96 



OCCUPANTS OF THE HIVE 



and along the bottom bars will provide sufficient space for the 

 rearing of plenty of drones for all practical purposes. If the 

 bees are allowed to build at will they are quite likely to build 

 large quantities of drone comb. This is especially likely to occur 

 in colonies where the queen is old or not very productive. 



Fig. 50. — Combs showing queen cells and capped drone and worker brood. 



A new colony with a vigorous queen will frequently fill the 

 hive with worker comb, because the queen occupies the space as 

 fast as built and fills every available cell with an egg. As soon 

 as they have built sufficient for the queen's immediate needs, 

 they are likely to begin to build drone comb. Apparently it is 

 easier to construct and does not tax the bees quite as heavily. 



