46 
Beekeeping 
Brood. 
The developmental stages of bees (Fig. 35) are discussed 
in a later chapter (p. 93) and, for our present purpose, it is 
necessary only to present a general statement concerning 
the numbers of individuals in these developmental stages 
in the colony. In the earliest stages of brood-rearing (in 
late winter in the North), the queen lays only a few eggs a 
day and the number increases to 1500 or more a day in an 
average colony. In exceptional cases, however, this may be 
exceeded until there are in the combs at one time as many as 
40,000 developing bees in all stages, and possibly of all three 
kinds of bees. Incidentally, this gives some basis for an 
estimate of the death rate of the adult bees of the colony. 
If bees emerge from the comb at the rate of 1500 a day dur¬ 
ing a honey-flow, the population of the colony is not notic- 
ably increased, indicating that 1500 or more bees from that 
colony are dying daily. In the spring when the bees are 
working less in gathering nectar, the population increases 
rapidly, indicating a much lower death rate. Truly, bees 
are creatures of a day. 
NATURAL NEST 
In a wild state, the bee colony lives in a hollow tree or 
cavity in the rocks, although they thrive in the artificial 
hive provided by the beekeeper. An examination of a wild 
colony will assist in the understanding of various manipu¬ 
lations and hive arrangements. The combs which form 
their abode are composed of wax secreted by the workers 
(p. 108). The horizontal, hexagonal cells of the two vertical 
layers constituting each comb have interplaced ends on a 
common septum (Fig. 36). In the cells of these combs are 
reared the developing workers and drones, honey and pollen 
also being stored in such cells. These combs hang from the 
top of the cavity and are frequently also attached to the 
sides. They are rarely built upward from a lower support. 
The cells built naturally are not all of the same size. The 
