Great Number of Queen Cells and Queens Secured from One Hive.
Mr. Editor:—In volume 2, number 9, of the American Bee Journal, Mr. A. Grimm gives a case, under the above caption, of forty-three queen cells on one frame of comb. I have had two similar cases this season. The first one had twenty-eight cells on one frame; the other had forty-seven cells on one, and five on an adjoining frame—making fifty-two cells at one time, in one hive.
Early in the spring I experienced the greatest difficulty in getting my bees to start queen cells in full stocks. Having an extra choice queen, which I intended to raise from exclusively for the present; and not being willing to risk the loss of her in moving her from one stock to another, I adopted a different course. (By the way, I always start queen cells in full stocks—never in small nuclei.) I removed the hybrid queens from three strong stocks in succession, and in five days after their removal, I cut all the cells then started, and gave each stand a frame of brood and eggs from the choice stock. On opening those stands a few days after, to see what number of queen cells they had started, I was doomed to disappointment. The first one had only three cells, and two of these were built too close together to be separated. The other two stands did very little better. Getting tired of this slow process, I removed the queen from another strong hybrid stock; then exchanged the whole of the brood combs with the choice stock, brushing off the bees into their own hive. In this way I got some sixteen cells.
On the 6th of June two very large swarms got together. I divided and equalised them, and thinking each had a queen, I left them and went to other work. One of the queen’s wings being cropped, I had put her on the cluster before the other swarm issued—the two stands sat about a rod apart. About an hour after this one of the stands became restless, the bees flying out and in, but neither going back to the old stand, nor to the one I had just separated them from; nor settling, either, except on the tops of the weeds and grass, two rods below the two stands, and under the limb they had swarmed on. It then occurred to me that the cropped queen might have dropped in the grass, and I started to look for her. But what a sight presented itself to my eyes—a great, big, long snake! No, not a snake, but a bee procession, a rod long and from three to five inches wide, travelling on foot, through the grass and weeds, to the nearest stand, headed by her majesty—who just entered the hive before I could seize and secure her. This was the stand from which I had just separated them an hour before. I then had my work to do over again, which I did in a few minutes, but got both queens in one hive, though I did not then know it. I had watched closely, and saw only one queen enter. By this time other swarms claimed my attention, so that I hastily took a frame of brood from another stand, and gave it to the one I was not certain had a queen—intending to give them one as soon as I ascertained it needed one. They went to work, as though all was right; and I paid no more attention to them till the second day after, when I opened the hive to examine. I found they were building straight and nice worker comb. I did not then raise the frame of brood, as the nice worker comb satisfied me that they had a queen; that is, according to the authority of book authors and others, that bees will never build worker comb without the presence of a queen. But here is an exception; and I have in my practice come across many exceptions to general rules, where bees are concerned. On the 19th this stand swarmed, and taking advantage of my dislike to work on Sundays, went to parts unknown, though I saw them go. I was then engaged in hiving four others, and they refused to await their turn to be waited on. Next morning early, I raised the brood comb already mentioned, and secured seventeen fine queens, counting twenty-eight perfect cells in all! The hive was about filled with comb, but only about one-third was drone comb—the rest being worker comb. Nothing ever puzzled me more than this case. I cannot account for it without going counter to the established rules, that bees without a queen will build drone comb exclusively. But, as I said above, this swarm was extra large, and having a frame of brood given them at the start, may have taken a notion to divide again, and so built worker comb while raising the queen cells. Or, will some one say the old queen was present. Well, if she was, why did the bees build about one-third drone comb? Will some one give us a similar case—such as a newly hived large swarm starting queen cells at once, while they have a queen. I am almost positively certain that they had no queen; yet there is much about the case that bothers or puzzles me. A good job for Gallup!
On the 27th of July, I removed a queen from a strong nucleus, to send her off. The nucleus hive was 12 × 12 × 18 inches, with three frames and partition board. It had been started with two frames, but an empty frame was afterward inserted in the middle, to give the bees more room to work. This frame they had filled out to within two inches of the bottom. I had disturbed the nucleus a few days before, to stimulate the queen to lay before removing her. In six days after her removal, on opening the nucleus, I found and counted forty-seven perfect cells, but saw none on either of the other frames; yet, while removing the cells on the 10th day, I found five more on one of the adjoining frames—making fifty-two (52) in all!
In conclusion, let me add that this has been a poor season here. I will get only about 500 pounds of honey, to Novice’s 5,000. Hope he has filled his cistern by this time. But here I must close, as I have already wearied the patience of your readers.
R. M. Argo.
Lowell, Ky., Aug. 12, 1870.
[For the American Bee Journal.]