THOUSAND ANSWERS 145 



clined to put in an appearance whenever laying is not normal. 

 You speak a little as if there were only one laying worker pres- 

 ent. The probability is that there was quite a large number. 



Q. You say a colony of laying workers should be broken up 

 and the combs distributed among other colonies, and that the bees 

 are old and of little value. In what way would it be doing any 

 good to give a good colony one of those combs of worthless bees 

 and drone-brood? 



A. While these old bees are of little value, they still have 

 some value, and that value may as well be utilized. We are told 

 that a worker in the busy season lives to be about six weeks old. 

 Now suppose we have some bees that are four or five weeks old. 

 They have yet a week or two to live, and they are good as field 

 bees for that length of time; so if given to other colonies they 

 will finish up their lives in a useful way, doing more good than 

 if you try to tinker up the colony with a young queen. To be 

 sure, you might give a queen, together with brood, and enough 

 young bees to make a fair colony, but these old bees are exceed- 

 ingly loth to accept a queen, and you'll be likely to lose her. Bet- 

 ter break up the colony, and then start a new one elsewhere. 



Lazy Colonies. — Q. Last season I had lazy colonies that did 

 not do anything but rear bees. They were running over with 

 bees but did not swarm nor store any surplus honey. Would it 

 be best to give them another queen? 



A. It is possible that there may have been some excuse for the 

 bees doing nothing, but if other colonies were doing well at the 

 same time the likelihood is that the bees were at fault, in which 

 case it would be well to give a queen of better stock. They may 

 have been late in breeding, owing to spring weakness, and in 

 such case the hatched bees, coming too late for the crop, would 

 only help consume the honey harvested. 



Q. Do bees "lay off" for a week before swarming and do noth- 

 ing but eat honey? 



A. They take no such vacation as you suggest. There may be 

 a let-up for some hours, and you may see bees laden with pollen, 

 among the swarming bees. 



Q. Is there any way to get backward bees to work in the 

 super besides baiting them, and then maybe wait until they are 

 forced to? That was always my luck. 



A. Yes, get them so strong early that they'll be glad to rush 

 into the sections without any bait; only they will enter the su- 

 pers sooner with baits. If you mean a way to make a weak 



