THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



113 



ttttdtmilW^ ^lattnial 



W. F. CLARKE, Editor. 



CHICAGO, MAY, 1874. 



Clipping the Wings of Queens. 



For sonu' years past it has been custom- 

 ary witli the best ai)iarians to clip the wings 

 of queen bees as a precaution against swarm- 

 ing. 



At the annual meeting of the North 

 American Bee-keepers' Society, held at 

 Louisville, Ky., in December last, doubts 

 as to the propriety of this course were rais- 

 ed by Gen. D. L. Adair, one of the best 

 apiculturists, both as to theory and practice 

 on the continent. In a paper on the wings 

 of the bee, it was contended that various 

 important functions, breathing included, 

 were performed by these organs, and it 

 was argued that they could not be mutila- 

 ted without injury. 



This paper having appeared in the reports 

 of the Louisville meeting published in this 

 and other journals, has naturally led to the 

 matter being pretty freely debated among 

 bee-keepers, "Novice" in his "Gleanings," 

 has pronounced strongly against Gen. 

 Adair's views, but failed to do him the 

 justice of publishing the paper itself. Our 

 last issue contained a very able reply from 

 Gen. Adair, to "Novice's" criticisms. — 

 The subject has also received attention in 

 other quarters. 



At the annual meeting of the North-East- 

 ern Bee-Keepers' Association, which met in 

 Utica, N. Y., during the first week in Feb- 

 ruary, this subject was very fully discussed 

 and a number of the most experienced bee- 

 keepers gave it as their decided opinion, 

 that clipping a queen's wings does not in- 

 jure her capacity for usefulness. Secretary 

 Nellis had practised clipping five or six 

 years, and observed no bad results. At 

 the present time, he had more than forty 

 queens with wings cut off, and considered 

 them as servicable as others. Captain 

 Hetherington, we believe the largest bee- 

 keeper on this continent, also practised 

 clipping. He sometimes had three and 



four hundred clipped at once. Mr. Doolit- 

 tle liad done more tlian all the rest, for he 

 liad tested the capacity of a queen who not 

 only had her wings but also a hind leg clip- 

 ped off, and yet did effective duty for four 

 years. The general .weight of testimony 

 was decidedly in favor of clipping. Mr. 

 Quinby however, who proposed the ques- 

 tion for discussion, was very reticent in 

 regard to it, expressing no detinite opinion, 

 but merely testifying that he had known a 

 case in which a swarm went out with a 

 young queen, leaving the clipped queen in 

 the hive. Other speakers incidentally 

 admitted that clipped queens were apt to 

 be superseded, the bees evidently regarding 

 them as deformed or crippled. 



We have never tried this practice, and 

 are therefore liable to be considered incom- 

 petent to say anything against it. But we 

 can at least be permitted to state why we 

 have never tried it. One reason has been, 

 tliat we object, on principle, to the unneces- 

 sary mutilation of the creatures domestica- 

 ted by man. Docking horses' tails, clip- 

 ping terriers' ears, ringing pigs' noses, pick- 

 ing the feathers off live geese, cutting off 

 the combs of game cocks, and the like, are 

 all of a piece with clipping the wings of 

 queen bees. Another reason for our avoid- 

 ance of the practice has been, that we are 

 unable to see how it can be kept up without 

 injury. If it is a wise and necessary thing 

 to do, then it must be done to successive 

 generations of queen bees. Now, though 

 no serious evil may result from its being 

 done once in a while, it must entail weak- 

 ness if done continually. A woman, here 

 and there, may, by accident, loose an arm 

 without perceptible detriment to the race :, 

 but if every bride were deprived of an arm 

 on or before her marriage, we are of 

 opinion that the mutilation would tell disas- 

 trously upon coming generations of human 

 beings. If General Adair should prove to 

 be right, and the important functions he 

 suggests are in reality performed by the 

 queen's wing, then assuredly serious injuries 

 must result from the mutilation. 



Moreover, we are opposed to all unneces- 

 sary meddling and fussing with bees. There 

 is a wise management and supervision of 

 the busy little workers, wliich is man's part 



