134 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



QUEENLESS BEES AND DRONE- 

 COMB 



The photo of a sheet of foundation 

 upon which irregular drone-cells 

 were built, by a queenless colony, in- 

 dicates why the beekeepers of the 

 old days thought that the queen di- 

 rected and ordered the work. When 

 we compare the work of a normal, 

 queenright colony, with this, we feel 

 very much inclined to believe that the 

 work upon this comb was done with- 

 out order, without control. It seems 

 as if the work was begun at different 

 spots at the same time, so that the 

 joints were irregularly formed. They 

 appeared to have felt the need of 

 drones. Yet of what use would drones 

 be to them in such an occurrence? 

 When we witness such work, such 

 waste, we can readily agree with 

 Fabre, who tried to explain nothing, 

 in the actions of insects, leaving only, 

 as he said, "a big interrogation point." 



Under ordinary conditions founda- 

 tion insures worker combs. 



INFLUENCE OF THE DRONE 



By Alois Alfonsus 



Editor des "Bienen Vater," Vienna, 



Austria. 



Translated from the original nianu- 

 script by C. W. Aeppler. 



Breeders of dairy cows have learned 

 from e-xperience that- (he inheritance 

 characteristics of the sire are more 

 pronounced than those of the cow. 

 If a certain sire is descendant from a 

 cow that has established a record in 

 milk production, this sire would pos- 

 sess the characteristics of high milk 

 production in a very much hig'her de- 

 gree than would a cow descending 

 from the same mother. Also, it has 

 been found that certain sires, born 

 from exceptional milk-producing cows, 

 inherit these milk producing charac- 

 teristics to a remarkable degree. It 

 has been found that daughters of such 

 sires produce 1,000 liters of milk per 

 year more than their mothers. 



Undoubtedly somewhat similar con- 

 ditions exist in the case of bees, inas- 

 much as the Mendelian law of inher- 

 itance is also operative. Dzierzon has 

 proved to us that a drone is not re- 



lated to the drone that mated with 

 his mother, but to the drone that 

 mated with his grandmother. There- 

 fore, the inheritance characteristics 

 of a drone cannot be disregarded. 



In every apiary there are a few col- 

 onies that stand out above the others 

 in honey production. These colonies 

 can be utilized in rearing the bulk of 

 the drones in the apiary. At the 

 same time every effort should be made 

 to prevent the rearing of large num- 

 bers of drones in theother colonies. 



Several drone-combs should be 

 given to these chosen colonies. As 

 soon as the combs contain young lar- 

 Vce, they may be given to other colo- 

 nies. Even though so distributed they 

 contain brood from the chosen queews. 

 It would not do to distribute combs 

 with eggs only, inasmuch as the work- 

 ers might remove them, if the colo- 

 nies were indisposed. However, one 

 must not believe that colonies that 

 are used in this way will yield no sur 

 plus honey. It has been established 

 by Professor Dr. Zander at the Uni- 

 versity of Erlangen that such colo- 

 nies may give as much surplus honey 

 as any. To begin with, they posses." 

 exceptional honey-producing quali- 

 ties, and while they might produce 

 more honey if the queens were not al- 

 lowed to fill several drone-combs, this 

 sacrifice must be made to secure the 

 good drones. Even so, the sacrifice 

 is not as great as might be expected 

 with these exceptional colonies. 



During the past 20 years, systematic 

 breeding of queens has been going on 

 in Switzerland. All over the land 

 there are observation! stations. In 

 1918 and 1919 an extensive experi- 

 ment was carried on. The production 

 of 1,500 colonies, headed by queens 

 from selected breeders, was compared 

 with the production of 1,500 colonies 

 as ordinarily found over the country. 

 The e.xperiment was conducted with 

 the greatest possible care under ex- 

 pert supervision. 



The season of 1918 was a good one, 

 and the well-bred colonies produced 

 an average of llYz pounds per colony ; 

 whereas the others yielded only 525^ 

 pounds per colony. 



The season of 1919 was a poor one. 



Uronc-cclls liuill on wuikti fuumljtiuii by .nitcnk-ss colony. 



the well-bred colonies yielding 10 kg. 

 and the others 8 kg per colony. With 

 honey worth 6 Fr. per Kg., the well- 

 bred colonies yielded 36,000 Fr. more 

 in 1919, and 144,000 Fr. more in 1918 

 than the others. 



Every beekeeper cannot be a queen 

 breeder. However, every beekeeper 

 can practice the rearing of select 

 drones. In time the quality of the 

 drones in his apiary will be better, 

 with the result that his profits will 

 be increased. 



AN APPEAL TO THE MANUFAC- 

 TURERS OF BEE SUPPLIES 



By Allen Latham 

 Since receiving the 1921 catalogs 

 of bee supplies I have been doing 

 some figuring. The results of this fig- 

 uring foretell the doom of comb- 

 honey production, unless the industry 

 is rescued through the invention of 

 cheaper supplies for the comb-honey 

 producer. Sections, cartons, shipping 

 cases, are now so costly that one can- 

 not produce and market a first-class 

 crop of comb honey and make a 

 profit. Look at these estimates, most 

 of which are under rather than over 

 the mark. Follow a section of honey 

 from producer to consumer. 



Item. Cost 



Section 2 cents 



Foundation 1 cen-t 



Labor of preparing Y2 cent 



Percentage of loss 2 cents 



Carton 3 cents 



Labor of marketing 1 cent 



Share in shipping case 4 cents 



Overhead V2 cent 



Total 14 cents 



By percentage of loss I refer to 

 broken sections of honey, to unfin- 

 ished sections, to poorly finished sec- 

 tions, etc., an item often overlooked 

 in comb-honey production. 



In regard to cartons. One can get 

 along without them, but it is not fair 

 to the consumer. Dusty sections of 

 honey will kill the trade also, and all 

 will concede that we should not get 

 along without cartons. 



The overhead charge is merely that 

 of buildings, machines, insurance and 

 the like. It does not take into ac- 

 count the labor of the bees. No ac- 

 count of this last item is taken at all. 

 Item Income. 



Wholesaler 2 cents 



Retailer 6 cents 



Producer 3 cents 



Total 11 cents 



11 plus 14 equals 25. 



These last figures are assuming that 

 the section retails for 25 cents. As- 

 suming it to retail for 30 cents, these 

 figures meet that price. 



Item. Income. 



Wholesaler 3 cents 



Retailer ^ cents 



Producer 6 cents 



Total 16 cents 



14 plus 16 equals 30. 



It will be seen from these figures 

 that a producer of comb honey gets 

 a return from $3 to $6 for every hun- 

 dred sections of honey he produces. 



