THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



123 



on the boUom board, (or in layers against the 

 front, ) the young queen is certainly present and 

 fertile, for so soon as the bees are conscious 

 that drones are no longer needed, and there is 

 no such superabundance of stores, nor such 

 density of population, as to encourage fnrthcr 

 swarming, they will systematically crowd the 

 drones away from the houejr combs to the bot- 

 tom-bjDard or such part of the hive as contains 

 no honey. 



3. If we wish to ascertain whether an after- 

 swarm has a fertile queen, we cutout a piece of 

 the newly-built worker comb on the tenth day 

 after the swarm was hived. If it contains eggs, 

 the queen is fertile; if it contains none, the 

 colo.'jjr is queenless. This is Knaufl''s rule. We 

 think it cannot always be depended on. TVe 

 re-examine the hive three or four days after, 

 and if we lind that the bees have refilled the 

 place from which the piece was cut, with 

 worker comb, and lengthened out the rudi- 

 mental worker cells around it, tlie colony is 

 not queenless. But if the bees- have built 

 drone combs there, or have omitted building 

 altogether, the colony is certainly queenless. 



These tests hold good also in the case of 

 parent stocks, if made twenty-eight days after 

 the first swarm issued. 



In the case of afterswarms, even a moderately 

 experienced bee-keeper can readilj^ ascertain 

 the true condition of these swarms within two 

 weeks after they were hived. If the queen was 

 lost, the activity of the bees will decline obvi- 

 ously within that time, if it do not wholly 

 cease. The workers appear dispirited, flying 

 languidly, and crowding in a cluster against 

 the top of the hive inside, daily diminishing in 

 number, and dispersing. 



4. It is much more diflicult to detect queen- 

 lessness in colonies which have produced no 

 swarms, especially in large store stocks, unless 

 we casuallynote the indications referred to under 

 No. 1. But we may easily fail to observe these 

 in those mouths (from October to March) 

 when the stocks are less frequently examined. 

 If queenlessuess occur in sucli colonies in the 

 summer mouths, or prior to October, the indi- 

 cations can scarcely fail to attract the attention 

 of an observant bee-keeper, for, in the first 

 place, he will see, from the diminisiied activity 

 of the bees, that some untoward occurrence has 

 taken place. He will also occasionallj^ observe 

 dead drone brood cast out on the alighting- 

 board; and no young workers will ever be seen 

 on the wing in front of the Jiive, testing their 

 ability to fly. . In the second place, the bees 

 will neglect to expel the drones, but suffer them 

 to pass in and out unmolested. This is a sure 

 sign of queenlessuess. A few solitary drones 

 may be tolerated out of season in a normal 

 colony, but masses ef them, never. In the 

 third place, if we tap gently on the hive, or lift 

 it, or blow some smoke in it, a mournful and 

 long-continued humming Avill ensue. The 

 workers will present themselves scatteringly 

 between tlie combs, and not in dense columns 

 as in normal colonies. A colony that has a fer- 

 lile queen will respond brusquely when thus 

 Vi-ealed, the tones quickly subsiding to a gentle 

 humming, and the bees will rush up in crowds 



from between the central combs. If, in the 

 fourth place, drone brood presents itself, placed 

 regularlj' in worker cells, or irregularly in 

 drone cells, there can be no further question as 

 10 the destitute condition of the colony. 



On all these points, careful revision of the 

 colonies in autumn will supply the needed elu- 

 cidation, and a careful bee-keeper will conse- 

 quently rarely be misled into attempting to 

 winter a cpTeenless stock. 



Less sure are the indications furnished by a 

 colony which has become queenless in winter, 

 particularly if populous and well-supplied with 

 honey. The bees are then in their winter 

 quarters, and we must disturb them as little as 

 may be. On this account, we may even scarcely 

 venture to visit them daily. When the queen 

 perishes in the winter, efforts to rear a young- 

 one to supply her place are seldom successful, 

 because drones are then rarely found, and the 

 inclemency of the weather does not permit the 

 young queen to leave the hive. At the same 

 time the colony may still be populous, and be 

 very active in early spring, gathering honey 

 and pollen apparently with as much zeal and 

 eagerness as others. This may, for a time, 

 deceive the most watcliful bee-keeper. 



If the colonies be attentivelj^ observed Avhen 

 the bees are flying on occasional mild days in 

 winter, we may easily form an accurate judg- 

 ment of their condition. If the bees fly briskly, 

 cleanse their hives diligently, making a joyful, 

 self-satisfied humming the wiiile, it is fair to 

 infer that they have a queen; while the contrary 

 are indications of queenlessuess, or at least 

 furnish grounds for doubt and suspicion. Some- 

 times, too, in winter, queenlessuess manifests 

 itself by a certain restlessness of the bees, 

 especially when the weather suddenly changes. 

 This may be accompanied by a long melan- 

 choly moan or whine not easily described, nor 

 soon forgotten when once heard. This may be 

 brought on in a queenless colony if it be sud- 

 denly jarred, as once occurred with us when 

 bringing a hive out from its Aviuter receptacle 

 to replace it on its summer stand, wiiereupon 

 the bees rushed suddenly, in large numbers, oui 

 of the entrance. A sound colony will flare up 

 likewise on such occasums, but they do not 

 become alarmed and confused, and soon relapse 

 into cpiietude. The hive we were r* moving 

 proved to be queenless, as I presumed at the 

 time it was. 



The question now recurs — What is to be 

 done when a colony becomes queenless 'i Tlie 

 answer depends in the main, on two circum- 

 stances. First, on the district in which the 

 colony or apiary is situated; and, secondlj^, on 

 the season in which the queenlessness is first 

 observed. For if in the former pasturage ceases 

 to be available as early as in July, and a colony 

 becomes queenless in June, it will hardly be 

 worth while to attempt a cure unless the colony 

 be still populous, and we have a fertile queen 

 in reserve. But even then twenty-one days will 

 elapse before the first young bees will emerge, 

 and it rarely happens that such a colony will 

 secure srtores enough for the winter. Still, if 

 such a queen is available, the queenless colony 

 to be treated must nevertheless be a strong or 



