THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
who constructed immense hives, each of 
several compartments, and these connected 
one with another. He, living in an excellent 
locality for bees, got hundreds of swarms in 
a day, and finding it impossible to procure 
ordinary hives for them, was almost forced 
to the step he took, and he placed from SO to 
70 swarms, with a queen in each compart- 
ment, in each hive. But, although his 
mil lions of bees in one hive have gathered 
thousands of pounds of honey within a short 
time, they showed at the end of the season no 
more bees than ordinary stocks, and then- 
honey yield did in no way equalise that of 
the same number of swarms in separate hives. 
These were conclusive proofs and affirm my 
assertion, that the fertility of the queen can 
only reach a certain extent ; when that extent 
is reached it must of necessity go down again. 
The queen either dies from exhaustion, or she 
is found wanting and consequently done away 
with by the bees. Other beemasters of authority 
confirm the same, and it must be recognised 
as an established fact, no matter what we do 
cr how much room we may provide to each 
colony ; they can’t go on increasing and in- 
creasing for ever. 
Having satisfied myself that the swarms of 
5 to 7 pounds, which is about equal to 25,000 
to 35,000 bees, occur most usually and are the 
most profitable, I come now to the explana- 
tion as to how many' eggs most queens lay- 
daily during the height of the breeding 
season under ordinary favourable circum- 
stances. To arrive at this, it is further 
necessary to know how long the bees live 
in tile busy time. This is easy proved 
with the aid of the different colored races 
of bees, and I find, that although some 
bees live at least three months in the 
summer, and of course much longer in winter 
then- average is about six weeks to two 
months. Taking this for granted and also 
that about the same number of bees remain 
behind in the old hive, out of which a 
swarm issued of five or seven pounds or 
26,000 to 35,000 bees, then there must have 
been from 50,000 to 70,000 bees in that hive 
before it swarmed, and the queen must have 
laid 50,000 to 70,000 eggs within say 40 days, 
or 1250 to 1750 per day. The highest point 
of breeding seems to be reached about 14 
days before the swarms issue — as can be 
ascertained by examination of the combs 
after the departure of the swarm, when most 
brood cells will be found sealed — consequently 
the highest number of eggs laid for a short 
time is about 2000 per day. This does not 
mean that her average laying during the 
whole season was 2000 every day. Not at 
all. Let me illustrate it. 
Assuming there are 10,000, or 2 pounds of 
bees in the hive on August 10th, when the 
165 
queen commences lay-ing, these bees might 
well be expected to live to the beginning or 
middle of October, because they are strong 
and fly out but little in August. The queen 
at the start lays oulv a few hundred eggs per 
day, as the weather is yet cold, but gradually 
she increases the number, and on August 
30th has laid about 1000, or 12,000 in 
these 20 days, at an average of 600 every day. 
These 12,000 cells cover 240 square inches of 
comb. Prom September 1st to 20th 12,000 
bees have been hatched, and the total number 
is 10,000+ 12,000=22,000 on the latter date. 
As bees begun to hatch from September 
1st, and the weather is now warm the queen 
increases lay-ing, and to the 20th September, 
in 20 days she has laid at least 25,000 eggs, 
or 1250 per day, which cover 500 square 
inches of comb. These 25,000 bees hatch 
from September 20th to October 10th. aud as 
we have 22,000 bees on September 20th we 
must have 47,000 on October 10th. Deduct 
therefrom 5000 of wintered bees as being 
lost, there remain 42,000 bees. The queen 
has by this time reached almost the maximum 
of her laying powers, and her field is very- 
large, about 35,000 eggs in 20 days, or 1750 
per day have been laid, and they cover 700 
square inches of comb. Prom October 10th 
to 3Qth these 35,000 bees more have hatched, 
and as there were 42,000 on the 10th, there 
[ are on the 31st 42,000 + 35,000 — 77.000. 
Deduct therefrom the last 5000 of wintered 
bees and 2000 of those first hatched, there 
i remain 70,000. or about 14 pounds of bees in 
| the hive, besides brood iu all stages to the 
I enormous extent of 40,000 cells, 2000 eggs 
j laid each day- for the past 20 days, 'these 
j 40,000 cells cover 800 square inches of comb. 
; Should the immense number of 70,000 bees 
: not feel inclined to swarm just yet, then on 
{ the 20th November they- would have in- 
creased from 70,000 + 40,000 to 110,000, 
irrespective of loss, which will amount to 
about 10,000, so that the round and nett 
number of bees actually amounts to 100,000, 
or 20 pounds. Whether tills colossal num- 
ber of bees now swarm or not is henceforth 
of no difference to the fertility of the queen. 
She has reached her maximum when her 
progeny- amounts to 100,000 subjects alive. 
If they don’t swarm the queen from now 
gradually decreases her laying and remains 
stationary for a couple of months at about 
1000 or 1500 eggs per 24 hours, while at the 
end of March, or in April, her laying ceases 
altogether, to begin again next spring. The 
immense number of bees also gradually de- 
creases, as from now their actual work of 
honey gathering commences, and towards 
winter there won’t be many above 20,000. 
I have used round figures as near as pos- 
sible to the point, which 1 consider justi- 
