556 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



such attendance can not be secured, then it 

 is a very convenient and helpful substitute; 

 and to prevent, as far as may be, an unjust 

 prejudice against it in the minds of those for 

 whom it may be a valuable servant, I have 

 been constrained to attempt herein its vindi- 

 cation. 

 Lapeer, Mich. 



QUEEN-TRAPS VS. CLIPPED QUEENS. 



What Proportion of Clipi)ed Queens are 



Superseded? the Behavior of Swarms 



when Queens are Clipped. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



[On this same subject is the following article, tak- 

 ir g the other side of the question. Of course, neither 

 Dr. Miller nor Mr. Taylor had seen what the other 

 had written in this issue. These two articles on the 

 opposite sides of the question may call for some new 

 rejoinders; if so. our space is open to both.— Ed.] 



On p. 19 of Gleanings I find the follow- 

 ing, credited to R. L. Taylor: 



"Clipped queens are an unmitigated nui- 

 sance at swarming-time. A swarm with a 

 clipped queen behaves quite differently from 

 one with an undipped one, the difference 

 being greatly against the clipped queen. 

 These disagreeable features will disappear if 

 the wings are left whole and a queen-trap is 

 used; and swarms will mix much less with 

 the trap. Moreover the trap furnishes per- 

 fect security against all absconding, which 

 clipping does not do, for queens are likely to 

 be superseded at any time for any cause with- 

 out the knowledge of the apiarist; and when 

 supersedure takes place a swarm will issue 

 with the new queen, and away go bees, 

 queen, and all." 



Here I've been in the habit of looking 

 through my colonies each year before swarm- 

 ing time, clipping all queens found with 

 whole wings, and then feeling safe till the 

 next spring, without its occurring to me that 

 at any time a queen might be superseded and 

 then a swarm go off with a new queen. I 

 wonder, really, how many swarms I've lost 

 in that way without knowing any thing 

 about it. 



But is not that matter of supersedure just 

 a little overdrawn? "Queens are likely to be 

 superseded at any time for any cause." Un- 

 less I am a very poor interpreter, that will 

 be generally understood to mean that super- 

 sedure is just as likely to occur at one time 

 as another. Is it not generally understood 

 that supersedure takes place in the great ma- 

 jority of cases after the time of swarming is 

 over? A great deal of opportunity for ob- 

 servation leads me to believe that the general 

 understanding is correct. 



Some time in April or May I go through 

 my colonies and clip all queens found with 

 whole wings. Throughout the season after- 

 ward I frequently see more or less queens in 

 different colonies; and if supersedure "at 

 any time" were so common as one is led to 

 believe from what is said on page 19, 1 ought 

 somewhat often to see a queen with whole 



wings. On the contrary, it is a very rare 

 occurrence. My assistant, who has had even 

 more opportunity for observation than my- 

 self, and who is morbidly sensitive as to the 

 matter of loss from swarming, says, "Very, 

 very rare, indeed." I really think that mat- 

 ter of supersedure is very much overdrawn. 



Still, there may be some supersedures aft- 

 er the usual clipping-time; and, if I rightly 

 understand page 19, the new queen, after she 

 gets to laying, is likely to go off with a 

 swarm. Really, Mr. Editor, how much chance 

 do you think there is for that? Gravenhorst, 

 one of the best authorities on such matters, 

 puts it down as an unvarying rule that a lay- 

 ing queen never swarms in the year of her 

 birth if reared in her own hive. Indeed, 

 some go further and say that no laying queen 

 will swarm in her first year; but I am sure 

 there are exceptions to that. But in the case 

 of supersedure, the more guarded rule of 

 Gravenhorst bars all danger. In an experi- 

 ence of more than 40 years with clipped 

 queens, and with colonies never very small 

 in number, if page 19 is reliable I ought to 

 have had quite a number of losses in the way 

 indicated. It seems to me they could hardly 

 have been very many during so long a time 

 without my having discovered some of them. 

 I question whether I ever had a single loss 

 in that way. 



As to the naughty behavior of swarms that 

 have clipped queens, I have had some expe- 

 rience in that line. I have had bees of more 

 than one swarm unite, and I've had swarm- 

 ing bees return to the wrong hive. But I do 

 not think I've had much serious loss in that 

 way. If the bees of No. 37 should go into 

 No. 45, No. 37 would gather less, but No. 45 

 would gather more. Yet I think there is 

 some loss by it. But don't dream for a min- 

 ute that swarms with clipped queens have a 

 monopoly of that sort of business. Swarms 

 troubled that way before ever queens were 

 clipped, and I've heard and read of more 

 swarms uniting with undipped queens than 

 I ever had unite with clipped queens. A rep- 

 utable text-book before me tells of how "as 

 many as a dozen have been known to come 

 out in this way, and go off to the woods in a 

 great army of bees. I think I had never 

 more than four with clipped queens to unite 

 at a time. And I had no trouble fishing 

 queens out of the united cluster as I would 

 have had with undipped queens. Nor did 

 they ever go off to the woods. 



Concluding, the beginner is practically 

 told, "Don't clip, but put a queen-trap on 

 each hive, and then you'll be all right, for 

 every queen, laying or virgin, will be caught. ' ' 



Don't you think that the natural thing 

 will be for at least some of your readers next 

 spring to put queen-traps on all colonies and 

 then feel the thing is settled for the year? 

 Certainly I've known more than one to think 

 that would work, and without having read 

 p. 19 at that. Then when it comes time for a 

 colony to swarm, the swarm will issue and 

 return, perhaps repeating the performance 

 for several days, then the queen will be kill- 

 ed, a virgin will be prevented from taking 



