CHAPTER II 

 Life Story of the Bee. 



In a normal colony of bees, during the summer season, will 

 be found one queen, several thousand workers and a few dozen 

 drones. If the bees are left to themselves and receive no atten- 

 tion from their owner, the number of drones is greatly increased, 

 and often reaches the point where they consume what might 

 otherwise be stored as surplus honey. Since there are but 

 few readers of a book of this nature who are not already familiar 

 with the life of the honeybee, it would seem, at first thought, 

 that little space need be occupied in consideration of this sub- 

 ject. However, the volume cannot be complete without some 

 attention to the life history of the insects, especially with atten- 

 tion to those points with special bearing on the subject of 

 queen rearing. 



Since the life of the colony centers in the queen, she becomes 

 of special importance, and she receives attention from the 

 workers worthy of her special place. Should she be removed 

 from the hive, great excitement will shortly prevail with mani- 

 festation of serious distress on the part of the inmates. Unless 

 she be promptly returned, the bees will prepare to replace her 

 by starting numerous queen cells, utilizing the newly hatched 

 larvae for the purpose. 



Life of the Queen. 



As stated elsewhere, all fertilized eggs laid by the queen 

 produce female offspring. Whether these shall develop as 

 queens or workers is determined by the environment in which 

 the development takes place. In any case the egg hatches 

 in about three days. Where eggs are placed in queen cells it 

 is very doubtful whether they receive any different treatment 



