1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1311 



vest, hence there was not very much breeding late in 

 the season. There were plenty of bees in the hives 

 when put into the cellar, but many of the bees were 

 old, and when spring came many of the bees (not col- 

 onies) were dead from old age. The bees were all 

 clean, dry, and healthy, but I was surprised to see 

 how few there were in many of the hives. This year 

 I am giving them an occasional feed this month, 

 and probably will continue it a part of next month. 

 No amount of fussing next spring will atone for neg- 

 lecting the bees this fall. 



NORMALITIES AXD ABNORMALITIES OF 

 QUEEN INTRODUCTION. 



[The following is an extract from the new edition 

 of Thb a B C of Bee Culture on the general subject 

 of introducing, setting forth some of the general prin- 

 ciples underlying the process. The article attempts 

 to give some of the normal conditions that govern the 

 problem. While some of the positions taken may be 

 the subject of controversy, yet much that is here said 

 seems to be in line with the modern practice of most 

 bee-keepers.— Ed. ] 



Under normal conditions only one queen 

 will be tolerated in a colony at a time. 

 Should there by accident be two, when they 

 meet there is likely to be a battle royal, when 

 one of them will be killed; so it happens that 

 queens are, as a rule, jealous rivals; but there 

 are exceptions. There are conditions, as 

 when an old queen is about to be superseded, 

 when the young daughter may be tolerated 

 in the hive along with her mother, and both 

 laying side by side; but in the course of a 

 few days or a few weeks the mother will be 

 missing. Whether she dies of old age or the 

 daughter kills her we do not know. There 

 are other conditions where two and some- 

 times a dozen queens will be permitted to 

 stay in the hive; but those conditions seem 

 to be abnormal. 



Again, it may be stated that a normal col- 

 ony of bees will not take a strange queen, 

 even though they have no mother of their 

 own, much less will they accept an interlo- 

 per when there is already a queen in the hive. 

 We may, therefore, lay it down as a rule 

 that has exceptions,* like all other good 

 rules, that we can not introduce any queen, 

 young or old, to a colony that already has 

 one; and even when the bees have been sud- 

 denly deprived of a queen they will not, un- 

 der ordinary conditions, accept another, no 

 matter how much they may need one, until 

 she has been "introduced." It follows, 

 then, in the process of requeening we are 

 compelled to put a new queen in a wire-cloth 

 cage and confine her there, where the other 

 bees can not attack her, until she has ac- 

 quired the same colony odor or individual 

 scent as the bees themselves. This usually 

 takes two or three days, at the end of which 

 time the queen may be released and they 

 will treat her as their own royal mother. 

 We do not know how bees recognize each 

 other, or how they can tell a strange queen 

 from their own, except by scent factor. 



It is a fact well recognized that a dog can 

 pick out his master from hundreds of others 



* If a virgin queen, on returning from a mating-trip, 

 enters by mistake a hive where there is an old laying 

 queen she may. and very often does, supplant the old 

 queen. The virgin is young and vigorous, and more 

 than a match for the old queen full of eggs. Even 

 though the colony odor be lacking, the bees in this 

 case accept the supplanter- 



through the agency of scent; nay, further, 

 he can track him if he loses sight of him by 

 catching the scent of where he has walked, 

 in spite of the fact that hundreds of other 

 people may have gone over the same ground. 

 This scent that is so acute in a dog is un- 

 doubtedly highly developed in the bee, oth- 

 erwise we should be at a loss to account for 

 some of the phenomena in the domestic econ- 

 omy of the hive. Hence we naturally con- 

 clude that, by the sense of smell, the bees 

 recognize their own mother from a new or 

 strange one. 



Again, we learn that, if two queens have 

 exactly the same colony odor after being 

 caged for two or three days in a queenless 

 hive, either one may be liberated and the 

 bees will accept one just as readily as the 

 other. If both be liberated at the same time, 

 one in one corner of the hive and the other 

 in the opposite corner, both will be tolerat- 

 ed by the bees; but once the queens come 

 together themselves there is danger of a roy- 

 al battle* resulting in the death of one. 

 From this fact we infer that the bees, provid- 

 ing a queen or queens have the requisite col- 

 ony odor, would accept at any time one or 

 more such queens under many conditions; 

 that, further, when two queens have the 

 same colony odor, if they can be kept apart 

 by means of perforated zinc both queens can 

 continue to lay eggs in the same hive with- 

 out let or hindrance. This condition will be 

 allowed so long as the colony prospers and 

 there is not a dearth of honey. When there 

 is a disposition on the part of the bees to rob 

 they may destroy one of the queens. 



Bees that have been shaken into a box or 

 pan, and then shaken or bumped again and 

 again until they are demoralized or fright- 

 ened, are much more tractable than those 

 not so disturbed. Such bees if made queen- 

 less just prior to the shaking, if confined 

 without combs or brood in a cool place for a 

 few hours, will usually accept a queen at 

 once. The factor of colony odor then appar- 

 ently does not operate, for the bees are put 

 out of their normal condition. 



Another fact worthy of consideration at 

 this time is that young bees just hatched will 

 at any time accept any queen. Therefore, 

 it comes about that, when one desires to in- 

 troduce a valuable breeder on which he de- 

 sires to take no chances whatsoever, he 

 causes her to be released on a frame of very 

 young or hatching bees; but consideration 

 will be given to this later. 



Another fact worthy of note is that virgin 

 queens, if just hatched, will usually be ac- 

 cepted by a colony, if not too long queen- 

 less, without the process of introduction or 

 of caging; but when one ol these queens 

 comes to be four or tive days old she is very 

 much more difficult to introduce than a nor- 

 mal laying qu3en. Why this should be so, 

 we do not know. 



Having stated, therefore, the basic princi- 

 ple governing the relation of the queen to 

 the bees we can now more intelligently pro- 



•We say " danger " of a battle. Queens will not 

 always fight when so put together. 



