166 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
fiable, and I have taken dates when the 
breeding commences in most parts of Aus- 
tralia ; but should I have been too late for 
some more sunny parts, why, the thinking 
beekeeper can easily correct that for himself. 
In general he will find these figures practi- 
cable. But in order to crush any polemic 
criticism in the bud, 1 will mention a few 
extra examples. 
Occasionally a queen has laid in 14 days 
50.000 eggs, or 3570 per day average, which 
is 51 per hour, and 2i in three minutes. But 
as it cannot be expected that a queen lays 
without stoppage or resting, let us assume 
she laid for 10 hours and rested for 14 hours 
each day, then she must have laid 357 in an 
hour or 6 in a minute. Perhaps others have 
watched their queens as well as I have, and 
if so they will agree with me that it is an ex- 
ceedingly rare case to see her lay 6 eggs in 
the minute. And such extraordinary fer T 
tility only lasted for a short period. This 
was the circumstance — A hive had lost its 
young queen just before her expected im- 
pregnation. The bees might have been from 
12.000 to 15,000. All combs were a year old 
worker cells, only a corner in the back frame 
being drone cells, and all or most all cells 
were polished and ready for the queen to lay. 
A day or two after a swarm issued from a 
pretty strong hive, but on account of it being 
somewhat windy, and I think because the 
queen was heavy, she fell to the ground and 
was only discovered when most of the bees 
begun to return again, so that only about 
12,000 bees settled with her. This being a 
weak swarm, I put it into the queenless hive. 
Four-teen days later I found 50,000 cells, or 
1000 square inches of comb brood in all stages 
to 14 days. I xemoved immediately three 
frames and placed empty ones instead, but 
when looking in again six days after, I found 
these combs mostly filled with honey, un- 
doubtedly because honey was more plentiful 
now. So this queen laid 3570 eggs per day 
for 14 days. Sire proved hereafter always 
very productive, but never to the same ex- 
tent again I had several similar cases. 
In another hive, a young and lately im- 
pregnated queen was introduced to a strong 
colony of bees. Within 15 days after her 
start the brood covered 900 square inches, 
equal to 45,000 cells. She laid 3000 eggs 
each day. The empty combs given her 
were also mostly filled with honey, although 
they had a place in the broodnest. 
Another hive with a very fertile queen 
had a wide passage from brood to honey room, 
of which passage the queen made use, and I 
found 1324 square inches of brood or 66,200 
cells. That queen must have laid 3310 eggs 
every day for 20 days. To avoid unneces- 
sary disputes, 1 wish it to be understood 
that a bee hatches in 20 days, not 21 days, as 
others stated ; some leave their cell in 19 days. 
Again, another hive had 800 square 
inches of brood. I removed the first and 
last comb, which contained honey and pollen, 
and inserted two empty combs in the centre. 
I The queen was soon hard at work, and five 
days after they were full of eggs and young 
j larvte ; they were removed and two others 
given, and they were almost full in another 
five days ; they were also taken away and 
replaced by two more empty ones, but 
these were filled with honey almost from top 
to bottom ; also other cells that became 
empty by hatching bees. As the 800 square 
inches were kept full of brood, and the four 
combs which I removed measured 400 square 
inches, this queen had laid 60,000 eggs in 20 
days, or 3000 per day for 10 days. 
Much greater as are the number of eggs 
laid by these queens within a short time 
compared to my former examples, it must 
be born in mind that then I referred to 
queens usually in existence, while here I 
cited a few exceptional instances, which only 
prove the rule. What some queens can ac- 
complish, and what most queens do accom- 
plish are two very different matters. My ex- 
periments were made with Italian bees, but 
other races will prove but little different . 
Besides the classes of queens referred to 
j there are many that never reach the mark of 
laying 2000 eggs in a day. These instances 
| are far more plentiful than the other, and I 
i do not think I need show it by further 
figures. The time of the season and the 
! weather both have great influence over the 
queen as well as the bees ; dry and windy 
weather checks breeding ; moist, warm and 
close weather, with fresh honey not too plen- 
tiful, induces it. A two or three years old 
queen is often as fertile as a younger one, and 
a big queen is not superior to a middle-sized 
one ; but a small queen is shortlived and not 
of much value. 
I have thought that if young queens were 
reared from the most fertile only, they might 
inherit that quality and remain constant ; 
but I found that no matter how carefully it 
is executed the young ones only prove about 
middle class ; while I have had excellent 
layers from poor mothers. Here, again, I 
came to the conclusion that a iiigher power 
than ours has provided that the “ trees may 
not grow into heaven.” 
The bees have undoubtedly a great in- 
fluence upon the queen. In winter, when 
the bees rest, the queen lays no eggs at all ; 
again, in summer a queen in a nucleus lays 
but a small number of eggs, but if introduced 
into a strong stock she lays a thousand or 
more after a day or two ; and again, towards 
the end of the season she gradually leaves off 
