156 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



hive for any considerable time it is safe to 

 say that one of them is of no account. 



While the two-queen system as above out- 

 lined will greatly discourage swarming by 

 keeping the brood- chamber free from honey, 

 yet I do not recommend it as a sure means 

 of swarrd control except in seasons as above 

 described; and in case a swarm issues it is 

 treated as described in a former article, and 

 work in sections will go on with renewed 

 energy 



Birmingham, O. 



THE PLURAL-QUEEN SYSTEM. 



A Series of Interesting Experiments; Clip- 

 ping the Queens' Stings so they Can't 

 Kill each Other; do the Bees Take a Hand 

 in Royal Combat? 



BY EARL BUSSEY. 



How two queens may be kept in one colo- 

 ny, unseparated by queen-excluding zinc, 

 and how long it is possible for them to remain 

 in this condition without disaster to either 

 queen, seems now to be the main question. 



Having experimented along this line to 

 some extent, and also having been in a meas- 

 ure successful, I will endeavor to explain 

 how they may be kept in this manner, and 

 how long it is possible for them to continue 

 in this state. 



After reading Mr. Alexander's article some 

 time ago, wherein he stated that he had been 

 successful in keeping two queens in one col- 

 ony, I at once decided that, if the scheme 

 were possible, I wanted to know something 

 more about it right away. 



You can imagine the exodus to the bee- 

 yard. Arriving there I immediately made 

 preparations for the furthering of the exper- 

 iment by getting in readiness a new hive. I 

 then succeeded in extricating two queens 

 from their respective abiding-places, each 

 being accompanied by three frames of brood 

 and Dees. These separate combinations be- 

 ing placed on opposite sides of the hive, the 

 cover was put in place and the whole remov- 

 ed to a new stand. The hives being eight- 

 frame it will now be seen that there was an 

 unoccupied space the width of two frames in 

 the center, which was to serve the purpose 

 of keeping them apart until such time as 

 they should become reconciled to each other. 



Three days after, no fighting having taken 

 place, and as they were working nicely, I 

 decided to look in on them. Removing the 

 cover I lifted the frames from one side and 

 found the queen doing nicely. On the other 

 side I found the same state of affairs. I then 

 removed the whole to the center so as to form 

 one cluster, and replaced the cover. 



Now then! The next day I removed the 

 cover once more, and proceeded to investi- 

 gate as to the success of the cooperation 

 proceedings. Every thing was quiet and 

 nice, with a few guards standing to attention 

 around the outposts. I now had no doubt 

 at all about the matter, and could almost 

 imagine them drawing up a set of corpora- 



tion laws or debating the question as to 

 whether they would work more than eight 

 hours. But on removing the frames I could 

 find only one queen. Horrors ! Is it possible 

 that here in this peaceful-looking congrega- 

 tion there has been vile murder done, a 

 tragedy enacted, or possibly a case of abduc- 

 tion? Perish the thought! 



On thinking the matter over I came to the 

 conclusion that the missing queen must be 

 out taking an airing, leaving her sister to 

 look over and attend to the well being of the 

 community, both having come to a previous 

 understanding after a realization of the im- 

 proved state of affairs. Yes, I would much 

 rather think this way. Besides, that queen 

 cost a dollar. 



Next day I looked, and next, but still I 

 could find but one queen. About this time 

 I began to have doubts; and, to settle the 

 question, I removed the remaining queen. 

 It rained next day, and I left them alone; 

 but the next day I looked in and found they 

 had started queen-cells. This left no doubt 

 about the matter, and I was forced to come 

 to the conclusion that, so far, the two-queen 

 system had proven a rank failure. But one 

 swallow does not make a summer, and I was 

 determined to have two queens work togeth- 

 er in harmony. So, twice again I tried the 

 experiment, with the same result both times. 



About this time I was getting a little dis- 

 gusted with the two-queen business; but I 

 should certainly like to know what went 

 with the missing queen. After studying the 

 matter over for a couple of weeks I settled 

 on a plan whereby I could find out whether 

 the queens did fight each other; and if they 

 didn't I would know it was the bees that did 

 the killing. So I took two queens and cut 

 off their stings by folding the abdomen over 

 my thumb-nail, and pressing, when their 

 stings came out and were amputated. These 

 stingless queens being taken from a double 

 colony, one above the other, with excluder 

 between, did not have to be introduced in 

 the usual manner, so I turned them loose at 

 once, each on an opposite side of the hive. 

 In two hours I looked in, and on lifting out 

 the third frame I saw the two queens come 

 together, and right there I witnessed one of 

 the fiercest battles I ever saw. The bees 

 stood around like referees, forming a circle 

 around a prizefight, and not one of them 

 offered to interfere. But as a battle it was 

 a bloodless one, so I left them until late in 

 the evening, when, on looking, I found them 

 still fighting. One of them seemed to be 

 getting the best of the other, for she had 

 gnawed off one wing completely. So I sep- 

 arated them by putting one of them below 

 the excluder, and I may say that they are 

 just as I left them, both of them having done 

 good work the rest of the season, and seem- 

 ing none the worse for the loss of their stings 

 and their battle. 



I may also say that I have been successful 

 in keeping three queens in one colony for 

 five weeks. These queens were superseaing, 

 and were not a year old. The reason why 

 they_were superseding is that I had been 



