1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



775 



the production of comb honey the great ma- 

 jority of bee-keepers work with only one 

 brood-nest. I suppose there is nothing to 

 interfere with Hfting the one brood-nest 

 with its supers off from the bottom-board; 

 but in such cases I should expect, owing to 

 the chilhng drafts from the entrance, the 

 cells would often be higher up. —Ed.] 



SWARMS WITH VIRGIN QUEEN WHEN SHE 

 GOES OUT TO MATE. 



"Good morning, Mr. Doolittle. I have 

 come all the way from California to have a 

 little talk with you in regard to something 

 which I think will be interesting to us both. " 



" Very good, Mr. Muth-Rasmussen. I am 

 glad to see you, for I know you are one of 

 our oldest bee-keepers, and one who has had 

 much experience with the honey-bee. What 

 is to be this interesting talk ?" 



" First I wish to speak of something 

 which very often happens with us in Cali- 

 fornia; and to make it plain I will put it un- 

 der the head of a supposition." 



"That is right. By making matters plain 

 we shall understand each other better, and 

 know whereof we speak." 



' ' Now, suppose the following case : A 

 colony of bees loses its laying queen by her 

 dying from old age or some other cause. 

 The bees start queen-cells on her brood; but 

 when the young queens emerge there is no 

 more unsealed brood from which a queen 

 can be reared; consequently, when the vir- 

 gin queen flies out to mate, the bees will 

 swarm out with her and will settle on a tree 

 or bush, like a normal swarm. One of the 

 questions I should like to ask is this: Does 

 the young queen after a successful mating, 

 return to the old hive, or to the swarm hang- 

 ing on the tree ? ' ' 



" But is the case a supposable one ? " 



" I had thought so. Why not ? " 



" Perhaps it will be well for us to look in- 

 to the matter of how swarming is conduct- 

 ed. Would a swarm issuing under your 

 supposed case be any different from any 

 after- swarm, except that more bees would go 

 out with this virgin queen ? ' ' 



' ' Perhaps not, only that there would be 

 more time for the brood to mature than 

 there would be where the old queen goes 

 with the prime swarm instead of her being 

 lost by death." 



"Yes, you are quite right there; for with 

 the loss of the old queen it would be from 

 ten to thirteen days before the first young 

 queen would emerge, while, when the queen 

 goes with the prime swarm, the young queen 

 generally emerges seven days afterward. 



But as all young queens are from four to 

 eight days old before they go out to seek 

 the drone, all brood must be sealed under 

 any and all cases where man does not inter- 

 fere, before any virgin queen would leave 

 the hive on her mating- tour. " 



"I guess that is so." 



" Certainly. All authorities agree on this. 

 All swarms having virgin queens must nec- 

 essarily issue only after all brood is sealed, 

 unless, perchance, the prime swarm has been 

 kept back by foul weather till near the time 

 of the emerging of the young queen, and, so 

 far as my knowledge extends, no virgin 

 queen, while her colony was in a state of 

 nature, ever flew from her home to meet the 

 drone until after all brood was sealed." 



"I think we agree on these points; and, 

 if so, why was not my supposable case good?" 



" Because swarms do not go with virgin 

 queens when they go out to mate. Let us 

 study into the swarming matter a little fur- 

 ther and see if we still further agree. You 

 say in your supposition that, after the death 

 of the queen, the bees start queen-cells. 

 Now, I never (certainly) knew of any after- 

 swarm issuing, or of a virgin queen going 

 with a swarm; or any swarm going with a 

 virgin queen, without a rival queen being 

 left in the hive from which such swarm 

 came— the same generally being confined in 

 one of those queen-cells you tell me was 

 started. This is nature's plan for the 

 preservation of the old home or hive, and is 

 one which has prevailed for thousands of 

 years. I said, 'certainly' knew, because, 

 years ago, I supposed I had cases where the 

 bees went out with the queen when she went 

 on her wedding-flight; but later experience 

 has convinced me that there was a rival 

 queen in the hive from which these swarms 

 came. If this is correct, then your case is 

 not a supposable one." 



' ' The only answer I can give is this : Un- 

 der the supposable case, and under such cir- 

 cumstances, the bees (though not the whole 

 colony) invariably swarm out with the vir- 

 gin queen, in this locality. I have had quite 

 a number of such cases this year. ' ' 



" Well, this beats me, and it is the first 

 time I ever heard of such a thing. I know 

 that locality plays a very important part in 

 bee-keeping, but I did not suppose that it 

 could change the laws governing the swarm- 

 ing of bees; and as you and I are among the 

 oldest of the bee-keepers now living, if you 

 are agreed we will ask the readers of 

 Gleanings to tell us how they find this mat- 

 ter in their locality." 



' ' I am agreed, and should like to hear 

 from them." 



' ' And that they may know how Doolittle 

 views this matter I should like to state that, 

 so far as my experience goes, a swarm goes 

 out with a virgin queen only when there are 

 rival queens left in the hive in the shape of 

 other virgin queens in queen-cells, and when 

 all but the last virgin have gone out with 

 swarms, or been disposed of by the bees or 

 by the queen that is at liberty in the hive; 

 then, a few days later, this remaining queen 



