604 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



BUILDING DRONE COMB. 



"Say, Doolittle, I am perplexed on the 

 comb-building matter. When I wish my 

 swarms of bees to build worker comb at 

 this time of the year they generally build 

 only drone comb. Can you tell me some- 

 thing about this?" 



"AH observing apiarists know that, as the 

 season for swarming draws on apace, and 

 the colony is about to cast a swarm, the 

 queen ceases her prolificness, so as to be 

 able to fly and go with the swarm, so that, 

 when swarming does occur, said queen is 

 scarcely larger than a virgin. Nature has 

 so ordained things for two reasons, the first 

 of which is that the queen can fly; for, if 

 taken from the colony when no such prepa- 

 ration has been made, she can not fly at all, 

 as she is so heavy with eggs. The second 

 reason is that the queen need not be dam- 

 aged by an over-accumulation of eggs before 

 there is time for the bees to construct comb 

 in the new home for her to deposit her eggs 

 in. Thus we find that all good queens do not 

 become fully prolific again until nearly a 

 week has elapsed after the new colony has 

 arrived at its new location or home." 



"Well, what has that to do with what I 

 wished to know ? It was not about queens 

 or swarming I wished to know just now." 



"Just this: During this week comb has 

 been built verv rapidly, especially if honey 

 is coming in plentifully, while the queen has 

 not been able to keep up with the workers, 

 owing to the reasons I have given you, the 

 result of which is that the J)ees commence 

 to build store comb, which is always of the 

 drone size of cells." 



"That is something I did not know about; 

 but it does look reasonable that, when build- 

 ing cells for honey only, the size should be 

 of the drone order. But why did you speak 

 of good queens in this matter?" 



"Because some geem to think that no 

 drone comb is built by new swarms unless 

 the queen is an old one, or one which is 

 beginning to fail. I consider that the rea- 

 son I have given has more to do with the 

 building of drone comb by newly hived 

 swarms, with the majority of bee-keepers, 

 than does the faihng-queen part; but I am 

 free to admit that much more drone comb 

 will be built where there is a failing queen 

 with any colony building comb." 



"Well, if you are right how is such a 

 state of affairs to be avoided ? " 



"The way I manage is to give the colo- 

 nies or swarms which are hived on frames 

 not filled with foundation a brood-chamber 

 of only a little more than half the size of the 

 one from which they came, this smaller size 



being made by contracting the chamber of 

 the new hive to the size I wish by means 

 of dummies or division-boards, and also giv- 

 ing them a set of sections at the time of 

 hiving them, so that the swarm may have 

 rather more room in such a prepared hive 

 than they would if the hive had its full com- 

 plement of frames with no sections." 



"Ah! I think I see. This gives them room 

 to store the honey they gather in the sec- 

 tions rather than in the brood-frames." 



"Yes, and in this set of sections there 

 should be several containing partially drawn 

 comb, or 'bait sections' as they are called, 

 in order to coax the bees up into the sec- 

 tions for storing their honey. And where 

 such a start is made at first in the sections 

 this gives the bees plenty of room above 

 to store honey, thus not crowding them in 

 the brood-chamber, so that comb of the 

 worker size is built below, and that only as 

 fast as the prolificness of the queen demands 

 it. As her ability for laying increases, more 

 comb is built, so that, at the end of the 

 white-honey flow, we have the frames in 

 the contracted brood- chamber fllled with all 

 worker comb, and the sections filled with 

 nice white honey." 



"I see. But the colony can not winter in 

 this contracted hive, can it ? " 



"No, not usually. After the white-honey 

 flow is over, the dummies are taken out and 

 the hives filled with frames of worker comb." 

 ' ' But suppose I do not have such combs ? ' ' 

 "Then I should wait till the dark-honey 

 flow commenced later on, and give the col- 

 ony enough frames filkd with foundation 

 to fill the hive, when these would be drawn 

 out into nice worker combs also, the same 

 being filled with honey, and thus your colony 

 be in good shape for winter." 



"Then you would not try to make this col- 

 ony build all the combs the hive contains?" 

 "No. Although it can be done, yet my 

 experience goes to show that it is far better 

 to buy foundation for the remaining frames 

 to take the place of the dummies than it is 

 to try to make the bees fill them with worker 

 comb, when they will, as a rule, try to build 

 drone comb only." 



"Why not fill all the frames with founda- 

 tion on the start, and not try to have any 

 comb built? " 



"You can do this, if you so feel; and 

 where any one has no time, or does not have 

 the disposition to do the work this plan re- 

 quires, it is well to fill all frames thus, for 

 it will secure worker comb in all the frames. 

 But in the use of the plan as I have given it 

 to you, the cost of the foundation is saved 

 with those frames which the bees fill with 

 natural comb; and, what is still better, ac- 

 cording tp my views, the bees are put at 

 work in the sections at once, and a greater 

 yield of the more salable honey is secured; 

 for, so far as I have ever been able to see, 

 the bees work in the sections to better ad- 

 vantage while the bees are building the 

 proper amount of comb below than they will 

 with no comb to build. In other words, 

 these frames are filled, apparently, without 



