43U 



GLEAMIMGS IN BEE CULTURE 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



J. L. Byer, Markham, Ont. 



I have received a few pound 

 packag'es of bees from the South 

 by way of experiment. Shipment 

 nrrived in good order except one 

 imckage that was starving. The 

 bees had reached the " quiver " 

 stage. Cages were soiled some- 

 what ; and when the bees had their first 

 flight, visible marks of their confinement 

 were in evidence. Evidently, " dysentery " 

 ( ?) can be caused without any cold weather, 

 and by so short a confinement as five or six 

 days. I had no trouble whatever in getting 

 bees on to the combs in the hive; and after 

 four days I found all queens laying nicely. 

 While I could have given them brood to 

 help them along, not a single comb did they 

 get. They were supplied with combs and 

 honey, and it will be a case of each one 

 "paddling his own canoe." That is the only 

 way to give a fair test to see what they will 

 do in the way of building up and producing 

 a possible surplus. As to the latter, while 

 the bees are in good condition I would be 

 willing to dispose of any possible surplus 

 from them this season at a very moderate 

 figure indeed. 



SITGAR $9.00 A HUNDRED. 



The spring of 1916 will be remembered 

 by many Ontario beekeepers as one of the 

 most backward in years. To make matters 

 worse, during the exceptionally warm Jan- 

 uary preceding, heavy brood-rearing was 

 carried on by the bees, with the result that 

 consumption of stores was abnormally 

 heavy. With bees all in packing-cases, and 

 with a knov.'ledge that most of them are 

 strong, but on the verge of starvation, con- 

 tinuously cool and wet weather right up to 

 date. May 15, has a tendency to get one 

 worrying a bit unless he is entirely proof 

 against such folly. Wild-plum blossoms are 

 not yet open as I write this, for May 15 is 

 late, even for Ontario. Bees at our north 

 yard had a late light flow of honey last fall 

 from aster, etc., and as a result many old 

 bees died off earlier, leaving colonies in 

 good condition, but not no populous as here 

 in York Co. The result is that the north 

 bees are in fine order, ar.d few are short of 

 stores, while here in York Co., while bees 

 are in fair shape as a rule, yet in my four 

 yards I doubt if the bees have two pounds 

 of old honey per colony. It is needless to 

 say we are hoping that conditions Avill soon 

 get bett(>r so that bees will get something 

 from dandelion, fruit-bloom, etc., to tide 



them over till clover. Otherwise, buying 

 sugar at near $9.00 a hundred is the alter- 

 native confronting us. But clover looks 

 immense after all the rain we have had; 

 and so, no doubt, all will try to tide their 

 bees over, even if it does mean a heavy ex- 

 pense for the time being. 



MORE THAN ONE QUEEN IN A HIVE THRU THE 

 WINTER. 



From an experience we have just had, I 

 am led to believe that possibly more than 

 one queen is sometimes in a hive at the same 

 time when the apiarist is not aware of the 

 circumstance. In April, 1915, we found a 

 clipped queen and another one undipped, 

 both on the same comb of brood. The young 

 queen appeared to be fertilized, and I 

 thought little of the occurrence, expecting 

 that the old queen Avould soon disappear. 

 Later on in May again, the two queens were 

 still there, and, if I remember correctly, we 

 saw them again in June. After that, being 

 very busy, the colony was not examined 

 again. They were prepared for winter with 

 the other colonies; and as I noticed brood in 

 the hive at the last examination I naturally 

 presumed that the young queen was now 

 alone on duty. 



This spring I noticed this colony was not 

 building up any too well; and, altho the day 

 was not any too warm, I opened the hive, 

 and — imagine my surprise to see the old 

 clipped queen still on duty! Altho not very 

 strong, yet some drones were being reared, 

 and T concluded that the young queen, no- 

 ticed over a year ago, and later as well, had 

 not been fertilized and had been disposed 

 of. I sent for a queen at once, and a few 

 days ago my son and I went to hunt out the 

 olcl clipped queen. As they are very gentle 

 Italians she was soon found and disj^osed 

 of. I was about to close the hive, when, on 

 second thought, I decided to take another 

 look for fear the young queen might still be 

 there. On the very next comb, sure enough, 

 there was the other queen, apparently a fine 

 one in so far as looks go, and in the act of 

 depositing an egg in a cell. No question as 

 to any mistake in the matter whatever; and 

 will some one please explain why these two 

 queens were together a whole year? As the 

 two together were not doing as good work 

 as one queen should do. we broke up the 

 dual monarchy by pinching the head of the 

 young queen, even if she was all right in so 

 far as appearances go. 



