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COLORS OF BEES. 



Color and Markings of Bees In- 

 dicating Characteristics. 



Written Jor the American BeeJoumal 



BY W. S. VANDRUFF. 



My observation and experience the 

 past ten j'ears {rom purchasing and 

 testing queens from all the principal 

 queen-breeders, have led me to the 

 conclusion that but few are pursuing 

 the right course to produce the best 

 bees. 



A few j-ears ago the Albinos were 

 ■■ all the rage." and I have trieil many 

 different strains of them ; but I find 

 that the breeders of these bees seem to 

 have nothing in \iew but the white 

 bands of hair, and have neglected to 

 preserve the three j-ellow bands, so 

 that many show but little yellow on 

 the third band, and not as much as 

 they should on the first and second. 



Latterly, it seems that pbe golden 

 Italians are having a boom, and I 

 have tried different strains of these 

 bees, also ; and I find the same fault 

 with the breeders of these bees, as 

 with the Albinos— -they seem to be sac- 

 rificing all other colors for the golden 

 yellow. I have had bees of this strain 

 that had 4 or 5 yellow bands, with 

 nothing on them but yellow, not even 

 a streak of black on the edge of the 

 bands, and the hair as yellow and so 

 nearly the color of the bands that one 

 could scarcely tell there was any hair 

 on them — and some call them beauti- 

 ful bees ! Now the idea of a plain 

 yellow bee. or a plain white, or black, 

 or any other one color making a beau- 

 tiful bee, is not in accordance witli my 

 ideas of a beautiful bee. As some one 

 has said, -I want a ringed, streaked, 

 striped, and all-color bee," with a 

 beautiful, flashy contrast of color. 



My experience with different colors 

 and strains of bees is, that the -reri/ 

 yellow ones do not cap their honey 

 white. I had one colonj- in particular 

 the past season that did the worst cap- 

 ping I ever saw ; it was not fit to put 

 on the market at all, as tlie capping 

 looked as if completely water-soaked. 

 Thej' build too many burr-combs, make 

 too much use of propolis, are not quiet 

 enough, and some strains are too 

 small. 



As to Albino's, as a strain, by most 

 breeders the}- are rather too small, and 

 have not jellow enough left on them ; 

 but they, have more good qualities 

 than the very yellow bees ; they cap 

 their combs whiter, but many of them 



are too much inclined to build burr- 

 combs. 



My .experiments show that neither 

 an extreme, of white, yellow or black 

 in a strain of bees, gives the best re- 

 sults as to good qualities. I have 

 found that bees possessing the most 

 good points have all the colors above- 

 named, beautifully combined. The 

 hair is light-colored, the first three 

 bands orange to light orange color, 

 with a fine line of rich, glossy black on 

 their edge, and the last three bands a 

 glossj' black, with white rings of hair. 

 Bees with such markings are always, 

 so far as I have observed, very large, 

 prolific and quiet, and are certainly 

 very beautiful, and possess more good 

 qualities than any other color or mark- 

 ings that I have ever experimented 

 with. 



About seven years ago I noticed 

 early in February, that I had a colony 

 of bees that were wintering remark- 

 ably well, and were breeding up ahead 

 of any I had in my apiary, and it 

 proved to be the best I had that season. 

 Sometime in June a particular friend 

 of mine wanted a good colon}' of bees, 

 and I told him he should have some- 

 thing good. I sold him a nucleus col- 

 ony containing this queen. The next 

 spring I examined them, and found 

 they had wintered exceedingly v,'e\\. and 

 was a most powerful colony, and they 

 went ahead of any with which I was 

 acquainted that season. I have looked 

 after these bees every season since, and 

 hnd tliem the same every spring. 



Seeing the great superiority of these 

 bees, I secured an interest in them 

 two years ago, and have been looking 

 after them pretty closely ever since, 

 and find they possess the markings, to 

 a great degree, that I have heretofore 

 mentioned, and I have further im- 

 proved them this season. They are 

 located about nine miles from where I 

 live, and have been in the same place 

 the past seven years. The past spring 

 I did not get to go to see them until 

 late in May. and as the fruit and all 

 spring blooms were a failure here this 

 season, and my ovvn and other bees 

 were generally weak, I expected to 

 find them in poor condition, but I was 

 pleasantlj' surprised to find them in 

 splendid condition, being very strong ; 

 one colonj', in particular, I think was 

 the strongest I ever saw. and it also 

 had the finest markings, and although 

 this was a very poor honey season here, 

 as well as in many other places, yet 

 this colony outstripped any of mine or 

 my neighber's bees, with which I was 

 acquainted. 



I noticed the burr-comb matter with 

 this colony, and although there were 

 several f-inch bee-spaces in the hive 

 during the honey season, I think tliat 

 all the burr-combs could have been 



pressed into a thimble. I called the 

 attention of several bee-keepers to this 

 fact, and they expressed great surprise 

 at the iibsence of them. 



I have further improved the mark- 

 ings of these bees this season, and I 

 am going to introduce them into my 

 apiary next season, without any hopes 

 of ever getting a better strain of bees. 

 They cap their honey as white, and 

 enter the sections the most readily of 

 any bees I ever saw, blacks not ex- 

 cepted. 



I have often noticed that bees with 

 these particular markings possess more 

 good qualities than any other, and the 

 more they run to the extreme of very 

 yellow, or very white or black, the 

 less good qualitie.s they possess. I 

 think that this breeding for extremes 

 of any color by our queen-breeders is a 

 great mistake. I am well satisfied 

 that it results in deterioration in size, 

 as well as in many other good qualities, 

 and is a failure in getting a beautiful 

 bee. 



This strain of mine, which I am 

 going to christen the • ' American Ital- 

 ian," poissesses in a high degree the 

 markings and characteristics of my 

 ideal bee. 



MARKINGS FOR BEST CHARACTERISTICS. 



For the benefit of those wishing to 

 experiment on this line of color, I will 

 give the particular markings that I 

 have found to give the best character- 

 istics, as well as great beauty : 



The three yellow bands should be 

 orange color — not too dark, but rather 

 light, yet not too light ; these bands 

 should not be all yellow, as is the case 

 with many of the golden Italians, but 

 should have a fine line of glossy black 

 on their outer edge. 



The fourth band on many of the bees 

 show slight traces of yellow on their 

 sides, extending and gradually lessen- 

 ing until on the top there is none to 

 be seen, and this is as much yellow as 

 anj' bee should have on the fourth 

 band, in my opinion, to possess the 

 most good qualities ; the rest of this 

 band is a deep, glossy black, with a 

 large ring of light-colored hair. The 

 fifth and sixth bands are of this same 

 glossy black, with the light ring of 

 hair on the fifth. 



I find that bees with these m.arkings 

 are large, very prolific, and possess all 

 the desirable qualities of a perfect bee. 

 In short, they have gi'eat wintering 

 qualities, are very large, prolific, quiet 

 and beautiful, enter the sections 

 readily, are nol excessive swarmers, 

 not disposed to use an excess of pro- 

 polis, build few burr-combs, and are 

 as fine comb-builders as I ever saw, 

 capping their honey verj' white. 



I would like to hear from others, on 

 this color question in bees. Do not 



