cells tAventy-four days 

 later. No. 17 had no eggs after fifteen 

 days. 



All Averc put in the same kind of hives on 

 tlie same kind of foundation and Avere 

 given the same feed and treatment. 



T'rom the results I di-aw the following 

 conclusions: AYhile Avat^r is not essential 

 to bees in pound packages it is a benefit. 

 Caging or confining a laying queen injures 

 her. Shippers of bees in pound jiackages 

 make a mistake Avhere they confine the 

 queen in Benton cages for the bees to re- 

 lease on the Avay. The better practice is to 

 liive the queen all tlie liberty possible and 

 have her loose Avilh the bees from the start. 

 Tliis is easily arranged by the shipper. 



Tacoma, Wash. 



