However, the bees now decide to set the young princess at liberty, and two courses are open to them. If the hive has got what is called the “swarming fever,” the princess will lead a second swarm, for she knows that in a few days another princess will be born. This second swarm is called “the cast,” and unlike the first, flies away at once, no matter what the weather may be, for there is no time to be lost. The cast does not settle near the hive as the first swarm does, but flies quite away, and is generally lost to the bee-keeper.
If, as is generally the case, the hive has not got swarming fever, the bees adopt the princess as their queen. As soon as this course is decided upon, the bees allow her to visit the cells containing her rivals, and with savage anger she inserts her sting in each cell and puts them to death.
During the next few days she wanders about the hive in a restless fashion, constantly going to the door. After a while she leaves the hive and flies high up into the air. She is not allowed to go alone, however, but is followed by numbers of drones. In about an hour’s time she returns, and the bees know that she is now mated and will remain quietly in the hive. The hive then resumes its ordinary life, and the young queen commences to enter upon her new duties. The queen cells are no longer required, and so they are cut down; the builders set to work to erect nursery cells in their place, for every available inch of room will be required by the young queen for laying eggs.
Plate XXIX
Bees going into a Skep
CHAPTER XXXV
THE MASSACRE OF THE DRONES
WE have already seen that the drones do no work in the hive, nor do they gather nectar or pollen. They live a life of ease, feeding upon the honey gathered by the workers, and it has been said that each drone eats as much food as can be provided by four workers. You may understand from this that the drones would quickly eat up the provisions which have been gathered for the winter. The workers know this too, and when the summer begins to go and the flowers to fade, the drones will meet their fate. They are always under the power of the workers, for besides eating honey, they are given chyle food, and were the workers not to give them this, at the end of three days the drones would die, even though there was plenty of honey around them.
It is not by starvation that the drones die, however, for they are massacred by the bees. Some time about August, perhaps, when the bees find that the honey is not coming in as fast as it used to, the step will be taken, for they have now to think about the winter months which are close at hand. If there are any drone cells in the hive with eggs or grubs in them, the workers tear them open, the young drones are dragged out, and their bodies thrown out of the door of the hive. Although the other drones may see these proceedings they take no heed of them, but continue to live their lazy life, and to eat their fill of honey. But in a few days the signal for the massacre is given, and the workers commence to put them to death. Throughout the hive may be seen the workers chasing the drones over the combs which, but a few days before, supplied them with honey. The drones have no sting, nor any means of defence, so that they are absolutely at the mercy of their pursuers. The bee-city is alive with the terrible cries of the victims, and as the workers catch the drones they commence to bite off their wings. Sometimes, too, they will even gnaw off the legs or the antennæ or cut through the drone’s slender waist, their one idea being to disable him. Some of the drones perhaps are able to escape from the hive, and may seek refuge in flight, but after a few hours they are back again. They cannot live without food, and as they have never done any work, they do not know how to gather it. When they return, the guard at the gate, which is always doubled at this time, savagely fall upon and kill them. Some do not return to the hive, but these speedily perish of cold when the night air comes on. The bees never sting the drones in the struggle, for the sting, being barbed, would soon be pulled out by the roots were it once inserted in the drone’s body. The bodies of those that have been killed are carried out of the hive by the undertakers, and a busy time they have, as you may imagine.
Plate XXX