198 DR. miller's 



colony, you will help keep up its laying strength, and you will 

 keep it from having laying workers. And if the brood you give 

 them be mostly eggs and very young brood, it will not cost such 

 a great deal to the colonies from which it was taken. 



After all, that's hardly answering your question, for you said: 

 "What would you do?" In the preceding I've said what you can 

 do. It isn't likely I'd do that. I would harden my heart and break 

 up that queenless colony. At least I'd unite it so there would be 

 one less colony in the apiary. If there was another colony quite 

 weak, but with a good queen, I'd put a sheet of newspaper over 

 the queenless colony, and set the weak colony over it. Then the 

 bees would gnaw a hole through the paper and unite peaceably. If 

 I hadn't a very weak colony, I'd divide combs with adhering bees 

 among two or more colonies, taking such colonies as most needed 

 help. In this way, although I would have one less colony, I would 

 be likely to have more bees, and by the middle of the summer 

 likely more colonies. 



Q. If the hives are broodless and queenless by June 1, and 

 if given a frame of eggs, larvas, and sealed brood to rear a queen, 

 will the queen be fairly good? 



A. Young bees are the ones to rear a good queen, and in the 

 case you mention there are probably few or no young bees, so 

 the resulting queen would not be likely to be very good. The 

 best thing to do with such a colony is to break it up and unite 

 with another colony or with other colonies. If you haven't the 

 heart to do that, then a better way than the one you mention is 

 to give your queenless colony the queen of some other colony, 

 and let that other colony rear its own queen. 



Q. Will a colony of bees that loses its queen in October or 

 November live through the winter? And can they be kept until 

 May, or until the shipping season begins? 



A. They are not likely to live over, but sometimes they do. It 

 will probably be more profitable to unite them with a colony 

 having a laying queen, even if you divide again in the spring. 



Q. If you had a colony of bees quite strong with a lot of 

 drones, that was discovered to be queenless as late as November 

 1-, what would you do with it? 



A. Before doing anything with it, I should want to be quite 

 sure it was queenless. "A lot of drones" in a strong colony in 

 the fall is not always sure proof of queenlessness, although some- 

 thing depends upon how large the "lot" is. The absence of all 



