724 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wintering ftueens in Nuclei. 



Qaery» No. l.'i'I.— Can 1 winter 2 or 3 nuclei 

 in one hive by putting in division-boards? I want 

 to winter a few queens belonging to colonies from 

 wblch the honey was tnken. There are 12 of 

 them.— S.. Marshall Co.. Iowa. 



Sometimes they do well thus pre- 

 pared ; but oftener they die. A trial 

 will decide the matter in your case. — 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I tried a few cases and succeeded 

 fairly well.— C. C. Miller. 



Yes. But the division-boards must 

 fit bee-tight, so that no communica- 

 tion takes place between the occu- 

 pants of the two or three apartments. 

 Otherwise the queens are likely to 

 be " balled " and killed. I lost a queen 

 only a week or so ago, from that 

 cause.— G. W. Demaree. 



Such has been done. Much depends 

 upon your wintering method. Most 

 or us are not yet able to winter any 

 kind of colonies with any great degree 

 of certainty. — James Heddon. 



In a good cellar it is easy. I find it 

 no trouble to winter nuclei even 

 alone.— A. J. Cook. 



Yes ; but the division-boards must 

 be thin, and there must be enough 

 bees to cover all of the combs, sep- 

 arate entrances being provided. — G. 

 L. Tinker. 



It can be done if care is taken to 

 make the divisions perfectly " tight." 

 — \V. Z. Hutchinson. 



Yes, it can be done with a great 

 deal of care. It is not usually safe. — 

 Chas. Dadant & Son. 



Yes, by taking care in packing 

 them. The same dangers are to be 

 feared that exist in wintering any 

 colony, and no one can tell whether 

 success or failure will follow. I have 

 wintered nuclei in the manner in- 

 quired about, and so I say decidedly, 

 it can be done.— J. E. Pond, Jit. 



Qneens Beginning to Lay. 



Qnery, Xo. 15H.— How soon after '* mating" 

 does the queen usually commence laying ?— M. D. 



From 30 to 00 hours. — G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



The time varies from one to three 

 days ; and sometimes apparently even 

 longer.— James Heddon. 



She usually begins to lay in 72 hours 

 after she is mated, but she sometimes 

 lays a day sooner, and more frequently 

 a day or two later.— G. AV. Dejiaree. 



Mated late in the fall they may not 

 lay until the next February or March. 

 They usually begin to lay in 2 or 3 

 days.— G. L. Tinker. 



Three days.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Ordinarily from 6 to 8 days. I had 

 a queen this summer that was laying 

 in 6 days after she emerged from the 

 cell. She was an exception, though.^ 

 J. E. Pond, Jr. 



A couple of days, more or less. — 

 Chas. Dadant & Son. 



Two or three days. — A. J. Cook. 



I have never observed closely as to 

 the point in question, but generally 

 look for eggs about 12 days after a 

 queen hatclies. She may commence, 

 and I think usually does, before that 

 time, but it is hardly economy to look 

 till slie has laid quite a number of 

 eggs.— C. C. Miller. 



Italians or Hybrids? 



Qnery. Xo. 159.— As honey-gatherers, which 

 are the best— light Uiilian bees, dark ones, or hy- 

 brids ? If hybrids, wliich are the better to breed 

 from, the light or dark Italians ?— Marion, Ind. 



Dark Italians.— W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son. 



A pure Italian queen mating with 

 a black drone will give bees second to 

 none as to honey gathering. — G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



Volumes have been written on this 

 subject, and it remains not entirely 

 settled. I do not know which is best. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



My experience is as follows : Dark 

 Italians (the leather colored) are bet- 

 ter than light Italians as honey gath- 

 erers and comb builders. Crosses 

 between the dark Italians and the 

 larger brown Germans are equally as 

 good gatherers, and better comb 

 builders than any Italians.— Jajies 

 Heddon. 



Dark Italians and hybrids are 

 about equal according to my observa- 

 tion. I prefer the dark Italians to 

 the light at all times, and for all 

 purposes.— A. J. Cook. 



The Italians are undoubtedly the 

 best. The light Italians will do as 

 v\iell as the darker, provided they are 

 not bred in-andiii for color at the 

 expense of other qualities, as is very 

 often the case among queen-breeders. 

 —Chas. Dadant & Son. 



Bright Italians, in my opinion. 

 Others think differently, aiid I hazard 

 the guess that the answers to this 

 question will vary from bright Ital- 

 ians to hybrids. I should prefer to 

 breed hybrids from bright Italians, 

 but opinions vary as above.— J. E. 

 Pond, Jr. 



There is very little difference be- 

 tween the dark and light strains of 

 Italians, as to their workingqualities. 

 I prefer the light strain, because as 

 breeders they transmit their own 

 peculiarities with more certainty than 

 do the less-pure dark strain. Some 

 hybrid colonies are just as good 

 workers as are the pure bees, but they 

 do not average as well. A cross 

 should always be made from pure 

 parentage on both sides, if possible, 

 and the light Italians possess the 



strongest characteristics of the Italian 

 race, which itself i.s hybrid of long 

 standing.— G. W. Demaree. 



Dark Italian bees are sometimes 

 better than light ones, and again they 

 are not. The close inter-breeding of 

 any race leads to indolence. This 

 trouble can all be averted by judicious 

 crossing, and the best qualities of any 

 race be made to appear. But all hap- 

 hazard crossing is very uncertain of 

 result. Bee-keepers have it in their 

 power to control the mating of queens 

 at a small expense, and the time is 

 coming when more attention will be 

 devoted to this matter. I believe that 

 three years of careful and intelligent 

 crossing of bees will accomplish more 

 than 300 of natural selection. Hybrids 

 are so often valuable because of the 

 infusion of new blood. — G.L.Tinker. 



Bees Killing a Queen. 



Query, No. 160.— Aslwas extracting honey 

 on Oct. 12, I brushed the queen from a frame 

 down on the enameled cloth, and then put her on 

 a frame in tbe hive, when the bees, immediately 

 killed her. How is this accouDted for?— J. S. G., 

 Minn. 



The bees were irritated from the 

 brushing, and took the queen for a 

 stranger.— G. M. Doolittle. 



The queen had acquired a foreign 

 scent in handling, and the colony 

 being annoyed by robber bees, she 

 was treated as an intruder. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Because she was found where she 

 was not expected to be, and thus 

 looked upon as an intruder. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



Bees will sometimes attack their 

 queen if she is frightened and acts 

 like a strange queen, especially at a 

 time when they are not busy storing. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



From some cause or other a queen 

 is sometimes taken for an intruder by 

 her bees after she has been handled. 

 This is scarce however. It might be 

 also that she was damaged or crippled 

 in handling.— Chas. Dadant & Son. 



It is hard to account for the con- 

 duct of bees under such circum- 

 stances as you mention. Did a bee 

 sting her i* or was she " bulled " to 

 death V If she was stung, a robber 

 bee may have attacked her ; if she 

 was " balled," it was the result of the 

 severe scare she received when find- 

 ing herself tumbled back into the 

 hive. It is unsafe to alarm a queen 

 in the hive under certain circum- 

 stances. Last spring I lost several 

 good queens by having them "balled," 

 there being no other cause than what 

 resulted from carefully opening the 

 hives.— G. W. Demaree. 



I agree with Mr. D. A. Jones and 

 others, that the motions or actions 

 of a queen are often what governs the 

 treatment of the bees towards her. 

 In this case the queen was doubtless 

 stunned, and this may have led to 

 such motions that she was dispatched 

 by the bees as objectionable. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



