AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



379 



Topics of Interest. 



Pollen Gatlierins liy Qneenless Colonies. 



A. N. DEAPER. 



In a recent number in the Query De- 

 partment, the question was asked, 

 "Does a queenless colony gather as much 

 pollen as one with a queen ?" 



The question was answered by most 

 of the authorities in the negative, though 

 one or two of the answers partly gave 

 my experience. I never had a colony 

 queenless any length of time in the Sum- 

 mer, without the brood-combs were al- 

 most ruined by being jammed full of 

 pollen. 



I do not see how so many of the noted 

 authorities have arrived at their conclu- 

 sion. Of course, as the quantity of bees 

 in a queenless colony is rapidly lessen- 

 ing, there are fewer bees to bring in 

 pollen. This is the only reason that I 

 am aware of that can be advanced for a 

 queenless colony gathering less pollen. 

 But in proportion to the quantity of bees 

 I believe they bring in more pollen than 

 one with a queen. 



A few years ago I was greatly troubled 

 with an excess of pollen. I found noth- 

 ing in either books or bee-periodicals to 

 help me out of the difficulty, so I began 

 investigating to ascertain under what 

 condition of the colonies the nuisance 

 was the worst, and how it could be 

 avoided, and I am satisfied that I have 

 pretty thoroughly solved it ; at least for 

 this locality. 



Leave no colony queenless. There are 

 only two other conditions under which 

 bees will store an excess of pollen. 

 Either the queen is worthless from age 

 or some other cause, or there comes a 

 heavy yield of pollen when there is no 

 honey in the flowers. 



Now, where there is a contracted 

 brood-nest, and the surplus has been re- 

 moved, this contracted brood-nest is 

 almost sure to be filled with pollen, and 

 very little brood is reared, no matter 

 what kind of a queen is in the hive. 



In this locality, where we have white 

 clover (it usually ceases to yield about 

 June 10 to 20), and nothing more until 

 the latter part of August or the first of 

 September, the small brood-chamber is 

 a complete failure, unless we resort to 

 feeding during the whole of July and 

 August. I have experimented on dozens 

 of colonies, and in every hive I contracted 

 during white clover bloom, the bees 



would fill the brood-nest with pollen 

 during July, from corn tassels and horse 

 weed ; then, when the Fall flowers would 

 bloom, there would not be bees enough 

 to gather the honey. Then, again, the 

 following Spring, if they had gathered 

 barely enough honey to winter on, the 

 pollen would be in the way of brood- 

 rearing. 



If there is any way of getting rid of it, 

 except by rendering it into wax, I have 

 never heard of it, and it is almost as 

 much as the wax is worth to get it out of 

 combs heavy with pollen. 



Another trouble with the contracted 

 hive is the wintering problem. My con- 

 tracted brood-nest hives are hard to 

 winter in, and I have noticed that nearly 

 all the small-brood-nest advocates have 

 trouble in wintering their bees. 



Some lay the blame to too much pol- 

 len. If they would add to this, " and 

 too few bees," they would have the win- 

 tering problem thoroughly solved, with- 

 out resorting to sugar stores. I have 

 yet to see a large brood-nest, on the 

 " Dadant plan," with a vigorous young 

 queen, overstocked with pollen, because 

 there is lots of honey stored therein, and 

 when the corn and horse-weed yield pol- 

 len, the empty comb, and that occupied 

 with honey, is rapidly filled with brood ; 

 then, when the Fall flowers bloom, these 

 hives are overflowing with young work- 

 ers. There is a wonderful difference 

 between them and a hive with a little, 

 contracted brood-nest. 



The following Spring, the difference 

 is just as marked, for in this locality we 

 have to make hay while the sun shines. 

 Here, our crop of Spring honey is from 

 maples, fruit trees, asparagus, and white 

 clover, and frequently our honey weather 

 is over by June 1. 



A good, strong colony will breed up 

 rapidly during March and April, while 

 the colony in a small hive begins to get 

 in shape by the time the crop is 

 harvested. 



If I was located where the white 

 clover continued for a long time, or 

 where there was a basswood yield, I 

 might tolerate a small brood-nest. Just 

 think, what a long time an apiarist has 

 in which to get his bees in shape for a 

 basswood crop of honey, and how a 

 fellow has to hustle to get ready for a 

 crop from raspberries and white clover 

 by May 10. 



With me, the best time to prepare for 

 a clover crop is during July, August and 

 September. The point is this : Keep 

 vigorous queens, and see that there is 

 honey enough in the brood-nest so that 

 all pollen gathered will be used for 



