12 



frames is taken up by brood. Below the honey cells there are a few 

 cells mixed in with the brood in which pollen is stored. The 

 nurse bees use this pollen as food for the brood. 



Brood is composed of two kinds of cells, worker and drone. 

 The center part of frames of brood is composed of worker cells. 

 As soon as the young bees come forth they act as nurses for the 

 new brood. The cells they occupied are again filled with eggs 

 by the queen. These hatch in three days, and for the first three 

 days the larvae are fed on honey and pollen which has been 

 predigested by the nurse bees; this preiigested food is called 

 royal jelly. The next two days they are fed on honey and pollen. 

 The cells are then capped over and the larvae changes to a 

 chrysalis. At the end of thirteen days the adult worker comes ' 

 forth. The development of the worker bee covers a period of 

 twenty-one days. 



Drone cells are much larger than worker cells. They are 

 few in number and are generallv present at swarming times and 

 when queens are being raised. These cells are usually found 

 in the lower corners of the brood. It takes three days for the 

 eggs to hatch and for the next three days the larvae are fed on 

 royal jelly. For three days more they are fed on honey and 

 pollen. After this the cells are capped and the adult drones or 

 males come forth in fifteen days. It is twenty-four days from the 

 time the egg is laid until the adult drone comes f^rth. Male 

 bees, or drones, do not work but are very important members 

 of a colony as their purpose in life is to fertilize the young 

 queens. A few drones can generally be found in a strong colony 

 at all times, but during swarming they are more numerous. 



The bees generally select frames from the center of the hive 

 in which to produce queen cells. They choose these frames be- 

 cause they are the warmest part of the hive. These cells are 

 usually found at the bottom of the combs or on the lower three- 

 fourths of it. As the queen cells are much larger than the worker 

 cells the bees have to use the space of three cells. They remove 

 the partitions between the center one and the two outside ones. 

 The eggs or larvae in the two outside cells are destroyed, leaving 

 only the egg or larvae in the center cell. The space of the three 

 ceils is devoted to the raising of the larvae which is to produce the 

 queen bee. The eggs hatch in three days. The larvae are then 

 fed for five and one-half days on royal jelly; the cell is then 

 sealed and the larvae continues to feed on the royal jelly which 

 has been stored in its cell. At the end of seven days the young 

 queen comes forth. The time required for the development of a 

 queen from egg to adult is fifteen and one-half days. Virgin 

 queens remain in the hive from five to ten days and then go forth 

 on their virgin flight and return fertilized for life. She generally 

 commences to lay in four or five days. 



The queen has the power to lay either a fertilized or an un- 

 fertilized egg. Unfertilized eggs produce drones and the fertilized 

 eggs produce workers, but if a fertilized egg is fed upon royal 

 jelly through all its larval stages it will produce a queen. All 



