224 BEES AND BEE KEEPING. 



prevent any loss. Queens are sometimes lost early 

 in the season, but there is no difficulty in supplying 

 them with eggs or young queens, and they become 

 fertile at any time when there are plenty of drones 

 in the apiary. 



INDICATIONS OF THE LOSS. 



But few bee-keepers will detect the symptoms that 

 follow the loss of the queen, and even when they do 

 they are liable to be mistaken. The only certain and 

 reliable method of ascertaining, is by an examination 

 of the combs in the interior of the hive. I give Mr. 

 Quinby's description of those symptoms, as it corres- 

 ponds with my experience ; he says : " The next 

 morning after a loss of this kind has occurred, and 

 occasionally at evening, the bees may be seen running 

 about in the greatest consternation, outside, to and fro, 

 on the sides. Some will fly off a short distance and 

 return ; one will run to another, and then to another, 

 still in hopes, no doubt, of finding their lost sovereign. 

 A neighboring hive close by, on the same bench, will 

 probably receive a portion, which will seldom resist 

 an accession under such circumstances. All this will 

 be going on while other hives are quiet. Toward 

 the middle of the day, this confusion will be less 

 marked ; but the next morning it will be exhibited 

 again, though not so plainly, and cease after the third 

 day, when they become apparently reconciled to their 

 fate. 



"They will continue their labors as usual, bringing 

 in pollen and honey. Here I am obliged to differ 



