SEPTEMBER 1, 1913 



Conversations vv^ith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



WHY SO MANY DRONES'? 



" If I am correct, you advise that only 

 a little drone comb be allowed each colony 

 in the apiary, except to those which have 

 queens especially selected from which to 

 rear improved stock for mating purposes. 

 Now, there are a few of us who think that 

 there is some unknown or unseen advantage 

 in having a lot of drones in a hive, just as 

 we find them in bos hives, or where the bee- 

 keeper pays no attention to tliis matter of 

 comb-building. From a close watch I feel 

 assured that colonies having their own way 

 in this matter are fully as prosperous, if 

 not more so, than tliose from which I have 

 carefully excluded all but about an inch of 

 drone comb. This being the case, are not 

 you folks who are advising only an inch or 

 two of drone comb making a mistake? " 



It may be well to look into this matter a 

 little, as I do not wish to advocate a false 

 doctrine. In a state of nature, colonies do 

 not exist in veiy great numbers in any one 

 place; and when colonies are from one to 

 several iniles apart, either in hives or in 

 trees, it becomes necessary that a great 

 number of drones emerge in each colony in 

 order that a sufficient number of such be 

 found within easy reach to render the 

 queen's bridal flight successful. Otherwise 

 the queen is liable to be caught by birds, or 

 overtaken by some mishai3 through long- 

 continued roaming, so that she may never 

 return. Nature is vei^y lavish, and has pro- 

 vided a great number of drones in a hive, 

 or any home of a colony of bees, at swarm- 

 ing time, and this is but another evidence 

 of the correctness of the theory of natural 

 selection. In other words, there must be 

 enough drones reared in each colony to 

 make it an almost absolute certainty that the 

 queen of this colony (or of any other for 

 that matter, for several miles) will be sure 

 to find one in a few minutes, or the half- 

 hour at most that she sj^ends in the air. 

 Upon her life and successful mating the 

 existence of the colony dej^ends, as there 

 are often no other means left for the con- 

 tinuance of her colony. 



But in case of 10, 25, 50, or 100 colonies 

 being congregated together, all of this, 

 through domestication, is changed, and thus 

 the drones reared in the two or three colo- 

 nies from our selected drone rnothers will 

 serve the same purpose as if those two or 

 three hives were the only ones within the 

 range of flight of the bees. From this it is 

 plain that it is useless to rear such a great 

 number of drones in every hive. 



That the drone-rearing colonies are any 



more prosperous than those being restricted 

 to an inch or two of drone comb is some- 

 thing I have never been able to discover; 

 but, on the contrary, I have many times 

 noted that this multitude of drones con- 

 sume so much of the honey gathered by the 

 minimum number of workers, necessitated 

 through a minimum amount of cells of the 

 worker size, that very little surplus could 

 be obtained from such colonies, to say noth- 

 ing about having to supply the needed 

 amount of stores for winter. What advan- 

 tage can there be in the rearing of a large 

 number of drones ? They do not^ work ; they 

 are never seen out in the fields on the bloom 

 which secretes nectar; they eat the honey 

 of the hive, and their rearing decreases the 

 number of workers reared. Are these facts 

 to be laid aside and overlooked? In a 

 square inch of comb, only about 36 drones 

 can be reared, while the same space will 

 give about 55 workers, both sides of the 

 comb being reckoned as a matter of course. 

 Taken in round numbers, a square foot of 

 comb will give 8000 workere, or about 5000 

 drones. Then it takes 24 days of time in 

 which to perfect these drones, while the 

 workers will emerge in 21 days from the 

 laying of the eggs by the queen. And it 

 will take about the same amount of food 

 for the rearing of each, since both occupy 

 the same space. Is not this reasonable? 

 And when all the 8000 have emerged from 

 this foot of comb we have a fair-sized 

 swarm of honey-gatherers add-ed to the 

 other forces of the hive which will almost 

 if not quite turn failure into a successful 

 surplus. Hence these drones that are rear- 

 ed at great expense are in the way of the 

 household duties of the home; and they de- 

 crease the profits by the loads they carry 

 out on evei-y flight. 



It is claimed that drones keep the brood 

 warm; but is it not plain that, when there 

 were fewer bees in the hive than when they 

 arrived, they had to be first kept warm? 

 And these drones emerge only as warm 

 weather is coming on, at a season when 

 there is little danger of any brood getting 

 chilled. Then on all cold days, and as night 

 comes, all the forces of the hive are gather- 

 ed together there, so this warmth from the 

 drones is hardly a sufficient plea for their 

 existence. 



All things considered, it seems clear that 

 it paji^ to exclude all except an inch or two 

 of drone comb from all but one or two colo- 

 nies in any apiary having ten or more colo- 

 nies in it, allowing much drone comb only 

 1o our best drone-breeders. 



