Nov. IS, 1906 



V51 



American T*ee Journal 



^ 



ocfor Mi Herts 

 %estion-Bg)c 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 ' Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Bees Stinging the Neighbors 



My bees are kept on a city lot, with neigh- 

 bors closely adjoining, and of late the 

 neighbors are beginning to complain that 

 the bees are troublesome. Is there anything 

 I can do to help matters? Illinois. 



Answer. — It's not 60 much what you will 

 do as what you will refrain from doing that 

 may be counted on to help matters. Don't 

 do anything tending in the least degree to 

 start robbing, such as letting hooey stand 

 exposed and letting brood-combs stand where 

 robbers can get at them. If you must open a 

 hive when bees are not storing, see that any 

 combs set out of the hive are at once covered 

 up. Sometimes you will find that the bees 

 are more gentle at one time of day than an- 

 other; humor their whim, and take them in 

 hand when at their best. If you find them 

 very cross, close up the hives and try it an- 

 other time. 



Other things being equal, handle your bees 

 in the evening, if you want to avoid cross 

 bees. Not that they are more gentle in the 

 evening — they may be more gentle in 

 the morning— but if robbers get started, the 

 closing of the day will send them home. 

 Avoid having queenless colonies; they are 

 more inclined to be cross than bees having a 

 laying queen. Often the trouble can be 

 traced to a single colony. It may seem that 

 all the bees in the yard are cross, but close 

 observation will show that there is only one 

 cross colony. When you have spotted the 

 culprit, kill the queen and give them one of 

 gentler manners. Perhaps it may be that 

 your bees are not of gentle strain, and you 

 need to change to pure Italians or some other 

 gentle kind. Much is claimed as to gentle- 

 ness for the Caucasian bees, although they 

 are not yet much known. 



Wants to Know About Shallow Hives 



I would like to ask some questions about 

 shallow hives as mentioned by Geo. B. Whit- 

 comb, on page 218. 



1. Why are deep combs more bulging than 

 shallow ones? 



2. Does operation 2 apply only to shallow 

 hives' 



3. Is there any way bees can be gotten into 

 supers as easily as mentioned in No. 3, if one 

 has not shallow hives? 



4. Is there any way by which contraction 

 can be as easily performed as the way men- 

 tioned in No. 4? 



5. Can queen-cells not be seen from the 

 bottom with deep frames without taking out 

 frames? Subscriber. 



Answers. — 1. When combs are built down 

 deep, the bees have a habit of making them 

 waving if comb foundation is not used, and 

 likely that is what is meant when they are 

 called "bulging." It is probable that they 

 are built thus waving for greater strength. 

 But when the frames are properly filled with 

 foundation, combs in deep frames are as 

 straight and true as shallow ones. 



2. No, the result will be just the same if you 

 divide into two parts the contents of the old 



hive and put it on two different stands, 

 whether the frames are deep or shallow. But 

 it is a simpler matter with the shallow hive, 

 and more quickly ilone. 



3. Yes, and more easily. Whether the 

 frames be deep or shallow, bees will read- 

 ily take to the supers if you put in the super 

 a bait-6ection, or one that contains drawn- 

 out comb. 



4. I suppose you mean to contract with 

 deep frames Some practise letting strong 

 colonies have two stories of Laogstroth 

 frames up to the time of putting on section- 

 supers, and then reducing to une story, just 

 as mentioned. Not many would want to con- 

 tract to as little as one story of shallow 

 frames, but for those who want to practise 

 such severe contraction, the shallow hive al- 

 lows more easy manipulation. It is also bet- 

 ter than to take out half the deep frames, for 

 bees will not work nearly so well in sections 

 with no brood-frame6 uoder them. 



5. Ye6, you can see the cells on the lower 

 edge of the comb just as well with deep 

 combs as with shallow ones. But there is 

 more danger that cells higher up may be out 

 of sight with deep combs than with shallow 

 ones. But I wouldn't feel entirely safe with- 

 out taking out frames in either case. 



Keeping Bees on Shares 



What is the rule to work an apiary on 

 shares? I always understood that the owner 

 was to give % of the honey and ]4 of the in- 

 crease of bees; the renter to do all the work, 

 and each to furnish half the supplies. Is that 

 correct? Mississippi. 



Answer. — There is no fixed rule. Circum- 

 stances vary greatly. If you are a skilfull 

 bee-keeper, you will obtain more honey than 

 one who knows very little about bees, and 

 ought to gel a larger share. On the side of 

 the owner, his investment is a fixed quantity ; 

 he wants a fair return on his investment, and 

 it will be more profitable for him to get a 

 fourth of the proceeds with his bees in the 

 hands of 6ome men than to get three-fourths 

 from others. Generally bee keeping on shares 

 is not very satisfactory, and there is probably 

 less of it than formerly. 



