346 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



December 



alike, and let one of them change its 

 queen at the time when each has its 

 hive about half filled with brood. 

 No eggs are laid in the hive for a 

 week or two, at the very time when it 

 is most important, and one can easily 

 believe that the colony which keeps 

 its queen will surpass the superseding 

 one. 



But when the superseding occurs in 

 the fall, (and I think by far the great- 

 er part occur then) the hive is filled 

 with bees and the loss of a week or 

 two in laying is scarcely felt. More- 

 over, the young queen lays enough 

 longer in the fall to make up the de- 

 ficiency, and this later laying leaves 

 the colony, in the opinion of many, 

 in better condition for wintering, be- 

 cause of the larger number of young 

 bees. 



Some queens are better at four years 

 old than some others at a year old, and 

 as the bees seem to have good judg- 

 ment and supersede usually at the 

 time when good queens can be reared, 

 and when such rearing will be at least 

 cost to the honey crop, it seems pretty 

 good practice to leave the matter in 

 their hands, especially as that is the 

 easiest way for the bee keeper. But 

 then there are exceptions, a worthless 

 old queen being sometimes retained, 

 and sometimes being superseded at a 

 loss early in the season, so there's a 

 good deal in favor of at least some- 

 times taking the thing into one's own 

 hands. If Mr. Doolittle is right, it 

 might at least be well to make sure 

 each fall of the supersedure of each 

 queen whose colony has done poor 

 work during the summer. He says if 

 you put a queen cell in a super about 

 the close of the honey harvest the old 

 queen will be superseded. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE COLONY. 



It is nothing unusual for a failing 

 queen to remain in a colony for a time 

 with her laying daughter, but I have 

 at present an exceptional case. June 

 19 I started a nucleus by putting into 

 No. 36 a frame of brood with adhering 

 bees and a three year old queen. 

 June 23 I found the hive deserted by 

 all but a very few bees. I don't re- 

 member how much I looked for the 

 queen, but at any rate I didn't find 

 her. I then put into the hive a frame 

 of brood and bees with a two year old 

 queen. This was a very yellow queen. 

 July 8 I was surprised to find in the 

 hive a very dark queen, the three year 

 old queen I had first put into the hive. 

 Looking further I was still more sur- 

 prised to find the yellow queen. No 

 mistake about it, there they both were, 

 doing duty peacefully together. 



A curious feature of the case is that 

 the yellow queen shows she has had 

 pretty rough treatment, her feathers 

 being gone as well as her wings, ex- 

 cept just a shred of one wing, while 

 the dark queen shows no trace of ill 

 usage. As there were scarcely any 

 bees in the hive except those put in 

 with the yellow queen one would ex- 

 pect the other queen to be the victim 

 of ill treatment. 



Today, Aug. 1, 1 have been down to 

 the hive and both queens are all right 

 after 39 days of friendly association. 



Orders received during December 

 are subject to a discount of 4 per cent. 

 Better order now. Prices of supplies 

 were never lower, and will probably 

 be higher towards spring, as all man- 

 ufacturers are of the same mind, that 

 many supplies are sold so low that 

 there is no profit in them. 



