AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



509 



Topics of Interest. 



"Hate's fay "Willi Queens. 



Q. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Picking up one of our bee-papers the 

 other day, I saw this item in an article 

 on queen-rearing : 



"In a week or so the queens will be 

 mated an^i laying. By this time, other 

 colonies will begin to swarm ; when one 

 swarms, hive the swarm on a new stand 

 and go to one of the nuclei colonies that 

 has a laying queen, remove her, and 

 cage her in the hive from which the 

 swarm issued. In 24 hours she will be 

 released and laying. By this method 

 the old colonies are not queenless more 

 than 24 hours at a time. If left to 

 ' nature's way,' they would be at least 15 

 days without a laying queen ; conse- 

 quently a loss of 30,000 to 40,000 

 bees, and hence it is wasteful to allow 

 bees their own habits, as far as bees and 

 increase is concerned." 



I think that such teaching as this is 

 fallacious, and I will try to tell the 

 readers of the American Bee Journal 

 why I think so, and why it must be so in 

 all localities which are similar to that of 

 mine. 



With me, white clover yields only 

 honey enough to keep the bees breeding 

 nicely, and prepares them so that they 

 mainly swarm from June 20 to July 1. 

 Our honey harvest is from basswood, 

 which blooms from July 10 to 16. After 

 basswood, we have a honey-dearth, 

 wherein bees can do no work save care 

 for their brood and hives, and bees 

 which hatch out at the commencement 

 of this honey-dearth are of no value, 

 but, on the contrary, become consumers. 



On an average, it takes 21 days from 

 the time the egg is laid, to the perfect 

 bee, ready to emerge from the cell. 

 Then, If the colony is in a normal con- 

 dition, this bee does not commence labor 

 in the field until 16 days old; hence, the 

 eggs for the honey-gathering bees must 

 be deposited in the cell 37 days before 

 the honey harvest ends, or else they are 

 of no value as honey-producers, even 

 though they may help at comb-building, 

 etc., a few days previous to this age. 



As the basswood is all gone before the 

 eggs of this introduced queen become 

 honey-producing bees, and as the larger 

 part of them die of old age before the 

 buckwheat and Fall flowers bloom. It 



will be seen that such teaching is a mis- 

 take for such a locality as this. 



By letting each colony rear its own 

 queen, we have 15 days without any 

 larvae being fed or worthless bees hatch- 

 ing, as the writer above tells us, and 

 thereby we save the expensive feeding 

 of these larvie, which in turn would be- 

 come expensive consumers of the honey 

 in the hive. Also, the chances are that 

 when the colony rears its own queen, 

 they will be stocked with a better and 

 more abundant class of bees for Winter, 

 than where a queen was introduced im- 

 mediately after swarming. 



Once more : All who are familiar with 

 natural swarming, know that the bees 

 are comparatively few in numbers in the 

 Spring, and increase by the rapidly in- 

 creasing and hatching brood produced 

 by the queen, until a swarm is the re- 

 sult. By giving a laying queen to a 

 colony immediately after it has cast a 

 swarm, we bring about the same result 

 (swarming) as before, for we place the 

 bees in the same condition. The only 

 difference is, that, having plenty of 

 brood, they build up more quickly, and 

 are prepared to swarm in a shorter 

 time. 



As this second swarming, brought 

 about by giving the laying queen, comes 

 right in our basswood honey harvest, it 

 cuts off the chances for surplus honey, 

 for it is well known that bees having 

 the swarming fever, do little or no work 

 in the sections, and, if allowed to swarm, 

 the object we are seeking after (honey 

 in the sections) is beyond our reach. 



To understand this important matter 

 better, let us look at how the same 

 colony would work, had we not given 

 them the laying queen as soon as the 

 swarm issued : 



Eight days after the swarm went out, 

 as a rule, the first youhg queen will 

 have emerged from her cell, when the 

 apiarist should remove all the other 

 queen-cells from the hive, so that after- 

 swarming is entirely prevented. In 

 from eight to ten days more, the young 

 queen is ready to lay, which is about 

 the time the basswood begins to yield 

 honey largely. During this period, be- 

 tween the time the swarm issued and 

 the young queen commences to lay, the 

 bees, not having any brood to nurse for 

 the last half of the timC; consume but 

 little honey ; hence, as fast as the young 

 bees emerge from the cells, they are 

 filled with honey ; for bees, not having a 

 laying queen, seldom make much head- 

 way building comb in the sections. Thus, 

 when the young queen is ready to lay, 



