20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



LAYING WORKERS NOT CLEARED OUT BY SHAKING 



Letting the Bees Fly in a Wire-cloth Cage in a Warm Room to Cleanse Them of 



Liquid Feces 



BY MOODY BRENNEMAN 



Late last summer I found one of my 

 young swarms of bees queenless, and it 

 already contained laying workers. I car- 

 ried them (hive and all, after first placing 

 another hive containing one frame of foun- 

 dation on the stand), a distance from the 

 apiary, and shook the bees all off the 

 frames on the ground. This was done in 

 the evening just before dark. After they 

 had got back in the hive on the old stand 

 I gave them a little syrup, closed the en- 

 trance, and left them there a day or two, 

 after which I gave them several fresh emp- 

 ty combs with one comb containing eggs 



Another view of Lakeside Apiary. Apopka, Fla. See editorial 

 " In the Shade of the Spanish Moss." 



and larvEe, and opened the entrance. They 

 built queen-cells. Shortly afterward, upon 

 examining the brood-nest I found the queen- 

 cells gone, and with every appearance of 

 laying workers again — cells capped and be- 

 ing capped, with greatly raised cappings. 

 I did not look long but thought of course 

 the case was hopeless. Not having time to 

 bother with them just then I took out all 

 combs but the one containing brood, and 

 closed the hive (not the entrance), and thus 

 they were left till about the latter part of 

 September, when, upon opening the hive, 

 I found quite a bunch of bees hanging on 



each side of the comb; and upon close ex- 

 amination I found them covering quite a 

 patch of sealed worker brood. 



How do you account for those drone- 

 capped cells at that time, as mentioned 

 above? Now for the thing I wish to get at. 

 Knowing that such a small colony would 

 never winter over I thought I would try an 

 experiment. I made a two-frame observa- 

 tion hive, to one end of which I attached a 

 small screen cage about 10 x 14 x 22 inches 

 with a board floor and ends, the entrance of 

 the hive opening into the cage. When the 

 frame containing bees was put into this 

 hive, the bees having 

 been robbed out, they 

 were in a starving con- 

 dition, some already 

 showing signs of dys- 

 entery. I at once 

 brought them with the 

 cage in front of a win- 

 dow where they have 

 been ever since — about 

 two weeks and a half. 

 They have had water, 

 and a small feed of 

 honey each day. For- 

 ty-eight hours after 

 being brought in, the 

 queen was laying. 

 They now have some 

 sealed brood; but the 

 old bees (some at 

 least) are not doing 

 well. Each day there 

 are more dead bees in 

 the cage. They look 

 very much like bees 

 having paralysis, but 

 have shown no nerv- 

 ousness as yet. Their 

 comb still contains pollen. 



Now, what I Vvdsh to know is, would it 

 be possible to have bees inside as above, 

 and be kept in good health, or cannot the 

 inside conditions be made right for them? 

 There are always some of the bees that 

 seem restless, and appear continually to 

 want to get out of the cage, while others go 

 calmly about their business. 

 Berne, Ind. 



[The plan of shaking all the bees of a 

 fertile-worker hive some distance from the 

 old stand has been mentioned before. Some- 

 times it works, and sometimes it does not. 



