BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
It is judged wonderful that the size and shape of the cell, and the plentiful supply of a rich kind of food should work such a remarkable transformation. True, in the worker bee can be found, by the aid of an extremely powerful microscope, the small abortive ovaries, which in the queen bee are so large and fully developed. But the legs of the queen are quite different from those of the worker, as they are provided with no pollen haskets. Again, in the sting of the queen we see another marvellous modification; for while the sting of the worker has seven distinct barhs, that of the queen has but three, and these barbs are shorter than those on the worker's sting. It is _very_ rarely, if ever, that the queen will use her sting, except upon a rival queen: though we may handle her and tease her as much as we like she will not sting. It is said that on the rare occasions when she does sting, it causes but slight pain to the person, compared with that experienced after a sting from a worker.
Should the bees be deprived of their queen by some accident, they can raise another from any worker egg or larva--provided that the latter is not more than three days old. It is, however, much better to obtain a queen raised from the egg on the royal pabulum ; and, to ensure this, if we intend to remove a queen from a hive, and let the bees raise another, we should insert a clean, new worker-comb in the hive forty-eight hoursbefore we remove the queen. We should then examine this comb, and it will probably be found to contain a number of eggs : this being the case, all we have to do is to cut holes in the comb about one inch square amongst the patches of eggs. The bees will then choose the eggs from which they intend to rear queens ; and, removing the walls of the adjacent cells, will build queen cells (fig. 36) around the selected eggs. Seven days after the queen was taken away, we must examine the hive, and cut out all queen cells which have been formed in any of the combs, except in the one containing the eggs from which we decided that the bees should rear the queen.
When the larvae hatch out of these eggs, the bees feed them liberally with the " royal jelly," as previously mentioned, for five days, after which they seal over the cells. Eight days later--_i.e._, sixteen days after the egg was laid--the queen batches out. And here, indeed, is a wonderful provision of nature, that the queen--the most important bee in the whole hive--should come to maturity in a considerably shorter time than either the workers or drones.
The queen which hatches out first will fight with the next one which hatches ; and the former, being older and stronger, will kill the latter. Some say that the workers destroy all the superfluous queens after the first is hatched out ; while others affirm that the queens themselves fight until all are killed but one.
When the queen is about six days old, she will leave the hive to take her marriage trip, queens always mating on the wing. This is another provision of nature to prevent in-and in breeding ; for if she mated in the hive, she must always mate with one of her own brother-drones ; and we know that where in-and-in breeding is carried on for any considerable length of time the breed must surely deteriorate, until at last it dies out altogether.
Should the queen fail to meet an admirer on the first day, she will fly on the succeeding days again and again until she does. Bevan says that if not mated till between the fifteenth and twenty-first day, she will be largely a drone-breeder : this, however, is erroneous ; as, in the cold, wet summer of 1888, I had a second swarm come off on July 17th, and I saw the queen returning from her marital excursion on August 1st : thus she must have been at least fifteen days old, and probably more, as queens seldom go off with a swarm till they are two or three days old. Yet this queen did not turn out to be a drone breeder ; but, on the contrary, was a very fine and prolific one.*
It is Huber's opinion that, should the queen not mate by the twenty-first day, the case is hopeless. **I** should hardly like to fix the limit at twenty-one days, however. The matter undoubtedly requires very careful observation.
About two days after mating, the queen will commence to lay : but should she fail to mate altogether, she will, after a time, begin laying ; but although these eggs hatch out, they never produce anything but drones.
Sometimes the young queen may be eaten by a bird while on the wing. The bees will then be deprived of all hope of having eggs laid by a queen bee. In this predicament the great longing for eggs and brood will usually produce in time what are known as " Fertile Workers." These are workers which lay eggs ; their eggs --like those of unfertile queens--producing only drones, whether deposited in queen or worker cells. It is usually a considerable time--a month or two--before a hive, deprived of its queen and of all hope of getting one, will develop fertile workers. Their presence may be easily ascertained, for they lay in a most unsystematic manner, often placing two or three eggs in one cell, and missing many empty cells altogether.
