June 6, 1907 



483 



American lae Journal i^ 



p=^^^?$f^'2 



Sntrib 



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Something About Queens in 

 the Spring 



BY G. M. DOOI.ITTLK 



When settled warm weather comes 

 in the spring, it is necessary that each 

 colony contains a good, prolific queen, 

 for if the queen in any colony should 

 be old and failing, that colony could 

 not be gotten in the best shape to take 

 advantage of the honey harvest. 



As the queen is mother of all of the 

 bees in a hive, she must be able to lay 

 rapidly so as to increase the population 

 of the colony, and if such an one is not 

 in the hive, she should be superseded 

 with a better queen. 



It often happens that the queen dies 

 of old age during the winter or early 

 spring, and in that case it is absolutely 

 necessary that the apiarist knows it, 

 else the colony will dwindle away till 

 it is overpowered with robber-bees and 

 the stores carried off, when the combs 

 will be devoured by the larv^ of the 

 wax-moth. Old bees rapidly die oflf 

 with the work that now devolves upon 

 them, for old age is brought about very 

 much in accord with the labor done ; 

 hence at this time of activity it is very 

 necessary that all colonies contain 

 good queens from whose brood many 

 young bees will be emerging, more 

 than to make good those dying of old 

 age. There is no other way of know- 

 ing for a certainty just what is going 

 on inside of a hive, except by opening 

 it and inspecting the combs. To know 

 if there is a queen in the hive, inspect 

 the combs, and if no eggs or small 

 larvas are found in the bottom of the 

 cells at this season of the year, you 

 can reasonably expect that they are 

 queenless, while, if the eggs are few 

 and scattered about in different cells 

 without regularity, the queen is unpro- 

 lific. 



To be absolutely sure that a colony 

 is queenless, take a frame of comb 

 having eggs and little larvcB in it and 

 put it in the center of the supposed 

 queenless colony, leaving it there for 

 3 or 4 days. If queenless, queen-cells 

 will be formed over some of the little 

 larvae, while, if no such cells are 

 started, rest assured that the bees have 

 something they are cherishing as a 

 queen, which makes it unsafe to try to 

 introduce another until the thing they 

 are cherishing is disposed of. To find 

 such a queen carefully look over this 

 frame of brood, for in nine cases out of 

 ten she will be on this frame. In fact, 

 if I wish to find any queen that is not 

 laying, I always put a frame of young 

 brood into the hive containing such, 

 leaving the hive further undisturbed 

 for 3 or 4 hours, when, upon opening it 



again, this frame of brood is imme- 

 diately lifted out, when, in nine cases 

 out of ten, anything which the bees 

 are keeping as a queen (and said queen 

 is not laying) will be found on this 

 frame of brood. This is the way to 

 find out whether a colony has a queen. 

 The started queen-cells will tell us that 

 the colony is absolutely queenless, and 

 if no cells are started, whatever they 

 have and are keeping as a queen, can 

 be found on this frame of brood we 

 have given. 



To the accustomed eye of the practi- 

 cal apiarist, prolific queens are easily 

 found, especially if the bees are of the 

 Italian race, but a virgin queen, or an 

 apology for a queen, is often hard to 

 find by an expert, and was, to me, a 

 a very worrying aifair until I learned 

 this " giving of brood trick. ' ' 



From the middle of April to the mid- 

 dle of June a prolific queen can usually 

 be found between the hours of 9 a.m. 

 and 4 p.m., on one of the 2 outside 

 combs of the brood-nest, for most 

 queens seem to have a certain route 

 which they go over every 24 hours dur- 

 ing the time of enlarging the brood- 

 nest preparatory for the swarming sea- 

 son, she being in the center of the 

 brood-nest at midnight, and from there 

 traveling in her egg-laying toward the 

 outside of the brood till noon, when 

 she commences to return, reaching 

 the center again at midnight. The 

 next day she does the same thing again, 

 only going in the opposite direction, 

 or toward the opposite side of the 

 brood-nest, which brings her on one of 

 the 2 outside combs between the hours 

 mentioned. 