Your idea as to division of outlay and in- 

 come is probably as much in vogue as any, 

 and is not out of the way where the one who 

 does the work has a moderate knowledge of 

 the business. It will be well for you to have 

 a very definite agreement in writing as to just 

 what is to be done. You will be more sure by 

 that to keep friends than if you leave things 

 loose for misunderstandings. 



Does the Queen Control Sex of Eggs ? 

 —Other Questions 



On page 719, an article by "West Virginia" 

 seems to throw doubt on some of the things 

 that seem to be generally believed ; and if it 

 would not be too much trouble it might be a 

 good thing if you would kindly say in your 

 question-box just what is to be believed as to 

 the points in question. Illinois. 



Answer.— It would take a good deal of 



space to take up in detail all the points in- 

 volved ; but I'll try to answer as well as I can 

 within the prescribed limits. 



The first question asked, is, " Does the 

 queen-tee have control over the kind of egg 

 she deposits in the cell?" I don't know, and 

 I don't believe any one knows for certain. 

 Some think that the queen uses her judgment, 

 and by an effort of the will lays each egg in 

 the kind of cell proper for it; or, to put it in 

 another way, fertilizes each egg desiined for 

 a worker or queen cell, and leaves unfertilized 

 each egg 6he lays in a drone-cell. Others 

 think that in some mechanical way the kind 

 of cell automatically causes the fertilization 

 of each egg laid in a worker or queen cell. 



In the 5th paragraph " West Virginia " 

 gives an instance of a queen-cell '■ built right 

 over the drone-cells;" and at that time he 

 thought "that if the worker-bees had not 

 changed the form and size of the cell it would 

 have brought forth only a drone-bee." It is 

 not entirely clear whether he thought the 

 6ame afterward or not; but in any case his 

 thought was wrong. If the egg would have 

 produced a drone in case no change in the 

 cell had been made by the workers, then it 

 would have produced a drone when the work- 

 ers enlarged the cell into a queen-cell. Many 

 a time bees have been known to try to rear a 

 queen from a drone-larva, but no matter how 

 large they made the cell, and no matter how 

 they fed the larva, a drone was always the re- 

 sult, although it always died in the cell. 



" W. V." evidently thought that a queen- 

 larva was reared from an egg in a drone-cell. 

 There is one chance in many thousand that 

 there may have been a worker egg in a drone- 

 cell, in which case a queen might be reared 

 from it. But if it was a drone-egg, that is an 

 unfertilized egg, then by no possibility could 

 a queen have been reared from it. 



Neither would it have been likely that the 

 bees would have chosen a larva in a drone- 

 cell, when worker-cells were present, as seems 

 to have been the case. I can not say posi- 

 tively that the wise little creatures would 

 never do such a foolish thing, but I do not 

 remember that such a case has ever been re- 

 corded. If nothing but unfertilized eggs are 

 present, bee6 may try to rear a queen from 

 one of them, but that's another thing. 



It is not at all unlikely that the queen-cell 

 built "right over the drone-cells" was started 

 in a worker-cell immediately above the drone- 

 cells, and then built down over them. 



In the 2d paragraph of the 2d column, 

 " W. V." 6ays: "And now I am still at a 

 loss, for in the first answer you will observe 

 that he says that the sex of the bee depends 

 upon whether the egg is fertilized or not. An 

 unfertilized egg produces a drone, and a fer- 

 tilized egg a worker or queen. In Ans. 2, you 

 will see that he says that in our opinion it 

 does not, since there are two kinds of eggs 

 laid by queens, which are, namely, the male 

 and female." 



Evidently he thinks there is conflict be- 

 tween the two answers, although he does not 

 make it entirely clear just what the conflict 

 is. I think there is nothing in either answer 

 to conflict with the well-known fact that 

 from a fertilized egg only a worker or a 

 queen will result, and from an unfertilized 

 egg only a drone will result, no matter in 

 what kind of a cell the egg may be placed. 

 Neither is there anything in either answer to 

 conflict with the fact that normally only a 

 fertilized egg will be found in a worker or 

 queen-cell, and an unfertilized egg in a drone 

 cell. " W. V." says further : " Now, if the 

 queen does actually lay two distinct kinds of 

 eggs, they will necessarily have to be depos- 

 ited in the proper kinds of cells; that is, the 

 worker-egg6 will have to be deposited in 

 worker-cells, and the male eggs in the drone- 

 cells, for nothing but a drone will natch out 

 of a drone-cell, and only a worker come out 

 of a worker-cell, or a queen out of a queen- 

 cell." 



In this he is wrong. Although as a rule 

 eggs are laid in the proper kinds of cells, it 

 does not follow that " they will necessarily 

 have to be deposited in the proper kind of 

 cells.'' Exceptions frequently arise, drone- 

 eggs being found in worker and queen cells, 