A stock with fertile workers will rarely accept a fertile or virgin queen when introduced by either of the caging methods soon to be detailed : they seem quite content with their quasi-queens ; but they will generally accept a virgin queen if given by the method of " direct introduction " (soon to be explained), even though they may possess fertile workers. The safest and best plan, however, to get rid of these pests is to unite the bees to another stock which has a queen, and then, should the stock be strong enough, divide it again in two weeks' time, giving the bees either a queen or queen-cell, or else a comb containing eggs from which they will rear one.
Those who wish to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the natural history of the bee from a very exhaustive and scientific point of view should read " The Honey Bee, its Natural History, Anatomy, and Physiology," by T. W. Cowan, price 2_s. 6d_.
## Chapter 2 _Swarms and Swarning_.
**When Breeding Begins.**
Early in January the queen begins to deposit a few eggs in the middle of the combs in the centre of the hive. Very small indeed will be these patches of brood at first, and during January they will not often be appreciably enlarged ; but as the spring advances, and the weather becomes warmer, the queen will lay an ever-increasing number of eggs. In March she usually deposits a few drone eggs in the lauge cells ; while, in the early part of April, she will lay a large number of them. Towards the latter part of this month the fruit blososoms commence to open, and from these, in fine weather, the bees gather a large amount of honey.
**Swarning.**
About the beginning of May, supposing the spring to have been fine and mild, the hive will become so crowded with brood and honey that only very few cells will be empty. In this state of things the bees will consider the advisability of reducing the population of the hive by swarming. Through their great foresight they have already bred drones, in case they should be required ; and so now all that remains to be done is to provide for the production of a new queen for the old hive. They therefore build queen cells on the edges of the combs, and in each of these cells the queen lays an egg. When the queen cells are sealed over is the time when the first swarm usually issues ; but, should the weather be unfavourable, it may be delayed for a few days.
**Appearance of a Hive before Swarming.**
If the stock be in a straw skep, the bees will most likely hang out in clusters from the alighting-board, and cluster onthe sides of the hive before they swarm; but in a bar-frame hive they seldom do this, the only sign of the approaching swarm being that a number of bees--probably about a score--will be observed standing about on the alighting-board, for several days before the swarm issues, doing no work whatever. It would appear that a kind of listlessness is prevalent at swarming time amongst the bees, which at other times do not waste a moment.
The day being bright and warm, the bees gorge themselves with honey, and suddenly pour out of the hive in one great stream, and circle round about the hive for a minute or two, the joyful humming of the thousands of bees producing a great noise. In a few minutes they will probably begin to cluster in some bush or tree: The time that they remain after they have settled varies greatly: sometimes they only stay for a few minutes; sometimes--very seldom--for a day or two. It is not at all certain whether the bees always choose a new home before they swarm, or whether they sometimes do not send out scouts to find one till after the swarm has left the hive. It occasionally happens that the bees make straight for their new home without waiting to cluster; but it is quite easy to make a swarm settle by directing a shower of water from a common garden syringe so that it will fall on them just like rain; by this method they can be made to cluster in a few minutes, and thus we never need lose any swarms.
A first swarm usually issues between ten and one o'clock, seldom earlier or later.
Eight or nine days after the first swarm leaves the hive, the first young queen will hatch out. Should the bees determine to send off a second swarm, they will guard the queen cells from her, as her natural instinct would be to kill all her rivals; and when a day or two old this young queen will lead off a second swarm. A second swarm often contains several young queens hatched out about the same time. When the swarm is hired, the bees will soon kill all but one.
The day following that on which the second swarm issued from the hive, a third swarm or " cast" will sometimes issue; and this is occasionally followed by a fourth swarm, though this occurs but very seldom.
All these after-swarms are much less particular than first swarms as to the time of day or kind of weather when they issue, as they often come off in the afternoon, and in weather which would certainly suffice to prevent the issue of a first swarm.
Second swarms and casts contain far fewer bees than first swarms ; often they do not gather sufficient honey to last them through the winter, and require to be fed in the autumn.
**Hunger Swarms.**
It occasionally happens in the very early spring that bees that are quite destitute of provisions will swarm out of and entirely desert their hives. Such swarms, it is needless to say, unless promptly lived on combs containing stores and carefully fed, will very soon perish. They are known as " hunger swarms."
## Chapter 3 The various Racks of Bees
### The English Bee
Tins bee is still considered by many as the most suitable variety for this climate. Owing, however, to the extensive introduction of foreign bees into all parts of the country, it is by no means easy to find this bee in absolute purity, untainted by any admixture of foreign blood, as queens and drones fly over a large area--probably often five or six miles from the hives--in <<earch of a mate.
