ILIjINOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



185 



did it would make a colony at the 

 end of 42 days of 252,000 ilDees, and, 

 allowing something for destruction — 

 and ive would allow a good loss — still 

 there would ibe 200,000. 



Mr. Morrison — The number of eggs 

 has been carefully counted and the 

 queen watched the whole time she 

 was laying, and there is not any 

 guess-raork about it. The period in 

 wihich a queen can and will lay is a 

 very short period indeed in this north- 

 ern climate; perhaps it is not two 

 weeks during the -whole year. It de- 

 pends entirely on the bees, not on her, 

 as to how many eggs she will lay. 



Mr. Hershiser— The question is how 

 long it takes a queen to fill up a hive. 

 I think the impression we ought to 

 get is how many eggs would be the 

 average for say 42 days under favor- 

 able conditions, and I think figuring 

 on that basis we could not figure over 

 perhaps about 1,500 eggs a day. 



Mr. Tilt — ^With regard to getting 

 pollen in the upper story when you 

 raise brood, I don't think that is nec- 

 essary, nor I don't think it is nec- 

 essary ,to get spring honey, because 

 any colony of bees that 'has a good 

 queen will have combs of honey or 

 brood solid practically without pollen 

 or without honey whiclh you put up 

 above the zinc. If you zinc your eight- 

 frame hives so that the queen can't 

 get up, as quick as the bees crawl out 

 they are full of honey, and you con- 

 tinue to put up brood every little while, 

 of course, your queen will have plenty 

 of room .belaw and never have any 

 honey or pollen in the top. 



Mr. Coveyou — I would like to onen- 

 tion the most active time and the ad- 

 vantage of a large Ihive. If you have 

 a large quantity of Ibees in the spring 

 the queen will lay more eggs. The 

 only thing that helps the colony out 

 to make it larger is the hatching of a 

 large quantity of young hees after the 

 first 21 days. When they first start 

 to lay in the spring the hees take care 

 of the largest number they can take 

 care of, and there is not one colony in 

 a hundred that can take care of the 

 eggs that the queen will lay for the 

 first 21 days or even 10 days in the 

 spring. After the first return if they 

 have got four frames or fi-Ce frames of 

 brood, after those are hatched, that 

 queen can lay proibably 3,000 eggs a 

 day or more and take care of them. 

 She may do that for two or three 

 days, but after that she falls back. 



The President — Does your argument 

 apply to the ten or twelve frame hive? 

 There is a great deal being said that 

 does not apply to the question, 



Mr. Hershiser — I want to say a word 

 or two in favor of the large hive. I 

 have a good inany small hives and 

 a good many large hives, but I believe 

 that to-day there would be far more 

 bees in the country if we had larger 

 hives, because the larger hives hold 

 more honej', and bee-keepers who 

 are unacc"ustomed to taking good care 

 of their bees by reason of having too 

 much to do, and by reason of careless- 

 ness, have a good many bees starve 

 to death" in the eight-frame hive that 

 would not if they were in a larger hive 

 that held more stores. ., 



Mr. Hunt — Tou never say anything 

 about pollen. I find they have gener- 

 ally got two combs 'Of pollen in a ten- 

 frame hive. If I put some brood on 

 top in the extracting super I find they 

 carry some pollen in there and I 

 don't want it there. Moreover, when 

 I come in the fall I find I have got the 

 whole brood up in the second story 

 and none in the lower story. 



Mr. Davis — I think myself that the 

 question of large hive or small hive 

 is something similar to what , they 

 used to sajr years ago about growing 

 crops. "We have one of Mr. Holter- 

 man's disciples up near our place who 

 advocates the l)ig hive. It w-ould be a 

 fair way to settle this question to say 

 that the further south you go the big- 

 ger hive you want, but up north, even 

 the eight-frame hive is plenty. I had 

 some ten-frame hives and I have cut 

 them dow^n to eight, but Mr. Holter- 

 man is a little further south, let him 

 have it. I think the further south you 

 go the bigger hive you can have, even 

 if it as big as- a barn. 



The President— If there are no ob- 

 jections the discussion on this ques- 

 tion will come to an end and the 

 judges may have the question for de- 

 cision. 



The next thing upon the program is 

 an illustrated lecture by Prof. R. E. 

 Snodgrass of Washington, D. C, on 

 the anatomy of the bee. 



Prof. Snodgrass gave a very inter- 

 esting address on the anatomy of the 

 bee, which he illustrated by drawings. 



At the conclusion of his address, 

 on motion of Mr. Holekamp, seconded 

 by Dr. Bohrer, the Convention ad- 

 journed to meet at 7 o'clock p. m. 



