Aug. 14, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



517 



Contributed Articles, l 





No. 4. Improving the Race of Bees-Oiueen 

 Pointers. 



BY ADRIAN GBTAZ. 



{Continued from pa(fe 264.) 

 Summing up the preceding pages, we may say : 

 1st. In breeding stock of higher animals, close parent- 

 age can be allowed, provided defective individuals are re- 

 jected. Close parentage or inbreeding has the advantage 

 of surely perpetuating and increasing the qualities already 

 acquired. There is no reason to think that it would be 

 otherwise with bees. 



2d. The nurse-bees have no influence except what may 

 arise from insufficient feeding, lack of warmth or other 

 physical conditions. 



3d. The drones have at least as much influence on the 

 workers as the queens, and probably more. 



Since the preceding numbers were written, Mr. Doolit- 

 tle has published some of his experiences on the subject. 

 When he first introduced Italian queens in his locality there 

 were none but pure blacks in the whole neighborhood. The 

 first mismaced queens were necessarily a first cross between 

 blacks and Italians. He says that in nine cases out of ten 

 the hybrid workers exhibited the characteristics of the 

 drone-stock. The workers from the Italian queens mated 

 to black drones would show the disposition to sting, run- 

 ning from the combs, capping the honey white, which be- 

 long to the German race of bees. On the other hand, the 

 hybrids from a black queen mated to an Italian queen 

 would have all the traits peculiar to the Italian bees. He 

 does not say anything about the color. The experiment 

 could not be repeated now. The two races are so much in- 

 termingled that we never know certainly whether we have 

 an absolutely pure queen of any race, and still less about 

 the drones. 



4th. The mating of the queen has no influence on the 

 drones she produces. 



Now let us go to work. 



THE NURSING COLONY. 



The colony in which the young queens are to be reared 

 must, of course, be made queenless, and must be very strong 

 in nurse-bees so as to insure sufficient warmth and generous 

 feeding. Plenty of feed should come either from the field 

 or from the sugar-barrel. Somebody lately claimed that 

 _ some colonies or strains of bees feed their brood more gen- 

 erously than others. That may be, but I doubt it. I think 

 the honey-flow, and, above everything else, the number of 

 nurse-bees in proportion to the amount of brood to be fed, 

 are the factors in the case. 



THE TIME OF YEAR. 



After the honey-flow, even when the apiarist does not 

 especially work in view of improvement of the stock. 



For several reasons. It does not interfere with the sur- 

 plus-gathering. The apiarist has comparatively little to do. 

 The drones can be controlled. In the South there is no dif- 

 ficulty in rearing queens at that time of the year. Simply 

 by feeding abundantly, I can get all the worker-brood, 

 drone-brood and queen-cells I want ; and occasionally seme 

 swarms, that I don't want. In the Northern States the 

 weather is already cool at that time of the year, and it is 

 sometimes difficult to induce the bees to rear drone-brood. 



KE-yUEKNI.N(. K\ KRY YEAR. 



Excepting the queens that are reserved for breeders, 

 that the apiarist wishes to test a second year, I am more 

 and more inclined to think that it is best to re-queen every 

 year. 



1st. It prevents swarming to a great extent. A young 

 <|ueen being more active and more vigorous will, somehow 

 or other, induce the bees to empty and prepare the cells for 

 brood-rearing ; and probably more honey stored in the sur- 

 plus apartments and less in the brood-nest. It is a well- 

 known fact that the failure of the queen to lay a sufficient 

 quantity of eggs is the chief cause of swarming orsupensed- 

 ing. whether the failure is due to the queen or to the want 

 of empty comb. And it is well known that the colonies 

 with young queens are less apt to swarm than those with 

 old queens. 



2d. There will be less drones reared. Somebody here 

 will say, " Why don't you cut out all drone-comb from your 

 hives ? " Well, I used to do it much more closely than now, 

 and I thought there were only a very few drones in my 

 whole apiary. In fact, I saw only a few now and then. 

 When I began using queen-traps, I found that there were a 

 great many more than I thought, and I discovered, also, that 

 a great many were undersized and had been reared in 

 worker-cells. 



The fact is that a queen will lay but very few drone- 

 eggs the first year (if she has no drone-comb) ; but their 

 quantity will increase every year, and if no drone-cells are 

 there they will be laid in worker-cells. 



BUYING OR REARING QUEENS. 



For the one who is not interested in "improving the 

 races of bees," and who owns hundreds and perhaps thous- 

 ands of colonies, the question might be asked : Would it 

 not be cheaper for me to buy my queens than to rear them, 

 having already more work than I can do ? 



I think it would be cheaper, and besides, that the queens 

 reared by an experienced and well-equipped queen-breeder 

 are probably better than those reared by an ordinary bee- 

 keeper. 



But there is a " but " in this case. That is. the queens 

 are sometimes more or less injured by the transportation, 

 and their laying faculties thereby impaired. It seems to be 

 due to rough handling through the mails. And there seems 

 to be a difference according to the line of transportation they 

 come. At least it is so in my locality. Those coming from 

 a certain direction are very often injured. 



Often, apiarists think that the queens they buy are im- 

 pure or mismated. But they must remember that the bees 

 of an apiary mix considerably more than is suspected. I 

 have several five-banded queens, and in their colonies three- 

 banded hybrids and even black bees can be seen in small 

 numbers. But when I look close I find that the very young 

 bees are invariably five-banded, showing conclusively that 

 the other strains come from the other hives of the apiary. 



THE BREEDING COLONIES. 



As stated above, the colony that is to rear the queen 

 must be queenless, strong in bees, especially young bees, 

 and well fed. 



The one that is to rear the drones should be supplied 

 with drone-comb, and also well fed. In order to prevent 

 any interruption or delay this should be all ready at the end 

 of the flow. The drones driven from the other hives are 

 apt to take refuge in the ones that are fed. A judicious use 

 of the queen-trap will dispose of the intruders. 



The colony that is to furnish the brood (it may be the 

 same that furnishes the drones or it may not), has also to 

 be fed. 



