506 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ape. 15 



PLURALITY OF QUEENS. 



Points in the Wells System Explained. 



BY SAMUEL SIMMINS. 



In my 1893 edition of "A Modern Bee 

 Farm" I gave a chapter upon this subject; 

 but in preparing my 1904 issue, the question 

 appearing to have ceased to create any fur- 

 ther interest, I gave but a passing notice to 

 the plural-queen methods. 



It may interest your readers to know that, 

 some twenty years ago, Dr. Stroud, of Port 

 Elizabeth, South Afrcia, claimed to be able 

 to work a number of queens in one colony 

 without their killing each other or being dis- 

 turbed by the workers; but he gave no par- 

 ticulars that would have explained his plan 

 of management. 



More recently Mr. Heddon stated that he 

 could run more than one queen in the same 

 hive; but it was reserved for Mr. Wells, of 

 Aylesford, Maidstone, England, to be ac- 

 knowledged as the first to reduce the matter 

 to practical working as a system in honey 

 production. 



The correspondence relating to the matter 

 is to be found in the British Bee Journal for 

 18'J2, and in the issue for November 10, of 

 that year, after stating he had at first made 

 up his mind to work none but "two-queen " 

 colonies in future. Upon further considera- 

 tion, and in deference to other expressed 

 opinions, he said: "In order to compare re- 

 sults, and to make the matter as plain as 

 possible, I decided to change my plans and 

 work five single-queened stocks through the 

 season, and very carefully note results. 



"It will, perhaps, not be out of place just 

 to say once more that the double stocks have 

 two queens in each, divided in the center 

 of the hive with the thin wood perforated 

 dummy, so that neither queen nor bees can 

 pass beyond their own part of the stock hive; 

 but at supering time a sheet of queen-exclud- 

 er zinc is placed on top of the frames, and 

 on this the super into which both lots of bees 

 are allowed to run and mix together as they 



Now, this is just the point which the edi- 

 tor of Gleanings has somehow overlooked, 

 for the bees not only mix in the supers, but 

 of course can also, through that medium, mix 

 up into either side occupied by the separated 

 queens. Without doubt any other projected 

 plan of working more than one queen in a 

 hive will come to grief where a similar neu- 

 tral medium (as to queens) is not allowed. 

 By Mr. Wells' plan there was no uncertainty 

 as to the fate of either queen; as, when the 

 supers were removed, each queen was left 

 where she started. The five double-queen 

 hives gave him 789 lbs. of honey, mostly ex- 

 tracted, while the five single-queen hives 

 yielded 205 lbs. 



Mr. Wells used 14 frames in the brood- 

 chamber, each 14x8i, so that, with two 

 queens, he would not have more than six of 

 such frames to each queen, while the single 

 queens had most of the 14 frames. His hives 



did not appear to be large enough for the 

 dual-queen plan, as he was troubled with 

 much swarming. 



In my 1893 edition I illustrated a larger 

 hive for the purpose than is used by Mr. 

 Wells, with two chambers for each queen, 

 with his perforated divider at the center, and 

 a full-length super, though a sectional super 

 in three divisions would appear to be better 

 for either comb or extracted honey. 



At the same time I also gave a sketch of 

 my tiering hive of ten frames, with excluder 

 zinc between each, as another method of 

 working two or more queens in the same 

 colony. I was careful, however, to advise 

 my readers that when 



UNITING TWO OR MORE STOCKS 



by this plan a small-hole perforated divider 

 was to be placed as a safeguard between each 

 brood-chamber, until the bees were consid- 

 ered mutually good-tempered. These boards 

 were then to be replaced by zinc queen-ex- 

 cluders. A colony of two chambers in this 

 style, if divided in the center of each by a 

 Wells dummy, will accommodate four queens, 

 either with entrances each way, or only one 

 below. Furthermore, with no entrance cut 

 in the rim of the hive, a further zinc-exclud- 

 er frame may be at the base, with a hollow 

 floor under, thus preventing any loss of 

 queens by swarming. But just here is a 

 question as to disposing of the drones, even 

 if so much zinc is advisable. 



It was in the year 1889 that my own ex- 

 periments were made in holding more than 

 one queen in the same chamber; but at the 

 time I failed to find any advantage in the 

 plan. The queens and combs being divided 

 by excluder zinc, I was troubled by the loss 

 of valuable queens as soon as bad weather 

 occurred, and the brood-nest was restricted; 

 hence there was little encouragement so far 

 as my experience had gone. 



COMPARATIVE RESULTS. 



That the plural-queen plan can not always 

 be relied upon to give the best results may 

 be gleaned from the following experience 

 with various hives. These bees were on 

 British standard frames, 14X81, and were 

 worked for comb honey. The results secur- 

 ed by this bee-keeper do not show any ad- 

 vantage for the plural- queen plan, but cer- 

 tainly the reverse, as at the most the double- 

 queen lots show only 40 lbs. to each queen, 

 whereas several single-queen hives gave 80 

 lbs., and in one case as much as 120 lbs. 



No. 6, double-queen, 50 lbs, 

 I " 7, ■' " 60 " 



8, single-queen, 80 



9, double-queen. 70 " 



10, " " 80 " 

 No. 11, single-queen. 78 lbs. 



No. 3 appeared to make a big jump in 

 comparison with the I'est, and it may be in- 

 teresting to note this was Simmins' "hang- 

 ing-chamber" hive. In this hive a. super 

 with full sheets of foundation is started be- 

 neath the stock: and as soon as the bees clus- 

 ter upon the foundation the case of sections 

 is placed above the stock, with the bees just 

 as they are, already drawing out the cells. 



No. 1, single-queen. 80 lbs 

 " 2, •' •' 80 " 



" 3, " " 120 " 



'• 4. '• " 70 " 



" 5, " " 21 



