72 DR. miller's 



comb or comb-foundation, only it will be easier to do it in sprmg, 

 when the comb is empty. 



Q. Do you think bees will rear workers if shaken in a hive 

 with a queen, in a full set of all drone-combs? 



A. I tried that once, and the bees wouldn't stay; swarmed out. 

 In other cases, where there was an excess of drone-comb, they 

 reared an excess of drones; but in some cases they narrowed 

 the mouths of the drone-cells and reared workers. 



Drone-Eggs. — Q. How can I get the queen that I want, to lay 

 drone-eggs? If I give drone-comb they rear workers just the 

 same. 



A. A little before harvest time, strengthen the colony by 

 giving it additional sealed brood from other colonies, and if there 

 is drone-comb in the brood-nest she'll lay in it. 



Drone-Layers. — Q. Does an old queen ever get so she will lay 

 only drone-eggs? 



A. In many cases the contents of the spermatheca become 

 exhausted, which will be shown by part of the brood hatching 

 out of worker-cells as drones, finally there being only drones. 



Drone-Trap. — Q. I have a drone-trap or swarm-guard. I don't 

 have any success with it. How should I use it, and why sliould I 

 catch the drones? 



A. A drone-trap attached to thc^entrance catches the drones 

 as they attempt to leave the hive, when you can maltreat them 

 in any way you wish. The intention generally is thus to sup- 

 press the drones of the poorer colonies, leaving the chances in 

 favor of having your virgin queens fertilized by drones from 

 your best colonies. In the same way you may catch the queen of 

 an issuing swarm, should one issue when you are not present, 

 thus preventing the swarm from going off with the queen, and 

 allowing you to remove the brood and leave the swarm with the 

 queen. But this does not settle matters, for the bees may go on 

 swarming so long as the queen is with them, and when a young 

 queen emerges from her cell the bees will swarm again, and if 

 the young queen is prevented from going out with a swarm she 

 will also be prevented from going out to be fertilized, and then, 

 if she lays at all, she will be a drone-layer. 



Drone-traps should be used only in extraordinary circum- 

 stances, and are rarely used by practical beekeepers. 



Drones. — Q, At what time do bees begin to rear drones? 



