THE BROOD-BEARING CYCLE OF THE HONEYBEE 33 



The location of the sealed brood through both years brings out 

 also the persistency of the brood area. By persistency of the brood 

 area is meant a tendency to rear brood in the cells which have already 

 been occupied by brood, and a tendency for any expansion in the 

 brood area to take place only in cells on frames immediately adjacent 

 to those already thus occupied. In each spring the area of sealed 

 brood was expanded rapidly, but during any expansion the area first 

 used for brood rearing was kept occupied for that purpose. The 

 rapid increase in the number of cells on each frame occupied by brood 

 is just as striking as is the increase in the number of frames used. 

 The first relinquishment of any part of the brood area for any purpose 

 other than brood rearing was due to encroaching nectar. Through- 

 out both years the second hive body maintained its predominance as 

 the center of brood-rearing activity, even though at times the queen 

 carried on extensive egg-laying activity in the other hive bodies. 



TIME RELATION OF BROOD REARING TO NECTAR GATHERED 



It was pointed out at the beginning of this bulletin that the honey 

 crop may be reduced (1) by an insufficient number of worker bees, 

 (2) by a consumption of surplus honey by bees reared out of season, 

 or (3) by swarming induced by a congestion of bees in the 

 brood nest. Because colony No. 4 stored more honey than any of 

 the other 15, and because its brood-rearing activity during 1921 

 presented features more ideal for the region of Washington than did 

 the others, only this colony will be discussed in detail from the 

 standpoint of the time relation of brood rearing to nectar gathered. 



Although in 1921 the maximum of sealed brood in colony No. 4 

 came in conjunction with the height of the honey flow, the honej^ 

 gathered during the main honey flow was not wastefully consumed by 

 bees emerging later in the season, as the maximum field force was 

 available to take advantage of an intense yield of honeydew. The 

 maintenance for this large force during the summer was therefore 

 provided through the efforts of the colony itself. In the season of 

 1922, although the actual maximum of sealed brood came a week 

 late and a rate of emerging bees nearly equal to the maximum was 

 maintained during part of the honey flow, the maximum rate had 

 been nearly reached during the week prior to the peak. A creditable 

 showing was therefore made, three supers being actually used for 

 storing nectar, as stated earlier, whereas in 1921 one less super was 

 given for this purpose. 



A swarming impulse was scarcely noticeable during either 1921 or 

 1922 in any of the colonies under observation. A few queen cells 

 were started; following the prompt removal of these no further 

 preparations for swarming were observed. In none of the colonies, 

 however, was the queen allowed to be so restricted in egg laying at 

 any one time as to result in any significant reduction in the actual 

 dumber of young bees needed to care for larvae or perform other hive 

 duties. This point is of importance because the presence of an 

 overabundance of young bees has been held one cause of swarming. 

 Demuth (7, j). 13) has stated: " The fact that the fsendency to swarm 

 is greatest at about the time the bees are rearing the greatest amount 

 of brood has led to the belief that swarming is caused by the presence 

 in the hire of a large proportion of young bees not yet old. enough 

 for field work." But, since under norma] conditions bees not of 

 field age perform duties inside the hive, it would seem that the mere 



