MAY 1, 1913 



287 



Conversations with Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



ARE DROXES A NECESSITY IN NATURAL 

 SWARMING? 



I am told that drones are necessary when the bees 

 make their plans for natural swarming, for no swarm 

 will ever issue unless there are mature drouea or 

 drones in the brood, on the principle that the par- 

 ent colony would become extinct from the leaving 

 of the mother-queen with no provision made for the 

 mating of the young queens later. This would be 

 especially true with all isolated colonies ; and it is 

 calculated that the bees of each colony consider 

 th.'irs in such a light, no matter how many other 

 colonies any apiarist may mass together. Now, if 

 this is a fact, would it not be an easy matter to do 

 av ay entirely with natural swarming by excluding 

 all drone comb from all the colonies in any apiary? 



The exclusion of drones from colonies for 

 tlie i^revention of swarming is not a new 

 idea. It does seem reasonable at first that 

 no colony would swarm unless there were 

 a reasonable prospect for the perpetuation 

 of the old colony from the 'young queens, 

 always left behind in the brood form, be- 

 coming fertile later. But so far as I know 

 it has never been announced that success- 

 ful non-swarming has ever been obtained 

 by excluding brood comb. Several have 

 announced, during the past quarter of a 

 century, that drones, being a necessity to 

 tlie permanence of the colony, a logical de- 

 duction would be that their entire absence 

 would delay the preparations for swarming 

 that are usual to all parent colonies. It has 

 been assumed that the rearing of drones is 

 the first preparation which leads to the 

 building of queen-cells, which, when sealed, 

 constitute the completed preparations. 



While on this subject it might not be 

 a;iiiss to notice some other vital princiiDles 

 which induce swarming, and which Avill 

 afford us a more intelligent understanding 

 of it. As long ago as 1852 Mr. Moses 

 Quinby named three causes which induce 

 swarming, and to-day they are recognized 

 as the prime factors. As I look back over 

 the 5'ears which have passed since then I 

 can not refrain from referring to the won- 

 derful accuracy of most of Mr. Quinby's 

 investigations. Even the limelight of this 

 tAventieth centuiy has cast a shadow on 

 very little if any of the investigations 

 which he gave to the world, and tlie larger 

 part of such were carried on when a box 

 hive was the known palace of a colony of 

 bees. His three causes or factors are these : 

 " A crowded hive, a large brood, and a good 

 flow of nectar." These are usually sufficient 

 to induce swarming. 



Another factor bearing on these is that 

 of temperature, which will hasten or retard 

 the preparation just in px-oportion to the 



heat or cold. What is known as the swarm- 

 ing fever or swarming impulse is a strong 

 factor when the other conditions are com- 

 bined. These conditions being absent, no 

 amount of drones would cause swarming; 

 and with their presence I have known colo- 

 nies to swarm without a single drone or 

 even any prospect of any. 



This no-drone theory is not new, as I 

 liinted at in the start. At the time it was 

 agitated, fifteen or twenty years ago, in 

 order to test tliis matter as well as another 

 still more strongly advocated as a fact, that 

 no colony would swarm with any queen of 

 the current season's rearing, I made sever- 

 al colonies as follows : A nucleus was form- 

 ed by taking the queen away from a weak 

 colony of bees, and confining the bees of 

 this weak colony on two frames of brood 

 and two of honej', the brood being between 

 the two of honey. This nucleus was' given 

 a ripe queen-cell. This gave a laying queen 

 in from ten to twelve days, at which time 

 there would be bees enough to care for a 

 hive full of combs, as tlie larger part of 

 the brood would have emerged if combs of 

 nearly all sealed brood had been given at the 

 time the old queen was taken away. When 

 the young queen had practically filled with 

 eggs the combs from which the brood had 

 emerged, six combs of all worker cells, fill- 

 ed as nearly as was possible with sealed 

 brood, were given to such a nucleus. Three 

 days later a super of sections filled with 

 thin foundation was given, when the no- 

 drone and current-year-queen talk said such 

 made colonies would not swarm that year. 

 In about ten days these hives became filled 

 (o overflowing with bees from the sealed 

 brood given, and the bees were making a 

 stai't in the sections, as there was a fairly 

 good yield of nectar from the fields. 



Some days later, when I was becoming 

 enthused with tliis way of making colonies, 

 which would be non-swarmers for at least 

 one season, out came a swarm of monstrous 

 size, the queen coming out with the last 

 half of the bees in regular prime-swarm 

 fashion. A careful looking-over of the 

 combs which the hive contained gave no 

 evidence of drones in any form whatever ; 

 but there were queen-cells with eggs and 

 young larvae in them. This was a damper 

 on my enthusiasm, and the whole theory 

 was finally spoiled by every one of the colo- 

 nies I had made in this Avay swaradng that 

 year, with a single exception. 



Those who still thought that there was 



Continued on page 288. 