The English bee is considered more willing than the foreign races to enter supers, and this is indeed a great matter in its favour. It also reals its honey with nice, thick, white cappiings--another great advantage. English bees, when compared with some of the foreign bees and hybrids, are by no means difficult to handle ; but then, again, they are not nearly so gentle as the Curniolan bees. Altogether, the amateur might do worse than start bee-keeping with English bees.
### The Ligurian or Italian Alp Bee
This bee has been imported into this country in greater numbers, perhaps, than any other foreign race. It is easily distinguished from the English bee, as the workers possess three beautiful, golden-coloured bands on the abdomen. The tongue of the Ligurian bee is longer than that of the brown bee, and consequently it can gather honey--or rather nectar--from flowers on which the latter is unable to work.
Almost all who have kept those bees agree that they are much more gentle and better honey-gatheers than English bee, that the queens are considerably more prolific, and that the bees--at any rate in this country--are proof against the ravages of the wax moth.
Ligurians seal their honey with thinner equipings than do our native bees, and their comb honey is therefore not quite sowhite, in consequence of which some consider them unsuitable for the production of comb honey. Syrians and Cyprians also seal their honey with thin cappings.
**The Carniolan Bee.**
This beautiful and gentle race has, of late years, been largely imported into this country. At first everybody was delighted with them; but after a time complaints began to be made that they were excessive swarmers. Doubtless much of the blame is to be attached to bad management.
Amongst the many good points possessed by Carniolans may be mentioned,--
1. That they are early swarmers.
2. That their comb honey is of spotless purity and whiteness, even excelling that of our native brown bees.
3. That they are exceedingly gentle, and in most cases can be handled without any intimidation--treatment which English bees would undoubtedly resent.
4. That the queens are very prolific.
5. That they are very industrious and hardy bees.
6. That they are, perhaps, the best winters of any race whatever.
I admit that the bees are inclined to swarm, but I have failed entirely to notice that excessive swarming of which so many complain. With me a stock of Carniolans generally sends out two swarms.
In the production of comb honey it is, perhaps, the best policy to give them twelve or fourteen frames, and when they swarm to hive them on six frames--three of brood from the old stock, and three of empty, drawn-out comb--placing the new hive where the old stock stood, the latter being removed some distance. A super should be placed on the swarm; and in a few days, when the bees are well at work in it, two or three more frames may be given in the brood chamber: a week later one or two more should be given, according to the strength of the colony.
To the amateur just starting bee-keeping I would not, however, recommend Carniolans. Any one wishing to try the foreign races should commence with only one or two stocks at most; and when he finds them superior to his other bees will be time to obtain more.
**The Syrian Bee.**
Concerning these bees there is great divergence of opinion, some affirming that they are so vicious as to be quite unmanageable, while others say that they can be handled like flies. The same things are also stated concerning Cyprians and Palestines. Now, what is the meaning of this incongruuity? The reason, I think, is not far to seek. Amongst a dozen stocks of English bees we shall find some which are so vicious as, at times, to be almost unmanageable, while others are so gentle that we can handle them with but very little intimidation. The same thing may undoubtedly be said of the foreign races ; and a person obtaining one--or perhaps two--Syrian, Cyprian or Palestine queens, which happen to produce vicious bees, immediately condemns the whole race as bad-temperd and unmanageable ; while another man, getting his queens from a different source, obtains workers which are gentle and easily handled. Hence the folly of forming a judgment concerning a race from one or two solitary instances.
The Syrian queens are more prolific than any other variety, and the number of eggs which one of these queens lays will fairly astonish any one who has only been accustomed to English bees.
The workers are very much like Italians, but the undersides of their abdomens are yellower.
**The Cyprian Bee.**
These bees closely resemble Ligurians and Syrians in colour.
The queens are more prolific than those of any other race, Syrians alone excepted.
These bees are said to be better honey-gatherers than any others ; but, never having kept them, I am unable to speak from experience.
**The South African Bee.**
In South Africa the two varieties of honey bee generally met with are a small, darkish bee in the Karoo and higher parts of the inland districts, which, although an excellent honey gatherer, is very fierce.
