698 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Hueries aiid Replies. 



Mm of Italian Oneens. 



QuEKY 820. — Out of a good lot of 

 young Italian queens, but two mated 

 with black drones, and that when ail 

 the bees in my neighborhood are blacks 

 (about 50 colonies in from X to one 

 mile from my yard) except my bees, 

 which are Italians except one colony. 1. 

 Why did so large a per cent, of my 

 queens mate with the drones in my own 

 yard ? 2. May I expect the same re- 

 sult next year? — North Carolina. 



Ask something easier. — C. C. Millek. 



I do not know anything about this. — 

 P. H. Elwooi). 



1. I think this is a mistake. 2. No. 



— G. M, DOOLITTLE. 



1. I do not know. 2. It is very 

 doubtful. — E. France. 



1. That is just about the proportion I 

 should expect to find purely mated. 2. 



Yes. — C. H. DiBBERN. 



1. There was a preponderance of 

 drones from your yard in the air, hence 

 the result. 2. I don't know. — J. M. 

 Hambaugh. 



Your young queens may not be as 

 purely mated as you suppose. You can 

 expect almost anything with bees. — II. 

 D. Cutting. 



1. Because you had drones in abund- 

 ance at home. 2. If circumstances are 

 the same you may expect about the same 

 results. — Mrs. Jennie Atciiley. 



I judge you had more numerous and 

 more vigorous drones in your apiary. I 

 think it an unusual experience, and 

 shall be surprised if it is repeated. — A. 

 J. Cook. 



In all probability, at the time your 

 young Italian queens were ready to 

 mate, there was a paucity of black 

 drones, which might not bo the; case at 

 another season. — J. P, II. Brown. 



How many is "a good lot?" I think 

 your experience is unusual. There might 

 be good reasons for it, but no one could 

 give them without knowing all the cir- 

 cumstances. — James A. Green. 



1. For a guess, I will say because the 

 Italian drones were more plentiful than 

 blacks, at the time of mating. 2. Pos- 

 sibly you may, and then again just the 

 reverse may happen. — J. E. Pond. 



1. I cannot account for such an un- 

 usual mating, unless your drones and 

 queens were earlier developing than 

 those of all your neighbors. 2. No; I 

 would not expect such results again. — 

 James Heddon. 



1. If you have one colony of black 

 bees in your yard, the probabilities are 

 that your two mismated queens met 

 drones from this colony, and your 

 queens, no doubt, were all mated with 

 drones from your own yard. 2. Practi- 

 cally the same. — Mrs. J. N. Heater. 



1. I merely suggest that this favorable 

 result might have been caused by windy 

 weather that prevented the queens fly- 

 ing far from home. 2. If the above 

 theory be correct, you can hardly hope 

 for equal success two years in succes- 

 sion. — Eugene Secor. 



There is little danger of bees mixing 

 at a distance of one-half mile, if there 

 are plenty of drones in your own yard, 

 and none at all at one' mile. If you 

 wish to rear Italian queens, you had 

 better get rid of that black colony. — 

 Mrs. L. Harrison. 



1. " I don't know." 2. Yes, if you 

 want to. It won't be "treading on any 

 one's toes" to expect it, and it may help 

 to keep you out of mischief ; but witli 

 my hopeful disposition, I wonld not 

 spend much time expectiiigsuch a result, 

 if I had anything else to do. — A. B. 

 Mason. 



1. I (jucfis that more than two of your 

 Italian queens mated with black drones. 

 Bees resemble the queen much more 

 than the drone, and an expert is liable 

 to be deceived as to the purity of Italian 

 bees. 2. If you breed from the young 

 queens, I think you will find a stronger 

 infusion of " black blood." — M. Mahin. 



Probably because at the time your 

 young queens mated, the weather may 

 not have been favorable for the black 

 drones in your vicinity to make long 

 flights of one-half mile. Cloudy days 

 and windy are not favorable for drones 

 to fiy far from their hives. Next year 

 may bring the opposite result. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



How do you know that only two mated 

 with black drones? You cannot tell l)y 

 the color of the workers. The first two 

 Italian queens I over saw were two I 