As more eggs are laid in these out- 

 side combs than in any others at the 

 time of the brood being spread from 

 comb to comb, the queen is on these 

 outside combs longer in proportion 

 than she is on those which already 

 have their centers full of brood ; and 

 that she does not go clear across the 

 brood-nest during the daylight of one 

 day, I have proven by finding the 

 queen hundreds of times on the east 

 side of the brood-nest one day and on 

 the west side the next day ; the east 

 side the next day, and so on for days 

 in succession. Of course, I have never 

 opened the hives at midnight, but the 

 finding of the queen one or 2 combs 

 out from the center at sunset on a June 

 evening, and oue or 2 combs out from 

 the center in an opposite direction at 

 sunrise the next morning makes me 

 conclude that she is at the center at 

 midnight. All queens do not show 

 this regularity, and all persons do not 

 open a hive car filly enough so that 

 the queen is not stampeded from her 

 work; but a car. ul examination dur- 

 ing a week's tiuie will convince any 



apiarist that most of the queens do 

 have a certain route in which they 

 travel in egg-laying, where the brood- 

 nest is not spread or materially inter- 

 fered with by the apiarist. 



From this, in looking for a queen 

 during the period of time spoken of 

 above, I take out the frame in which 

 is the first brood in the hive next to 

 me, and if the queen is not on the comb 

 I next take the comb at the outside of 

 the opposite side of the brood-nest, and 

 in nine cases out of ten I find the queen 

 on one of these 2 combs at this time of 

 the year and at the time of day spoken 

 of. 



In all of these operations, when 

 looking for queens, the operator should 

 always stand with the back to the sun, 

 so that the eyes may be in the shade 

 while the rays of the sun strike the 

 bees and the " face" side of the comb, 

 when, if the eyes are at all sharp at 

 queen-hunting, she will be quickly 

 seen. No person can expect to find a 

 queen readily with the sun shining in 

 his or her eyes, when the face side of 

 the comb on which we expect the queen 

 will be in the shade ; yet 1 have seen 

 many would-be bee-keepers looking for 

 queens in just that way, and wonder- 

 ing why they could not find them. If 

 the directions here given are followed 

 out it should not be a great job to find 

 any queen, whether fertile or unfertile. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Experience With Caucasian 

 Bees 



BY K. A. MORGAN 



So many enquiries are coming in in 

 regard to the Caucasian race of bees, 

 that we think it our duty to give our 

 (Morgan Bros.) experience with them. 



I notice most writers caution begin- 

 ners not to try Caucasians — not yet. 

 Some say they are still on probation 

 in this country ; others, that they are 

 vicious ; and others, that they are 

 away behind Italians in honey-gather- 

 ing qualities, are great propolizers, etc. 



Now, to all of these I wish to say 

 they either have not tried them, are 

 prejudiced against them, or have not 

 the true Caucasians. 



Our experience is that they are away 

 ahead of the best Italians, both in 

 honey-gathering and in hardiness, and 

 are non-stingers, perfectly gentle, so 

 much so that veil and smoker can be 

 laid away forever with them. 



We were furnished 9 queens by the 

 Department at Washington in April, 

 1906, for experimental purposes — to 

 test them. We put them through a 

 series of tests alongside of 100 colo- 

 nies of the finest Italians. 



It will be remembered that Morgan 

 Bros, have been extensive bee-keepers 

 and queen-breeders for 35 years, and 

 we tested these Caucasians intelli- 

 gently and carefully ; and we must say 

 for them this : First, they are perfectly 

 gentle — no amount of rough handling 

 will cause them to sting, and we ope- 

 rated them in cold weather on rainy, 

 and on muggy, hot days, when Italians 

 would sting viciously, and never re- 

 ceived a sting. Second, with the same 

 strength of colony they gave one- 



