52 QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



(although he has a maternal guuidfather) — is now generally 

 accepted ; this teaches us that it is the characters of the 

 colony that produced the drone's mother that we must expect 

 the drones to transmit. The drone influences his queen and 

 worker progeny \ery much, and it is of course most desir- 

 able that queens of the best strain should be selected for 

 drone-rearing, and also that the drones should be reared 

 uniler the most favourable conditions. To be of value the 

 drones must be reared in very large numbers and kept in 

 strong colonies. 



To pear drones during the natural season (April to June), 

 it is only necessary to place a frame of empty drone comb* 

 in the centre of the brood-nest of a strong c»lony. The queen 

 will soon la)' drone-eggs in this comb, and the drones reared 

 from these will be flying about a month after the eggs were 

 laid. 



Drones are not easily reared late in the season, and in 

 order to have plenty of drones then, the drone-breeding queen 

 should be induced to lay drone-eggs about the end of June 

 or beginning of July, and either she should be removed as 

 soon as her presence is likely to prejudice the rearing or 

 presence of the drones, or the drone-brood, soon after the 

 eggs are hatched, should be given to a queenless colony to 

 be reared ; another drone comb may then be given to the 

 drone-breeding queen. The locality and season will deter- 

 mine the date up to which this work can be continued. If 

 there is no honey-flow, the colonies in which the drone-eggs 

 are laid and in which the drones are reared and kept must 

 be constantly fed. The feeding induces egg-laying, helps 

 to prevent the destruction of drone-brood and drones, and 

 also helps to make the drones fly freely in favourable 

 weather. Virgin queens may be allowed in the colonies con- 

 taining the drones. To prevent destruction of the drones, 

 these queens, directly they are fertilised, must be removed 

 and other virgins given. 



The production of undesirable drones in the queen-rear- 

 ing apiary may be largely prevented by using full sheets of 

 worker-comb foundation in all ■hi\es except those in which it 

 is intended to rear drones. Any drones that may be pro- 



* This has larger cells than ordinary worker-comb. Drone-comb founda- 

 tion can be obtained. 



