GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations v^ith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York 



BEES TEARING DOWX QUEEX-CELLS. 



What causes bees to tear down queen-cells about 

 the time the young queen larvae are changing to 

 the pupal form? I have been having trouble in 

 this wa}' during the entire season, especially since 

 the flow of nectar has stopped. I have tried cag- 

 ing the reigning queen, or fastening her to one 

 side of the hive with a queen-excluder, or placing 

 ih.e cells over a queen-excluder on a strong ex- 

 tracting colony ; but the bees seem to tear down 

 the cells about the same, no matter where I try 

 to keep them. I have fed the bees liberally, but I 

 do not see that this makes any difference. Then 

 I have used black bees, hybrids, and pure Italians; 

 yet the destruction goes on all the same, until I 

 have become nearly discouraged. Can you tell 

 me what causes tliis trouble ? 



There are several causes for bees tear- 

 ing down their queen-cells after they have 

 built them and have gotten them all sealed 

 over. The most common one is a sudden 

 stop in the nectar flow from the fields, 

 which cessation, if long continued, results 

 in the destruction of all queen-cells, and 

 many times the killing-off of all drones. 

 Aud I may add here that, if feeding is 

 not resorted to as soon as this flow of nec- 

 tar ceases, it will have little effect toward 

 saving the cells after the bees have once 

 decided on tearing them down, although 

 it will generally preserve the drones. So 

 the queen-breeder should be constantly on 

 the lookout so that he may know just 

 when there is a stop in the secretion of 

 nectar in the flowers. For this i^urpose, 

 as well as for many others, a hive having 

 a strong colony should be placed on scales, 

 so that a glance eacli day maj' confirm 

 his observation of conditions. 



The next most common cause for the 

 destruction of queen-cells is that a virgin 

 queen gets into the apartment where cells 

 have been placed for safe keeping. They 

 sometimes appear where it seems impos- 

 sible. Once I opened the hive of a colony 

 which had three frames of cells in differ- 

 ent stages of completion, in order to take 

 out the frame having ripe cells, which I 

 wished to use. Wliile stopping to do a lit- 

 tle other work I set one of the other frames 

 liaving queen-cells down outside of the 

 hive. It remained there perhaps two or 

 three minutes, when it was returned and 

 the hive closed. Two days later I went to 

 this hive, and my surprise can be imagined 

 to find some forty-five of the fifty-two 

 cells I had left there two days before all 

 destroyed. It was about two o'clock Avhen 

 1 was there the first time, this being about 

 the time queens take their flight; but it 

 did not seem jjossible that any virgin queen 

 could have entered the hive during the 

 time it was open. 



The hive standing next to this colony 



h-ad a virgin which was old enough to fly 

 out, and I soon decided to open this hive 

 and look for her. The moment I lifted 

 the covering the mournful humming noise 

 made bj^ the bees indicated that they were 

 hopelessly queenless. It then dawned on 

 my mind that this queen was out two days 

 before, and had divined that the colony I 

 had opened needed her presence there, so 

 she had either alighted on the frame while 

 it Avas standing outside the hive or had 

 gone in at the top unnoticed. This queen 

 had a little dark spot on one of her sides, 

 so I at once looked over the upper hive 

 where the cells were destroyed, and soon 

 found her there. This Avas one of the most 

 far-reaching losses I had ever had up to 

 that time, and I Avas greatly inconvenienced 

 and chagrined over the mater. But I take 

 it that neither of these cases is identical 

 Avith the experience of the correspondent, 

 as his seems to be a long-drawn-out dif- 

 ficulty. 



Up to about ten years ago I could ac- 

 count in one Avay or another for the tear- 

 ing-doAvn of cjueen-cells. But there came 

 a year when, after about the 10th of 

 August, colonies in Avhich I had cells 

 stored would begin to tear down a feAV, 

 from tAvo to five or six, doing so gradually 

 from the time the queens in them arrived 

 at the pupal form till they were about 

 to emerge from their cells. And they 

 Avould do this even in queenless colonies. 

 I fed them right along and looked care- 

 fullj^ for any virgin queen that might have 

 gotten in, but all to no avail. All the 

 plans Avhich I had used successfully for 

 tAventj' years failed. I had no troulile in 

 getting cpeen-cells started ; and, as a rule, 

 sealed, but soon after this the bees woulcl 

 begin to tear them doAvn sloAvly, till I got 

 behind in filling orders, and became ex- 

 asperated. While lying aAvake one night 

 bemoaning this state of affairs the idea 

 of making such colonies hopelessly brood- 

 less, all but the queen-cells, occurred to me. 

 The next day I tried the scheme, and all 

 Avorker brood, Avhether sealed or unsealed, 

 Avas taken from hives having queen-cells 

 stored therein. This settled the matter, 

 and since then I have had no trouble of 

 this kind. 



Bee-stings for Sciatic Rheumatism 



I have had sciatic rheumatism for two years. I 

 am applying the stings daily on my arms, and am 

 meeting with good results. I will report later. 



AVinlield, Pa., July 25. Levi Hummel. 



