THOUSAND ANSWliRS 
183 
den under a mass of bees when not laying. It is a little strange 
that you have not seen her; but if eggs are present she must be 
there, and if you persevere you will probably see her. 
Q. What kind of a queenbee is it that lays part drone and 
part worker-eggs in worker-cells; is she an old queen, young, or 
not fertilized? I bought SO queens this spring, from one of the 
most popular queen-breeders in the South, and three of them 
lay part drone and part worker-eggs in worker-cells, and one 
more laid all drone-eggs in worker-cells. 
A. An old, played-out queen may begin laying occasionally a 
drone-egg in a worker-cell, and gradually increase until she lays 
nothing but drone-eggs. But this is by no means always the case 
with old queens. Occasionally a young queen begins laying with- 
out being fertilized, and, of course, will lay only drone-eggs. 
Sometimes a young queen lays part drone-eggs in worker-cells, 
either because imperfectly fertilized or on account of some func- 
tional disability. Sometimes a young queen lays drone-eggs for 
a while, and then lays worker-eggs all right. 
You do not say what kind of queens you bought, but buying as 
many as SO at a time it is practically certain that you bought 
them as untested queens. That would rule out the chance of 
their being old queens, always supposing you bought from an 
honest man. An untested queen is generally shipped as soon as 
convenient after she begins to lay, and all that the breeder is 
supposed to know about her is that she is reared from a good 
mother, that she is physically perfect so far as appearances go, 
and that she has begun to lay. The purchaser takes his chances 
on whether she is purely mated or whether the eggs she lays in 
worker-cells will all produce worker-bees, unless, indeed, they are 
sold as warranted queens. Yet it is probably not often that so 
many as 4 out of SO turn out badly. 
Queens Leaving Hive. — Q. While trapping drones this spring, 
I caught a queen in the trap. Does a queen ever leave the hive ex- 
cept with a swarm? 
A. She leaves the hive also on her wedding trip. 
Queens, Mating. — Q. Will a queen mate with a drone if she 
is never allowed to leave the place where she is confined with a 
drone ? 
A. If you mean confined to the hive, no. It is possible she 
might mate if confined in a tent, but it would have to be an im- 
mense tent. 
Q. Do queens always mate with a drone in the air? 
