1. They would stay in the hive. 2. They would go to work, but not in the brisk condition that they would if the conditions were normal.—J. P. H. Brown.
1. They would stay in the hive. 2. They would store honey tolerably well, and that without devoting even two or three days to mourning.—R. L. Taylor.
1. They would stick to the hive. 2. No, they are hopelessly queenless, and seem to be wholly discouraged. Such a colony will do practically no work.—A. J. Cook.
Bees without a queen, or the means of rearing one, are discouraged, and manifest little interest in life, knowing by instinct that their “time is short.”—Mrs. L. Harrison.
1. Much would depend; they might not, sometimes they do one thing, and sometimes the other. 2. I have known them to do so; ordinarily I do not think they would.—J. E. Pond.
1. Sometimes they would, and sometimes they wouldn’t. 2. If they staid, they would use their opportunities for storing, without waiting two or three days to mourn.—C. C. Miller.
1. I am sure I cannot tell. I can see no reason why any one should treat a colony of bees in this way. 2. I do not think they would. Try it, and then you will know.—Emerson T. Abbott.
1. They would stay in the hive, but would do little work, and would rapidly dwindle away. 2. They would get along much better if allowed some brood, or even a single queen-cell.—J. A. Green.
1. They would run all over the hive and fly around, looking for their queen, or “scatter around,” as you put it. 2. Yes, to a certain extent, but not as much as they would have done had the queen been left with them.—G. M. Doolittle.
1. They would likely stay, especially if they were Italians. 2. Yes, some. All colonies would not act alike. Some will not store much honey even with a young queen in prospect, until they get her; others will work well while rearing a queen.—S. I. Freeborn.