186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



"^ 





WHRN DO QUEENS, GOING WITH AFTER- 

 SWARMS, MATE? ETC. 



" A neighbor and myself have been hav- 

 ing a dispute over the mating of queens, 

 and we have agreed to leave the matter to 

 you to decide. Will 30U do this, Mr. Doo- 

 little?" 



"That will depend somewhat upon the 

 matter for decision. If the matter comes 

 within my experience, I can tell you what 

 m3' experience has been." 



"The matter is of considerable impor- 

 tance to me, as I wish to clip all queens as 

 soon as mated, but I wish to be sure that 

 they have mated, for it would spoil them to 

 be clipped before they are mated, would it 

 not?" 



"Certainly. And it is always well not 

 to clip Siuy queen until she has commenced 

 to lay; for often they are seen to return 

 with everj' evidence of having successfully 

 mated, only to go out again before they 

 commence laying. But what is the thing 

 that you and your neighbor are disagreeing 

 upon?" 



"My neighbor claims that almost all 

 young queens are mated previous to the 

 time they go out with after-swarms, and 

 that, if I can see these queens when run- 

 ning in with the swarm, at time of hiving, 

 as I very often do, then is the time to clip 

 them, and thus save looking them up later 

 on." 



" Well, what is your claim?" 



"I claim that very few, if any, queens 

 are mated before the after- swarm leaves 

 the hive. We both agreed to abide by your 

 decision, so you need not be afraid to say 

 what you think, for each of us will take it 

 kindly, no matter which is wrong." 



" I mistrust that your neighbor has kept 

 very few bees, or else has inclined his ear 

 to some of the 'knowing ones;' for if any 

 bee-keeper of any prominence ever put forth 

 the claim that any queen leading out any 

 after-swarm had mated or become fertile, 

 before she so led out the swarm, it is 

 something that I have failed to note; and 

 such claim would show that the maker of 

 it could not have looked into the matter 

 very thoroughly. I have made swarming 

 and queen-rearing a study for the past 25 

 years, spending da3's, weeks, and months 

 upon it; and if any queen was ever fertiliz- 

 ed, or even flew out to meet the drone while 

 there were other young queens in the cells, 

 it is something I have never noticed, and 

 something that all of my experiments go to 

 prove never happens." 



"Can you tell us why it should not so 

 happen? ' 



"All know that after-swarming comes 

 only from a plurality of queens in the hive, 

 and these queens are always those which 

 have never been out of the hive at all, ex- 

 cept as they may have gone out with an 

 after-swarm, and been returned by the 

 apiarist." 



" Do I understand you to say that there 

 is a lot of queens running about among the 

 bees, at time of swarming?" 



"No, not that. As a rule, during after- 

 swarming all young queens which would 

 naturally emerge from the cells, except the 

 first one out, are kept in the cells by a 

 guard of bees which feed them through a 

 hole or small opening in the cell, made by 

 the young queen trying to bite the cover ofif; 

 and these queens are constantly quawking 

 because they are kept prisoners after they 

 are fully mature, and would naturally 

 emerge; and the one which has her liberty 

 is piping back in her enraged condition — 

 enraged because the bees keep her from de- 

 strojdng these quawking inmates of the 

 cells. Youhave heard thiscontroversy among 

 queens going on in the hive at after-swarm- 

 ing time, have you not?" 



"Yes. But I did not know that this 

 would have any effect on the mating of 

 queens." 



" While such a state of things as this is 

 kept up in the hive, no queen has any de- 

 sire to mate. Her only ambition now is to 

 kill these sisters of hers which are assert- 

 ing their rivalry so vigorously, and no after- 

 swarming is ever conducted except under 

 just such a state of affairs. I think j-ou 

 can now see where the mating of a queen 

 would be effected by such conditions." 



"Yes, I do. But do you think that there 

 never was a case where the young queen 

 was fertilized before an after-swarm was 

 hived?" 



" I should not wish to say just that, for I 

 had one case where an after-swarm had 

 been kept back for several days by unfavor- 

 able weather, and where only one queen 

 went with the after-swarm, in which I had 

 every reason to believe that said queen was 

 fertilized while she was out with the swarm, 

 or that she went from the swarm while it 

 was clustered on the limb, as I saw this 

 queen entering the hive with the other bees, 

 with the drone organs attached to her, and 

 she commenced to lav two days afterward." 



"Would you consider this as an excep- 

 tion?" 



" I certainly should, for this is the only 

 case I remember in all my experience. I 

 believe the rule to be that all queens accom- 

 panying an after-swarm wait about their 

 wedding-trip until thej' are established in 

 their new home, which is not, in the case of 

 a plurality, until all the queens are killed 

 but one. When they are thus established, 

 then in from one to four days after hiving, 

 on some pleasant afternoon, and quite often 

 when the bees come out for a playspell, the 

 queen will be seen to leave the hive, and 

 usually will come back sucessfully mated. 

 Thus you will see that my experience goes 



