474 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



to keep them apart, we should be pleased to hear from 

 him. Now having said all of this we will let Mr. 

 Alexander do his own talking, for he is quite com- 

 petent to defend his position.— Ed.] 



Yes, I think it is. With the ever pressing 

 desire to increase our surplus we are anxious- 

 ly looking for new methods whereby we can 

 secure strong full colonies early in the sea- 

 son in order to take advantage of any flow 

 of nectar that may come. This has caused 

 us to do some experimenting along the line 

 of keeping two or more laying queens in one 

 colony. For several years we have known 

 that laying queens will never sting each 

 other if they can possibly get away from one 

 another. This fact caused us to try some ex- 

 periments along this line, with the following 

 results: 



First, a great increase in the amount of 

 brood was noticed in these hives; in fact, 

 they were so full of brood that but few cells 

 were left for honey or pollen; and when ex- 

 tracting-combs were put on top a very large 

 surplus was easily obtained. This fact alone 

 was enough to encourage us in testing this 

 method still further. Then another result 

 from our experiments, so far as we have 

 gone, is that we have never had a colony 

 with two or more laying queens show any 

 desire to swarm. 



This is something we can not understand, 

 as we expected these strong full colonies to 

 be the first to swarm. In order to see if we 

 could force one full colony last summer to 

 swarm, we put 14 good laying queens into it 

 at one time, and in about two weeks we ex- 

 amined it and found the 14 queens we had 

 put in two weeks before, and their own 

 queen all in harmony together, with nearly 

 every cell in their combs containing brood; 

 then during the rest of the season we used 

 this colony as a queen-nursery. Sometimes 

 we would take three or four queens from it 

 to use in other colonies, and occasionally we 

 put in five or six at a time, and none were 

 ever balled or stung. In fact, there was no 

 queen injured in any way in that hive during 

 the season. I have seen three or four on the 

 same side of a comb crawling among the 

 bees, and whenever they would touch each 

 other they would start quick in an opposite 

 direction. 



When Dr. Lyon was here last summer he 

 tried to get a photograph of these queens; 

 but they would run from each other so quick 

 that he could not catch them in a photo. 



VIRGINS RECALCITRANT. 



Now, don't think that you can handle vir- 

 gin queens in this way, for you can not. 

 They will sting each other or a laying queen 

 as soon as they come together. There is not 

 much you can do with vix'gin queens until 

 they are fertilized and commence laying; 

 then their desire to sting other queens is all 

 gone. I have often kept two or three laying 

 queens under a common drinking-glass on 

 the work-bench for a number of days with- 

 out their trying to sting each other. 



The worst feature to overcome in giving 

 our colonies two or more laying queens is in 

 knowing how to introduce them safely. 



Last summer my son Frank discovered the 

 most practical method of introducing queens 

 that I have ever heard of — a method where- 

 by over 90 percent are safely introduced and 

 laying within 18 hours from the time the 

 parent queen was removed. He wants to 

 test this method still further another season 

 before giving it to the readers of Gleanings; 

 then if it still works as well as it has with 

 us in the past there will be no trouble in 

 giving our colonies as many laying queens 

 as we may desire. If so, it will be another 

 advance made in modern bee-keeping. 



I can already see several advantages in 

 keeping two or more queens in one colony. 

 First, in requeening we would have to remove 

 only the oldest queen. Next, our hives 

 would be kept very full of brood, which 

 would give us strong colonies, and there 

 would be no more complaint about our bees 

 storing too much honey in the brood-nest. 

 Then, for some unaccountable reason, it does 

 seem to prevent the desire to swarm; and 

 with colonies that contain nearly twice the 

 usual working force we certainly would se- 

 cure a much larger surplus. Our experi- 

 ments so far along this line have been so 

 encouraging that I expect to test it thorough- 

 ly another summer. I really enjoy testing 

 and working out new methods, and I am 

 thankful I have sons who can fill my place 

 when I am gone. The young honey-produc- 

 ers of the future can not afford to remain 

 long in the ruts we older men have made, 

 but with renewed perseverance they must 

 push forward until they have made gi'eat 

 improvements over many methods now in 

 use. 



In the above I have given our experience so 

 far as we have gone on this subject. Had my 

 health last summer been so I could have test- 

 ed this more thoroughly as to its bearing on 

 natural swarming I should have done so; 

 but as it was, I could do but little. To me 

 it does not look reasonable that, to increase 

 the number of queens in a hive, would in 

 any way prevent the colony from a desire to 

 swarm; but still it is barely possible that it 

 may. 



A particular friend of mine has been anx- 

 ious for me to give our experience on this 

 subject to the public, so that others could 

 test it also this coming summer; otherwise I 

 would not have written this article before 

 another fall, for I have alwaA^s made it a 

 rule to write nothing but what I was perfect- 

 ly sure was fact, and for that reason I desir- 

 ed to test this whole subject another summer 

 before making it public. I expect this new 

 method, in common with some others I have 

 given, will be tried in a bungling way by a 

 few bee-keepers so that there will be no pos- 

 sibility of its being a success in their hands. 

 Then these parties will be the first to send in 

 their reports condemning the whole thing. 

 But, fortunately, this class is but small, and is 

 daily growing less. This is encouraging; 

 and when we all do the best we can we nope 

 to leave the world the better for our having 

 lived. 



Delanson, N. Y., Jan. 17. 



