1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



148 



TOO MUCH DEONE COMB. 



"Say, Doolittle, can there be too much 

 drone comb in a hive for the bees to pros- 

 per?" 



"Too much drone comb in the brood-cham- 

 ber is a very serious damage to the honey 

 crop, as drones are only useless consumers, 

 so to speak, being of no value except to fer- 

 tilize the queens, or, perhaps, to keep up a 

 little warmth in the hive at times just after 

 swarming when the workers are few in 

 numbers because the great bulk of them went 

 with the swarm." 



"But I am told that lots of drones should 

 be reared so that the queens need not go far 

 from home to mate." 



"Such talk as that belongs to the past; for 

 in these days of progress no person can af- 

 ford to allow a promiscuous production of 

 drones. One or two square inches of drone 

 comb is all that should be allowed in any 

 hive except one or two containing the best 

 drone-breeders, and these should have 

 enough drone comb to rear all the drones 

 needed for the fertilization of all the young 

 queens, which also should be reared from the 

 very best mother. The time has passed with 

 the thoroughgoing apiarist for allowing his 

 queens and drones to be reared from nap- 

 hazard stock." 



"But colonies will have some drone comb 

 any way, will they not?" 



"Yes, most colonies will have a little drone 

 brood any way, even if they have to cut 

 down worker comb to get a place to build 

 the drone size of cells; but if we allow each 

 colony from three to four square inches of 

 drone comb it seems to satisfy them just as 

 well as a whole frameful, and in this way we 

 can have very nearly our own way in this 

 matter." 



"But if I have a hundred colonies with 

 from three to four square inches of drone 

 comb in them, will not these colonies raise 

 from such comb, in the aggregate, more 

 drones than will my two choice colonies with 

 two or three frames of drone comb in their 

 hives?" 



"Yes, if you allow the drones to mature 

 and fly from your hundred colonies." 



"Well, how am I to keep them from do- 

 ing this?" 



" Keep the drone comb confined to just one 

 frame in any hive, except those containiQg 

 your breeders; and if you put this one frame 

 next to the outside of the hive the queen will 

 be slower in laying eggs in the cells, while 

 the bees will be just as well satisfied. Then 

 if you will paint red the top-bars to the 



frames containing this drone comb you can 

 see them as soon as you open the hives, 

 and thus you will know right where this 

 comb having drone-cells is without having 

 to hunt the hive over for it. Now, if you 

 will lift this frame every 21 days and shave 

 the heads off all the capped drone larva? you 

 will have little trouble in keeping down all 

 the drones in the apiary except those from 

 the breeding queens." 



"But that would make a lot of work." 



"Not as much as you think, inasmuch as 

 it will be near the swarming season before 

 any drone brood will be capped, if the frame 

 is kept next to the outside of the hive; and, 

 besides, if left there the bees will be likely 

 to till this comb with honey as soon as a 

 good yield from the flowers comes on. Then, 

 as soon as swarming is over, the young 

 queens will very rarely lay in the drone- 

 cells where a comb is kept next to the side 

 of the hive, and so three times is sufficient 

 any season for decapitating drones, while, as 

 a rule, once or twice is enough." 



"But nearly all of my hives. have several 

 patches of drone comb in them, and some 

 whole frames full. How am I to get rid of 

 this?" 



"The nicest way is not to have drone 

 comb built, by giving frames of foundation 

 in the start to such colonies as will not build 

 all worker comb." 



"That sounds well; but my frames are al- 

 ready built full of comb." 



"In such a case, if you wish the slicKest 

 job done you ever saw you will cut out the 

 drone-cells and give the frames so fixed, one 

 at a time, to nuclei, or weak colonies having 

 a young prolific laying queen. Such colo- 

 nies will 'patch' up such combs so you can 

 hardly tell where you cut out the drone-cells. 

 By having one such weak colony or nucleus 

 to every ten combs you wish patched, you 

 will get them all changed to nice all-worker 

 comb in one summer season." 



"But is there no way that I can do this 

 patching myself during the winter months 

 when I am not so driven with work as in 

 the summer time ? " 



"Yes, if you have the combs away from 

 the bees and you do not care for quite so 

 nice a job as the bees will do." 



"Well, lam not so particular as some, 

 and I have a lot of combs with more or less 

 drone size of cells in them stored away in 

 my comb-closet now, which I could work at 

 just as well as not these stormy days." 



"That being the case, you can cut the 

 drone comb out and fit worker-comb in its 

 place. If there is a large patch of drone 

 comb in any frame, cut it out with a sharp 

 narrow- bladed knife, after which you can 

 lay this frame over another one having some 

 drone comb in it also, so as not to spoil a 

 good comb. Lay it so that the empty space 

 comes over the worker-comb, when the low- 

 er comb is marked a ' hair ' larger than the 

 space to be filled, after which the marked 

 piece is cut out and pressed into the place 

 where the drone comb came from. If you 

 happen to get any piece a little too small, a, 



