1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



485 



DIAGNOSIS FROM THE OUTSIDE. 



"Hello, Doolittle! I have come all the 

 way from Missouri (by letter) to have a 

 conversation with you about what we may 

 know of the conditions existing inside of a 

 hive without opening it." 



"Very well, Mr. Wolfe. Is there any 

 thing special that you have on your mind 

 that you would like to talk about along that 

 line?" 



" The first thing I should like to know is, 

 what may we conclude when we see bees 

 bringing in much pollen at this time of the 

 year? " 



"That such a colony is in a prosperous 

 condition." 



"Excuse me; but what do you mean by a 

 prosperous condition ? I know what it means 

 for a man or a family to be in a prosperous 

 condition, and can guess what it would mean 

 with the bees; but I would rather have you 

 explain more fully." 



"A colony that would be in a prosperous 

 condition May 5th to 10th, in this locality, 

 would be a colony having a good prolific 

 queen with about 8000 to 10,000 bees, to- 

 gether with from 10 to 15 lbs. of honey, 

 and from 4 to 6 L. frames of brood. Such 

 a colony would be considered A No. 1 here, 

 and would be carrying pollen and water at a 

 rapid rate on every pleasant day at this 

 time of the year. And if you were familiar 

 with the inside of a bee-hive you would 

 know that such was the condition of any 

 colony you looked at that was thus working, 

 even though the same was in a box hive or 

 gum, where you could not get at them to 

 inspect the inside of the hive; and an expe- 

 rienced apiarist can tell very closely what is 

 inside each or any hive in any apiary by 

 simply passing by the entrance of the col- 

 ony or colonies. ' ' 



"Thank you. And what may we con- 

 clude when a colony brings in little or no 

 pollen?" 



"If it is a colony having about the num- 

 ber of bees spoken of before, and little or 

 no pollen is being gathered, while the bees 

 seem listless about the entrance, then we 

 may be almost sure that such a colony is 

 queenless, or, at least, has no laying queen. ' ' 

 "Why do you add that last part? " 



"Because colonies of bees sometimes lose 

 their queen in early spring, when they have 

 some little brood. And in such a case they 

 will raise a queen from the brood left when 

 the queen died. Any colony having eggs, 

 small larvse, sealed queen-cells, or a virgin 

 queen, can not, properly speaking, be said 

 to be queenless; and colonies in this condi- 

 tion are not given to t <. porous carrying of 



pollen after the brood left by the dead 

 queen is sealed over." 



' ' Would you send for a queen where you 

 had a colony which carried little or no pol- 

 len?" 



"No; I would open that hive and see what 

 was the matter, for they might have sealed 

 queen-cells, or a young queen, which, in 

 either case, would be likely to cause them 

 to reject any queen you might try to give 

 them— especially so if they had a young 

 queen. But you may be deceived in regard 

 to the strength of colonies. Some colonies 

 when quite weak will have quite a number 

 of bees stationed at the entrance to guard 

 it from robber bees, especially if the race is 

 of the Italian strain; and such colonies 

 would appear to be carrying little pollen, 

 when really they would be in a prosperous 

 condition in all points except their fewness 

 in numbers." 



' ' How can we tell in regard to this mat- 

 ter from outside appearances ? ' ' 



' ' By the way they treat the bees which 

 come in laden with pollen, and from the 

 loads they carry. Bees carrying pollen, 

 where a colony is queenless, generally come 

 in with light loads, and are rushed up to, 

 when alighting, by the bees about the en- 

 trance; while those of a small colony having 

 a good queen carry as large loads as any of 

 the strongest prosperous colonies, and, when 

 alighting, run into the hive without any 

 ado as regards themselves or the bees about 

 the entrance. I think I understand you 

 here. Next I wish to know what it means 

 when we see a lot of light-colored bees bob- 

 bing about the entrance. Are they young 

 bees out for exercise?" 



"If the time of day is from noon to about 

 two o'clock, 999 times out of 1000 they will 

 be young bees taking their first flight and 

 marking their location. If at other parts 

 of the day, I should suspect robber bees of 

 the golden Italian race, for robber bees are 

 often taken for young bees, and young bees 

 for robber bees, by those not fully convers- 

 ant with the workings of bees in front of 

 the hive." 



' ' Is there any way I can know for certain 

 in this matter?" 



"Yes. Catch any bee which you suppose 

 may be a young bee or a robber, as the bee 

 is coming out of the hive, and either kill it 

 and dissect it, or gently press upon its ab- 

 domen. The robber bee will have honey in 

 its honey- sac, while the young bee will not. 

 It is easy to tell for certain in this way; and 

 after you have found this out once, if you 

 are a close observer as regards the actions 

 and ways of the two in front of any hive, 

 you can decide at once at any future time." 



"Next I wish to know what it means 

 when we see two bees hauling and pulling 

 at a third until they fall off the alighting- 

 board. Are they fighting or only fooling ? ' ' 



"When bees are really fighting it may be 

 known by dead bees being drawn out in 

 front of the hive, and others all drawn up 

 and dying from being stung; and in this real 

 fighting it is very rare that more than one 



