NoVKNfBKR, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



tlie best litpratiiro on beekeeping. (2) We 

 were indeed glad to ha^-e your report of ac- 

 tually seeing a queen depositing eggs in the 

 queen - cells. You are the second person who 

 has nuide such a report since the question 

 first appeared in Gleanings. (3) This is quite 

 unusual ami we are at a loss to explain why 

 those young queens died after they had be- 

 come mated and began laying. However, if 

 several weeks had elapsed, it is possible that 

 the queens were lost when they left the hive 

 to be mated, and that the eggs you saw in 

 the combs were not laid by this queen but 

 rather by laying workers that developed after 

 the bees realized the loss of their queen. Of 

 course, if those eggs developed into workers, 

 this theory would have to be discarded. 



WORKER SEALED IN QUEEN-rKLL. 



Question. — Noting a queen-cell that wiis .slightly 

 indented and old I cut it open with my penknife, 

 and inside fherei was a fully developed queen, of 

 normal size for a good queen, but dead; and along- 

 .side of her there was a little worker, about half- 

 sized, with wings, legs, etc., fully developed except 

 in size, also dead. One of our best inspectors, Alex 

 Keir, a man well posted on bees, was with me and 

 I called his attention to it and afterwards threw 

 (he bee away. Since then I regretted doing so, as 

 it opens up several questions to me. Was it ever 

 noted before ? And what about the royal .ielty 

 which we are taught is the only medium by which 

 a worker egg is changed to a queen larva ? Both 

 queen and worker were apparently fed on the same 

 food, but one remained a worker while the other 

 was a queen. I'm on the doubtful bench about tlie 

 royal .ielly's being the only agent in producing :i 

 ■lueen and leave it to the experts to explain. Yo- 

 may think I am a bit wobbly in this statement aliout 

 the two bees in the same cell, but I will assure you 

 I am not. Besides, I have the evidence of both 

 Mr. Keir and Mr. O'Brien, the owner of the bees, 

 that the facts are as I have stated. 



British Columbia. W. H. Lewis. 



Answer. — Are you quite certain that the 

 bee was reared in the cell with the queen.' 

 It seems quite likely that a bee entered the 

 cell and was accidentally sealed in by the 

 bees. We have often seen bees accidentally 

 shut in cells in this way and wonder if this 

 may not possibly be the explanation. Such 

 a bee would naturally appear undersized. 



SAFE TEMPERATURE WHEN HAXDLING BROOD. 

 SIZK OF ENTRANCE. 



Questions. — (1) I am often in a quandary about 

 exposing brood when examination requires a 

 temperature of below 80 degrees, which Glean- 

 ings once stattxl to be the required temperature. 

 Could you not give me some further details of 

 value? (2) I am undecided about the size of en- 

 trance to give in early fall or when the entrance 

 should first be contracted with the coming of cool 

 weather. What would you advise? 



Virginia. J. T. Satterwhite. 



Answer. — CI) The person who advised 

 that combs of brood should not be handled 

 when the temperature is below 80 degrees 

 was, no doubt, trying to give very safe ad- 

 vice for begin n<'rs. However, many good 

 beekeepers would not hesitate to open a 

 hive when the temperature was 60 degrees 

 F.; i>ut. of course, they would not leave the 

 brood exitosed. They would sim[)ly re- 



move one frame, examine it, then replace 

 it before taking another frame from the 

 hive. In this way the brood would always 

 be covered with bees and would, therefore, 

 be much warmer than the outside temper- 

 ature. But we would not advise the be- 

 ginner to take chances on handling brood 

 when the temperature is as low as this. 

 If there is no wind stirring it would prob- 

 ably be safe to handle the combs of brood 

 when the temperature is 65 degrees F., if 

 no comb is left outside of the hive for more 

 than 10 seconds. (2) When it gets a little 

 cool the entrance should be contracted to 

 an opening % by 5 or 6 inches until time 

 for packing for winter. Then a still small- 

 er entrance may be given, % by 2 or 3 

 inches, or smaller. The main idea is to 

 contract the entrance in the early fall to 

 a size such as will keep the brood warm 

 without making the bees so uncomfortable 

 that they are obliged to cluster outside. 



GRANULATED HONEY AND POLLEN FOR WINTER. 



Questions. — (1) Will uncapped honey sugar in 

 the hive over winter ? If bees are wintered indoors, 

 won't they use such honey even if it is sugared? 

 (2) What can I do with combs that are full of 

 pollen so they look more like a piece of Iioard than 

 a honeycomb ? Would it be wise to take them out 

 in the fall and put in combs of honey ? 



Minnesota. F. A. Olson. 



Answers. — (1) Usually uncapped honey in 

 used by the bees before it has time to gran- 

 ulate. There is, however, a great differ 

 ence in the rapidity with which various 

 honeys granulate. Granulated honey should 

 never be given the bees for winter stores. 

 but should be reserved until spring. The 

 bees will then be able to obtain plenty of 

 water which is necessary in order to con- 

 vert the granulated honey to a liquid form. 

 (2) In many localities such combs are valu- 

 able for use in the spring if there is a scar- 

 city of fresh pollen. Combs that are com- 

 pletely filled with pollen ought to be re- 

 moved from the hives and replaced with 

 frames of honey for winter. When such 

 combs are found earlier while it is still 

 quite warm, the pollen may easily be re- 

 moved by taking the curved end of the tool 

 and digging into the mass of pollen until 

 you reach the midrib. Then simply peel 

 off the comb and pollen. After a little 

 experience you will find that you can easily 

 peel the side of the comb like this in a very 

 short time. If the comb is then put in 

 the hive when there is still a honey flow 

 on, the bees will rapidly build out comb to 

 take the place of the cells removed. After 

 they have built it out in this way the comb 

 may be turned and the opposite side treat- 

 ed in this same manner. One contributor to 

 Gleanings recently reported soaking such 

 combs for a day or so in water. He said 

 that he could then shake out quite a little 

 of the pollen, and that when placed in the 

 hives the bees would remove the remainder. 



LIZARDS EAT BEES. 

 Qui'slinn. — Kindly let nic know if red or green 

 lizards are enemies of bees. I went out one 



