318 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



Heads of Grain 



From Different Fields 



DO THE WORKERS KILL QUEENS, OR DO THE 

 QUEENS KILL EACH OTHER? TWO QUEENS TO 

 THE HIVE BY CLIPPING THEIR STINGS AND ONE 

 OF THEIR MANDIBLES; SOME INTERESTING 

 EXPERIMENTS. 



For several seasons I have experimented with 

 queens to try to find the exact relation that exists 

 between the queens and the workers, in order to 

 get some light on the disputed question as to the 

 control of the hive, or brood-nest at least. 



My interest was aroused at one time when I 

 found two young queens that were mated and 

 laying peaceably in one hive. From some of 

 their larvs I reared some young queens, thinic- 

 ing possibly I might be able to produce some 

 queens that would not be hostile to each other. 

 This was not the case, however, for the virgins 

 fought until but one was left. 



On the next batch of young queens I caged the 

 cells, and then later clipped the stings of the vir- 

 gins, placing a number of these stingless virgins 

 in one hive. I soon found that they kept nib- 

 bling at each other's wings close to the thorax in 

 a vain attempt to sting. 



On the next lot of queens I clipped the stings 

 and also the horny end of one mandible of each 

 queen, and then placed them together. Such 

 quarreling and fighting I never saw. They wore 

 each other's thorax shiny in their attempts at 

 fighting, and it made the bees of the colony very 

 cross also. However, I succeeded in getting sev- 

 eral of these successfully mated; and when they 

 commenced laying they took no further notice 

 of each other, and went along about their work 

 very contentedly. The bees, also, in the colo- 

 nies became quieter. I had four colonies, each 

 of which had from two to five queens with clip- 

 ped mandibles and stings. The laying of these 

 queens resembled thatof laying workers, although 

 there were no eggs in the queen-cells. 



When the harvest was over, and drones were 

 being killed, all surplus queens shared the fate of 

 the drones. The surplus queens were taken to 

 be as useless as drones. The hives were left well 

 stocked with honey too. Under certain condi- 

 tions, therefore, I believe that Dr. Schroeder is 

 right. See page 987, August 15, 1908. 



Oxnard, Cal. H. S. Philbrook. 



[Such experiments as are here recorded are 

 interesting and valuable. The results show that 

 at the start the queen seeks to accomplish the 

 "eliminating" — the stronger, or the one that 

 gets the " best hold," killing the other. It is 

 also shown that, after the harvest, the bees will 

 reduce the queen force down to one. We had 

 any amount of proof given on this point last sea- 

 son. — Ed.] 



UGHT-FRAME hives LARGE ENOUGH IF THEY 

 ARE TIERED UP. 



I beg to differ with Dr. Miller, in Stray Straws 

 for Dec. 15, where he says an eight-frame hive is 

 too small for extracted honey. I think it de- 

 pends on the management, to a great extent. I 

 find the ten-frame hive too heavy to handle, and 



prefer the eight-frame on that account, if for no 

 other. I do not give my bees very close atten- 

 tion, and my crop this year was 4350 lbs., which 

 is not a bad average for 28 colonies. I have 

 taken 1150 lbs. from six colonies in eight-frame 

 hives without giving them very close attention. 

 Of course, I tier up and give plenty of room in 

 that way, and seem to get as good results as I 

 could possibly get with ten-frame hives, espe- 

 cially as we have some good bee-keepers in this 

 county with ten-frame hives who do no better 

 than I do with my small hives. Of course, I 

 never recommend the ten-frame hive to the av- 

 erage farmer bee-keeper, because of the fact that 

 they seldom tier up, and so do not give the bees 

 room enough. J. T. Shackleford. 



Napton, Mo , Dec. 20. 



[There is no doubt that extracted honey can 

 be produced very satisfactorily in an eight-frame 

 hive. In fact, the man who objects to lifting, 

 and especially the women-folks who can not or 

 ought not to lift, had better adopt the eight- 

 frame rather than the ten-frame size of hive. 

 Indeed, it is a question whether such people 

 should not go further and adopt a shallower 

 brood-nest like the Danzenbaker, or one shal- 

 lower still, of the divisible-brood-chamber type. 

 That extracted honey can be produced in divisi- 

 ble-brood-chamber hives economically has been 

 proved time and again. — Ed.] 



how TO LET the BEES SATISFY THEIR DESIRE TO 

 SWARM WITHOUT MAKING INCREASE. 



Wouldn't it be nice if we could so manage our 

 bees as to allow them to satisfy their desire to 

 swarm, and yet have no new combs drawn out or 

 built, or have a lot of surplus combs left on hand 

 at the close of the season, as is the case with 

 "shaken" swarms, or the colony divided, as 

 happens where natural swarming is practiced.'' In 

 either case much time and labor are lost on the 

 part of the bees, and that, too, at a time when 

 we can least ai?ord it during the whole season. 

 The building of these new combs, and all other 

 work related to it, is done at the expense of the 

 honey crop. The amount of surplus honey se- 

 cured during the season depends largely on the 

 way the colonies are handled at this time 



I have a plan I have practiced with good re- 

 sults for many years, and one that does away 

 with extra hives, frames, foundation, etc , but 

 some one must be on hand when they swarm. 

 This however, is also true of natural swarming; 

 and where the colonies are shaken the bee-keep- 

 er must be on hand several days before the swarm 

 issues 



Secure a few clean boxes, large enough to hold 

 about a bushel. Now take the bottom out and 

 make an entrance in one end for bees. Pour a 

 little melted wax along the inside of the cover. 

 Provide a bottom-board as large as or a little 

 larger than the box. When the colony swarms, 

 hive it in one of these boxes prepart d in advance, 

 and place the swarm right close alongside of the 

 old colony, facing the same direction. The bees 

 will stait to build combs from the wax along 

 the cover, and will not be likely to swarm out. 

 Do nothing more to the swarm or the old colony 

 for 48 hours, after which time cut every queen- 

 cell out of the old colony and shake the swarm 



