QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



Fig. 2. 



Queen-cell produced under the swarming 



impulse. 



some of the queen-cells are sealed, the first swarm, consist- 

 ing of the parent queen, accompanied by a large number of 

 young bees, lea\es the hive. The larva, after a short 

 period of rest, changes to a pupa, which develops into a 

 queen, which, se\en days after the sealing of the cell, bites 

 a disc off the tip of the cell and creeps out. 



The queens are not 



all reared- at exactly the 

 same time, and several 

 days elapse between the 

 maturing of the first and 

 of the last of them. The 

 first hatched queen de- 

 stroys those that are im- 

 mature, unless the colony 

 is strong enough to swarm 

 again, in which case she 

 is prevented by the work- 

 ers from doing so, and 

 she, and often one or two 

 others, leave the hive 

 with a second swarm. Third and fourth swarms, accom- 

 panied by late hatched queens, may go off a day or two later. 



The queens are often forced to remain in their cells by 

 the workers for a day or two after they would naturally 

 hatch, and they are then fed through a hole in the capping 

 just large enough for the passage of the queen's tongue. 

 When a hatched queen meets another, a duel takes place, 

 and the one stings the other to death. Thus, in the end, 

 only one queen remains in each colony or swarm. 



If the weather is favourable, this queen makes the first 

 of a series of flights about the fifth day after hatching 

 for the purpose of meeting the drone. The drones are now 

 plentiful, having been reared in large numbers shortly before 

 the swarming season. The period for the queen's flights 

 is between 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., when the drones are 

 also flying freely. If the weather is favourable, she is 

 fertilised in two or three days, and she usually commences 

 laying about thirty-six hours after fertilisation. 



The one impregnation is sufficient for life, and the queen 

 does not again leave the hive unless it is to accompany a 



B2 



