208 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations w^ith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



BEES AS ESCORTS FOR QUEENS IN MAILING. 



I expect to rear queens for sale this coming sea- 

 son. Please tell us how many bees to put in with 

 any queen as escorts. What should be their age? 



In mailing queens it is important to use 

 the right number of bees of the proper age. 

 During the summer months, and where the 

 queens are to go no further than the do- 

 mains of the United States or Canada, 

 this ordinary small mailing-cage answers 

 very well, and the proper number of bees 

 to use is from eight to twelve, according to 

 the temperature wliich is likely to be met 

 while they are in the mail. For very hot 

 weather, and with the destination to be in 

 the middle and southern States, I have 

 found that eight bees do best during the 

 last half of June and the months of July 

 and Aug-ust, while for the northern part of 

 the United States and Canada I generally 

 use ten for July and August, and twelve for 

 the other parts of the mailing season. 



Some years ago I went through a series 

 of experiments to ascertain these things, 

 some of which covered a period of nearly 

 four months. I prepared and provisioned 

 the cages in different ways, and used dif- 

 ferent numbers of bees, using queens which 

 I wished to supersede, not on account of 

 their age, but on account of their being 

 mismated. Being thus prepared, the same 

 as were others which were mailed, these 

 were put in a dark jDlace in my shop, some 

 in the lower stoi'y, others in the upper 

 story, where it was very warm the most of 

 the time; and three or four times during 

 each week these cages were either thrown 

 about the room or left in an old sack made 

 of leather, and the sack tossed about, some- 

 thing after the manner in which I had seen 

 the mails thrown off fast-running trains. 

 Without specifying further as to details, 

 in this way I arrived at what I considered 

 the diiferent ways best suited for a success- 

 ful termination ; and although I have tried 

 nearly all of the devices brought before the 

 public since then, few, if any, have proved 

 better than what I settled on then. 



But for either spring or fall I do not be- 

 believe that the best results can be obtained 

 by using these small cages. For these rea- 

 sons, and for all places outside of the Unit- 

 ed States and Canada, a larger cage should 

 be used, one having at least twice the ca- 

 pacity. With this larger capacity I use 

 from twelve to twenty bees in accord with 

 the expected temperature and the distance 

 to be traveled. Then for all places outside 

 of North America, a still larger and differ- 

 ently constnicted cage should be used, one 



which will allow the bees to collect in a 

 comparatively closed apartment when pass- 

 ing through a low temperature; but that 

 where extreme heat is encountered, will al- 

 low them to have access to a larger and 

 well-ventilated compartment. With cages 

 constructed after tliis fashion, and with 

 from twenty to thirty bees, I succeeded in 

 getting three out of five queens alive and 

 in good shape clear to Western Australia, 

 this requiring a period of thirty-nine days. 



As to the age of the bees which are to 

 accompany queens while in transit, the 

 younger the bees are which have had a 

 cleansing flight the better. Young bees 

 which have never flown to void the pollen 

 excrement which accumulates in their in- 

 testines through their larval and pupa state, 

 are liable to soil themselves, the queen, the 

 food, and the cages, where more than two 

 or three days' time must be consumed dur- 

 ing any journey through the mails. And 

 old worn-out bees are little if any better. 



Just how to tell which are the old and 

 which are the young bees is a matter that 

 often puzzles very many. I studied many 

 a long week, month, and even years, in this 

 matter, and I conducted different experi- 

 ments along this line, till finally, in watch- 

 ing the bees carefully, after only just 

 enough smoke had been used to quiet them 

 properly, I found that, as a rule, bees which 

 were from six to ten days old, the same 

 being slim in appearance, were the ones 

 which would stick their heads in the cells 

 of honey surrounding the brood, and begin 

 to fill with tliis honey. And such are the 

 bees which I have used for nearly thirty 

 years, with good success. And, what is in 

 our favor, is that, when in this position, 

 these bees are the most easily picked from 

 the combs, as the wings stand out inviting 

 us to take hold of them, and thereby carry 

 them to the cage in the manner best suited 

 for their entering the cage, and with an al- 

 most positive insurance against being stung. 



Some queen-breeders say that we should 

 never put in a bee that has stung us, as it 

 will soon die, and is quite likely to get stuck 

 fast in the entrance to the food-chamber. 

 I used to think so myself; but finding that 

 it was not the easiest job to get a bee out 

 again which had left its sting in my finger 

 when closing the entrance to the cage, I 

 wrote to a party in Texas, to which such a 

 cage was going, to inform me on arrival if 

 there were any dead bees in the cage. In 

 due time he replied that every bee was alive, 

 and " smart as a cricket." 



