THOUSAND ANSWERS 5 
Age of Bees. — Q. What is the average life of a queen, drone, 
and worker bee? 
A. A queen, perhaps 2 years; a worker, 6 weeks in the work- 
ing season; a drone, until the workers drive it out. 
Q. I have heard a great many say, bees live only 30 days. 
What do you think about it? 
A. Worker-bees live several months if born late in the sea- 
son; for they live over winter and until new ones are ready to 
take their place in the spring. Those that are born after the 
busy season begins in the summer, live 5 or 6 weeks. 
Albinos. — Q. In my bee-book I did not find anything stating 
the difference between an albino and another race of bees. Is 
there anything peculiar about albinos? 
A. Albinos among bees are somewhat like albinos of the 
human race or other animals; there is a deficiency of coloring 
pigment. This is accompanied by weakness in other respects; 
although some have reported albino bees that were good. I have 
seen nothing about albinos for several years, and don’t know 
where you could find them. 
Alfalfa. — Q. Does alfalfa yield honey in the east? I have 
seen it stated several times in prominent farm journals that al- 
falfa gives no nectar in the east. 
A. I think the rule is that east of the Mississippi River alfalfa 
never yields any nectar to speak of. Alfalfa grows finely on my 
place, and occasionally I have seen a few bees on the blossoms, 
but never to amount to anything, and I think this is generally 
so east of the Mississippi. Seems to me, however, that a more 
favorable report has been made by some one in Wisconsin or 
New York. 
Q. What is the flavor of alfalfa honey? 
A. Alfalfa honey is of very mild flavor, milder than clover. 
Alley Method. — Q. Where could I get Alley’s book on queen- 
rearing? 
A. It is out of print, but you will find the Alley queen-rearing 
method in “The Hive and Honey Bee," latest edition. 
Ants. — Q. I have six colonies of bees. The smaller ones are 
bothered with large, black ants. Is there any way of stopping 
them? 
A. Ants annoy the bee-keeper rather than the bees. It is 
decidedly annoying to have them crawling over the hands and 
