Nov. 15, 1911 



from one to seven days prior to hatching of 

 queen-cells. I have sometimes seen a 

 young queen that was unable to fly come 

 out on the alighting-board with the swarm 

 and go back into the hive. 



In regard to Mr. O. B. ^Metcalfe's ex- 

 perience with the eight frame hive, Oct. 1, 

 p. 586, 1 would say that I agree with him. It 

 has proved about the same here. Most of 

 my bees are in eight-frame hives, although 

 I have a few ten-frame, and I have noticed 

 for the last few years that the eight-frame 

 hives breed up faster in the spring and pro- 

 duce more honey, whether comb or extract- 

 ed, than a ten-frame hive. 



Haskinville, X. Y. M. C. Silsbee. 



QUEENS SOMETIMES HATCH THE DAY BE- 

 FORE THE SWARM ISSUES. 



A young queen often emerges from the 

 cell before the swarm is cast, either on the 

 same day or the day before. 



Two years ago I had a large swarm come 

 off and settle in a tall apple-tree. While the 

 bees were flying in the air I picked up at 

 the hive entrance a queen that was still 

 white, and so young she could hardly 

 crawl. I kept her at the entrance, and the 

 bees had hardly settled before they began 

 to come back. I put the queen on a ta- 

 ble and smoked the bees for the purpose 

 of keeping them from the hive until they 

 found her and settled on her. Then I hived 

 them. The young queen does not always 

 hatch a week later, but sometimes does. 



In regard to a Straw on page 582, Oct. 1, 1 

 will relate an experience with moths. I 

 once had a late swarm die in an old-fashion- 

 ed box hive, early in winter. I put it in an 

 out-building, and when spring came I neg- 

 lected to take the comb out until about the 

 15th of August. When I looked at it, it 

 was full of moth-nests. There were hun- 

 dreds of worms and millers, so I burned it. 

 Moths will attack comb in this country 

 anywhere they find it, regardless of bees or 

 whether it has been frozen or not. 



Webster Springs, W. Va. L. S. W^eese. 



QUEENS HATCH SEVEN TO EIGHT DAYS 

 AFTER THE SWARM ISSUES. 



Thirty years of experience with from five 

 to thirty colonies of bees has given me a 

 chance to make some observations, and I 

 find that my observations do not always 

 coincide with those of bee-keepers of other 

 localities. I can not agree with Mr. Mar- 

 chant on the hatching of young queens. It 

 has been my rule, when a swarm issues, to 

 open the parent hive and immediately re- 

 move a couple of frames of brood; and to 

 avoid the possibility of ripe queen-cells I 

 have often looked through the whole hive. 

 I never yet found a young queen at such a 

 time. However, from seven to eight days 

 later I have often found one or more queens 

 emerging, and others apparently held back 

 by the bees; and while cutting out these 

 ripe cells I have noticed queens crawling 

 out as I would put them aside or in a pro- 

 tector. 



Second swarms usually emerge from the 

 10th to the 12th day, always subject to 

 weather variations. I have had swarms 

 come out with nothing but eggs in the 

 queen-cell cups; but that is not the rule. 



.lamestown, N. Y. J. W. Wilson. 



QUEEN HATCHES AJBOUT SEVEN DAYS 

 LATER. 



I have kept bees in several States during 

 the past 25 years, and have found that a 

 swarm comes out about seven days before 

 the young queen hatches. I saw no devia- 

 tion from this rule when I was in Mr. 

 Marchant's own territory. 



Kio, Va. H. Griffin. 



SWARMS issue ABOUT THE TIME CELLS 

 ARE SEALED. 



You ask, page 582, Oct. 1, for reports on 

 the day swarms leave the old hive. The 

 rule here is that prime swarms leave about 

 the time cells are sealed, the weather per- 

 mitting. The older the queen, the longer 

 the bees stay in the old hive after the cells 

 are completed. In one or two cases I have 

 known the bees to kill the old queen and go 

 out with a virgin the next day. 



Cozad, Neb. Thos. Atkinson. 



IF BEES DO NOT SWARM THE DAY AFTER 



CELLS ARE SEALED THEY WAIT UNTIL 



THEY' ARE READY TO HATCH. 



In all the text-books I have read, and in 

 dozens of articles, it has been stated that 

 the prime swarm is cast the day after the 

 first cell is sealed, and the first after-swarm 

 about eight days after, the weather being 

 favorable. This would mean that the after- 

 swarrh was cast about the time the first cell 

 was hatched. Some years ago I decided to 

 let all colonies swarm that wanted to, as 

 part of a system of management I was try- 

 ing out. I kept a very careful watch on 

 the brood-chambers, and, to my great sur- 

 prise, found that quite a large percentage 

 did not cast the first" swarm till the cells 

 were ready to hatch. I was using about a 

 hundred colonies in this exioeriment, the 

 majority of which swarmed, so I tried the 

 thing quite extensively. As a rough rule, 

 I should say that, if "the colony does not 

 swarm the day after the cells are sealed, it 

 will wait till they are ready to hatch. Of 

 course, there are many exceptions to this; 

 and if one or two swarms issue on a hot day 

 it is quite apt to set the whole apiary 

 swarming, without much regard to the 

 state of the cells. Indeed, this put an end 

 to the system I was trying, as I got weary 

 of trying to separate a mix-up o.f some half- 

 dozen swarms. 



Hatzic, B. C. Wm. L. Couper. 



SWARMS USI'ALLY ISSUE ABOUT THE TIME 

 CELLS ARE SEALED. 



With favorable weather and the necessary 

 amount of nectar in the field, it is my ex- 

 perience that bees seem to be in a condition 

 to swarm about the time the first cells are 

 capped over. We have some neighbors who 

 have a good many after-swarms. They tell 



