DRONES 
283 
publishers’ Cuban apiary, as illustrated 
under Apiaries, is very bad, and decidedly 
conducive to drifting. The hives would not 
have been so placed except that the apiarist 
was very mueh cramped for room. It would 
have been far better if he had reversed the 
entrances and placed the hives, some zig- 
zagwise and some square with the world. 
Many of those using the quadruple win¬ 
ter packing cases, having two entrances on 
the side, report considerable drifting and 
great variation in the size of colonies in 
the spring. This can be corrected by nail¬ 
ing a board three or four inches wide be¬ 
tween the two entrances. 
Drifting when taking bees out of the 
cellar can be avoided somewhat if the direc¬ 
tions are followed under Wintering in 
Cellars, subhead “Time of Day to Take 
Bees Out.” Drifting can be avoided when 
locating bees at outyards by moving them 
toward night, and placing them on their 
stands when it is too late for them to fly, 
being careful to place the hives so that 
each colony will easily distinguish its own 
hive. Next morning they will mark their 
entrances. 
WHY ARE NOT DRIFTING BEES STUNG LIKE 
ROBBERS. 
The novice will, perhaps, ask the ques¬ 
tion why, when bees drift into the wrong 
hive, they are not instantly killed by the 
guards at the entrance, the same as hap¬ 
pens in a case of robbing. When bees drift, 
as already explained, it is because a new 
condition has been created, or because the 
young bees when at play have not yet 
thoroly learned their location. When they 
go by mistake into the hive, they enter as 
tho it were their owrt hive. Robber bees 
(see Robbing) show by their nervous ac¬ 
tions that they are afraid of being grabbed 
by the guards of the hive they propose 
invading. Their guilty actions, seeking by 
stealth or quick dodging to get into the 
hive, betray them at once. On the other 
hand, the drifting bees show no such be¬ 
havior, and of course go directly into the 
hive as if they belonged there. 
In the case of bees just out of the cellar, 
many, rushing out into the air, scarcely 
know whence they came, and the result is 
they will return to the entrance of the 
strongest flyers, or where the greatest dem¬ 
onstration is being made, and so go in 
without arousing suspicion. 
When bees are out for a playflight there 
will be a big hubbub in front of the hive 
whence they came. Other young bees in 
the air, or in near-by hives, attracted by 
their antics in the air, are quite inclined to 
join in the fun, for fun it evidently is. 
When the frolic is over, nothing can be 
more natural than for the whole bunch of 
them to go into the hive whether they 
belong there or not. If the hives are 
properly located, there will be very little 
drifting as a result of playflights. 
DRONES. —These are the male bees of 
the colony. They are large noisy fellows 
that do a great amount of buzzing, but 
never sting anybody, for the very good rea¬ 
son that they have no sting. The beekeeper 
who has learned to recognize them, both by 
sight and sound, never pays any attention 
to their noise, but visitors are many times 
frightened by their loud buzzing. 
If the colonies are prosperous, one may 
find eggs in the drone comb of some of the 
best hives as early as March, but not, as a 
general thing, until April. The drone-cells 
can be told from the worker at a glance 
by the size. (See Honeycomb; also Brood 
and Brood-rearing, large cut.) Whenever 
eggs are seen in the large cells, it may be 
assumed they are drone eggs. It is not 
meant by this that the eggs that produce 
drones look any different from any other 
eggs that the queen lays, for in appear¬ 
ance they are precisely the same. They are 
the same in every respect, except that the 
eggs that produce the worker bees have 
■been impregnated, while the others have 
not; but more of this anon. The egg, like 
those producing workers, remains brooded 
over by the bees until it is about three days 
old, and then by one of nature’s wonder¬ 
ful transformations it is gone, and a tiny 
worm appears, a mere speck in the bottom 
of the cell. This worm is fed as before, 
until it is about a week old, and is then 
sealed over like a worker larva, except that 
the cap to the cell is raised considerably 
more; in fact, the cappings very much re¬ 
semble a lot of bullets laid closely together 
on a board. (See Brood and Brood-rear¬ 
ing.) The young drones will begin to cut 
the caps of these cells in about 24 or 25 
