AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



755 



Liongerily of Honey-Bees- 

 Pulled Queens. 



Dear Editor York : — The following 

 letter I received from Mr. Bellamy, and 

 it is of so much interest that I think 

 others should have the benefit of it: 



Black Ba:nk, Ont. Nov. 20. 



Dear Friend Miller : — I am very 

 glad you had your curiosity aroused in 

 regard to longevity of bees, by my arti- 

 cle on page 583 of the Bee Journal; 

 but when you mentioned iton page 629, 

 why did you not say if you had ever 

 noticed hives containing the same 

 amount of brood for a certain time, and 

 a wide difference in the gain of both 

 bees and honey ? Such being the case, 

 how could one colony get more bees than 

 another in said time, if it were not all in 

 longevity '? Just try to recollect, and 

 inquire of all bee-keepers. This should 

 be sent to a bee-paper as a query. 



You appear to doubt if any gains are 

 had from queens four or five years old ; 

 then you change the appearance of your 

 statement by adding that it looks a little 

 reasonable. Now, you should have said 

 it looks a big reasonable. Perhaps you 

 do not understand me rightly, by want- 

 ing queens four or five years old. Those 

 queens have always been good, but I 

 could not know that they would hold 

 out until the fourth year, and if doing 

 good service then, and filled up rapidly 

 with bees in the spring, as my choice or 

 select queens do. 



There are two ways I judge young 

 queens: First, after a queen begins to 

 lay in a full colony, I allow her to build 

 a piece of comb, and if they build drone, 

 I do not expect much of this queen. 

 This test is to be after swarming. Then 

 about May 1st, I take notice of certain 

 hives which are "going up," as I term 

 it, while others are "going down ;" that 

 is, in numbers of bees. W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son has noticed this, I think, but could 

 not guess a reason, and I say longevity 

 of the bees is the only cause, if colonies, 

 protection and stores are equal. 



This year I kept some colonies build- 

 ing comb all through the harvest; that 

 is, repairing 50 combs which a rat 

 spoiled or damaged by eating large holes 

 through them, which was in a large box 

 last winter. Did you ever notice that 

 some queens with colonies equal, and of 

 the same age, at the same time in a 

 honey-flow, the, bees in some would build 

 drone-comb, and others not, but would 

 build worker comb '? Perhaps if you 

 always give full sheets of foundation, 

 you could not notice this, because they 

 only had one choice. I feel that you 

 will not understand me rightly yet, as I 

 am a very poor orator or writer ; but 

 you may, if you study my theory, and 

 inquire of others, if they had not noticed 

 these things. When W. Z. Hutchinson 

 recommended hiving swarms on starters, 

 and got worker-combs, he had a good 

 strain of bees for longevity, is my^ opin- 

 ion. Some larvte, as soon as hatched, is 

 fed much better than others. Some are 

 fed almost royal jelly; others you can- 

 not see the food in the cells. Just think 

 what effect extra food has upon long life 

 in a queen — living three years; or some 

 larva poorly fed — a worker — three 

 months. 



Perhaps more should be said, but time 

 is limited, and I must tell you about 

 " pulled queens." I notice one word in 

 my article was printed wrongly. I have 

 net got the copy here at present, but it 

 reads "there were some O. K.," which 

 shouldread thus : "Those which would 

 hatch in ten minutes, if let alone, would 

 be O. K." Wait ; I think I did read this 

 season that a good many of your pulled 

 queens were failures this year, and the 

 trouble is, I think, by pulling too young. 

 Of course, if ready to come out in five 

 or ten minutes O. K., or queens which 

 have been kept back in the cells by the 

 bees, waiting good weather to swarm, 

 can be pulled 0. K., and will be smarter 

 and stronger by being kept in. I have 

 had two such queens hatch out of cells 

 when I held their comb in my hand, and 

 fly away with their swarm which was in 

 the air at the time, and cluster with 

 them. Could your pulled queens do this ? 



Then, you seem to think I shut young 

 queens in cells for a long time, so they 

 would starve ; but not so. I do not put 

 wax on any unless I see them putting 

 their tongues out for food, and keep that 

 place open by dipping the point of the 

 cell in warm wax in a slanting position, 

 with the feeding hole up ; and if you do 

 close it much, open It with a pin or fine 

 piece of hay. Then introduce the cell 

 to a queenless colony ; in six hours look, 

 and, if hatched, see your good, smart 



