AUGUST 15, 1913 



567 



Conversations w^ith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 



A correspondent writes, " Did you read 

 on page 503, Gleanings for July 15, that 

 the tirst queen-cell is ' likely to hatch on the 

 ninth day from the time the prime swarm 

 issues ' ? Is that correct ? From my obser- 

 vation I find that, as a rule, the prime 

 swarm issues with the sealing of the first 

 cell, and also that, as a rule, all queens 

 emerge from their cells in from seven to 

 seven and one-half daj-s after the cells are 

 sealed over. Also that, when every' thing 

 is favorable, the second swarm, or first 

 after-swarm, issues on the ninth day after 

 the first or prime swarm. What has been 

 your experience ? " 



If I am correct, it was Moses Quinby who 

 gave the rule that three days after the egg 

 is laid in the queen-cell this egg hatches 

 into a minute larva. It is fed by the nurse 

 bees for six days, when the cell is sealed 

 over. Seven days after the sealing of the 

 cell the queen emerges; and two days later, 

 when every thing is favorable, and an after- 

 swarm is desired by the bees, the first of 

 the after-swarms issues. That is to say, 

 where the prime swarm issues with the cap- 

 ping of the first queen-cell the first of the 

 after-swarms will issue nine days later. In 

 the development of brood, and in all of this 

 swarming matter, cool, rainy, bad weather, 

 retards; and hot pleasant weather, with a 

 good nectar yield, accelerates. But the data 

 given will be found accurate enough for all 

 practical purposes. And my forty-five years 

 of experience has corroborated and proved 

 that Quinby was correct. Of course, in my 

 later years of work with the bees very few 

 colonies have been allowed to have their 

 own way in this matter of swarming; but 

 the few that have thus been allowed have 

 proven that bees swarm very much in this 

 twentieth century, as they did half a cen- 

 tury ago, when Quinby was conducting his 

 experiments and observations. 



QUESTION NO. 2. 



" A swarm came out one day, clustered, 

 and was hived. In the afternoon the bees 

 came out in a straggling swarm and went 

 back to the parent hive, leaving a bunch of 

 bees about as large as a teacup. These 

 remained a day or two, when they swarmed 

 out and clustered. I found the queen with 

 them. Why did most of the bees leave their 

 queen and go back?" 



The above is one of those perplexing- 

 occurrences which occasionally take place 

 in a large apiary where natural swarming 

 is allowed. The general cause is, that a few 



strange bees attach themselves, cluster with 

 the swarm, or go in with the swarm when 

 the bees are being put in the new hive. And 

 because of the presence of the strange bees, 

 the bees of the swarm, or a small portion 

 of them, ball the queen either for safe 

 keeping or for suuie other purpose. When 

 the queen of the newly hived swarm is thus 

 balled, the bees seem to think that they have 

 lost their queen ; and after vain attempts 

 to find her in or about the hive they begin 

 returning to the parent hive, going a few 

 at a time. It sometimes takes the larger jDart 

 of an hour for all the dissatisfied ones to 

 return. But there are always left from 

 half a pint to a quart of those in the ball, 

 and those near enough to realize that their 

 queen is there which do not return. At 

 about this stage of the proceedings, good 

 common sens'^ seems to take possession of 

 those which remain, and the queen is al- 

 lowed her libert}-, when, if nectar is coming- 

 in. they go on and do the best they can at 

 making a colony; or if a bad spell of weath- 

 er follows, and they are likely to starve, 

 they will swarm out. If, after they begin 

 to return, they are stopped from going 

 home, they will try to go into other hives. 



In this way I used to find that a large 

 proportion of them were killed. Finally I 

 learned how to keeji them in the hive where 

 I had put them. When I found a newly 

 hived swarm in agitation about the en- 

 trance, with a tew bees returning to the 

 parent hive. I would open the hive contain- 

 ing the swarm, and. finding the ball of bees, 

 smoke them till they released the cjueen. 

 She was then placed in a long wire-cloth 

 cage which would reach clear across the 

 frames. After closing the hive, an old bag 

 or cloth of some kind was thrown over the 

 top of the cage and frames as a temporaiy 

 affair. A hum of contentment was always 

 the result. As the bees had access to the 

 queen between every frame-range they all 

 settled down to quiet and work, the same as 

 if the queen had never been balled. The 

 ricxt morning I would release the queen, 

 remove the cage, put on the supers, and all 

 would go well. At first, when hunting the 

 queen I would put her into a common small 

 cage and hang this cage by mears of a wire 

 down in the center of the hive, where no 

 combs or frames of full foundation were 

 used; but in about half the time this would 

 not satisfy the bees. They would show their 

 dislike by balling the cage so that the de- 

 sired results would not be attained. 