Along the coast-line another variety is met with. This bee, although smaller than a Ligurian or Carnialan, is yet a good deal larger than the Karoo bee. The abolomens of the workers are covered with light grey hairs, and in most cases have onedark orange band. These bees are good honey gatherers, and the queens are exceedingly prolific. They are the gentlest bees to handle I have ever met with. The workers, like the worker bees found in Dalmatia, have a habit of sometimes playing around the entrances of the hives like a swarm of flies in the late afternoons. On being deprived of their queens they often produce fertile workers within a few days, which is a troublesome habit. Also they seal their comb honey with as thin cappings as do the Italians. On the whole, therefore, I find them best crossed with Carniolans.
### Crossbred Bees. Italian Hybrids.
These bees--the progeny of an Italian queen crossed with an English drone --are very bad-tempered as a rule, and so are not to be recommended to the novice, although they are good honey-gatherers. The same may be said of Carniolan hybrids. But an English queen crossed with a Ligurian or Carniolan drone will produce gentle workers, which may be easily handled, and are also good honey-gatherers.
### The Syrio-Carniolan Bee.
This cross--a Syrian queen with a Carniolan drone--is a very desirable one, for by it we secure the marvelous fecundity of the Syrian queen, together with the docility and splendid wintering qualities of the Carniolans.
Syrio-Carniolans are grand honey-gatherers and splendid winterers, and seal their honey with beautifully white cappings. They are, in fact, to my mind, model bees.
### The "Golden Italian " Bee.
These bees, which are not pure Italians, but are slightly hybridised with the English bee, are now very commonly offered for sale both in England and America. In appearance they are very handsome, the abdomens being much yellower than in the ordinary Italians. They are the result of careful selection and of breeding for many generations past from the most brightly coloured colonies, and from those in which the workers have the largest number of yellow bands on the abdomen ; but apart from their very handsome appearance, they do not seem to be in any way superior to ordinary Italians.
## Chapter 4 The Straw Skep.
The straw skep (\(ar{\mbox{f}}_{\pi}\). \(4a\)) is a bell-shaped hive made of straw, in which the bees can build their combs in any way they like, fastening them to the roof and sides. Thus the combs cannot be taken from a skep for examination, and it is consequently called a "fixed\(\cdot\)comb " hive. In this particular it differs greatly from the "movable-comb " or "bar-frame " hive, for in the latter every comb can be removed for examination and returned to the hive with little disturbance to the bees.
### 4 The Bar-frame Hive.
In the bar-frame hive each separate comb is built in a frame (fig. 5) like a box without top or bottom.
The British Bee-keepers' Association has fixed the size of the "standard " frame at 14 inches long by \(8
rac{1}{3}\) inches deep, the top bar 17 inches long by \(
rac{3}{3}\) inch thick, the side bars \(
rac{1}{3}\) inch thick, the bottom bar \(
rac{1}{3}\) inch thick, the top and side bars \(
rac{3}{3}\) inch wide, the bottom bar \(
rac{3}{3}\) inch wide. This is the frame now in general use.
The frames hang in the body hive, the ends of the top bars resting on the inner walls, a space of \(
rac{1}{4}\) inch being left between the side bars of the frames and the hive's walls. Each frame should also hang \(
rac{3}{3}\) inch or \(
rac{1}{2}\) inch clear of the floor\(\cdot\)board (fig. 6).
Figure 6: (a) Section of Frame Hive, seen from side (frames running parallel to entrance), A, Bars of frame ; B, Front and back walls of hive ; c, Porch ; D, Dummy-boards ; x, Floor-board ; F, Stand ; O, Plinth; n, Alighting-board ; x, Entrance-contractor.
The frames should be spaced \(1
rac{1}{2}\) inch from the centre of one frame to the centre of the other. This may be done by means of "metal ends" \(1
rac{1}{2}\) inch broad (fig. 7), which are placed on the ends of the top bars, the knife-edge a holding the end firmly on to the bar; but the eye of the bee-keeper soon gets accastomod to the distance which the frames should be spaced apart, and he will not need to use metal ends. There are many other ways of spacing the frames: some use staples driven into the top bar; others use frames with "broad-shouldered " top bars (fig. 8); but I myself prefer a plain frame to any.
**The Floor-board.**
The floor-board (fig. 9) should be made of wood not less than \(
rac{3}{4}\) inch in thickness--1 inch is better: it should project \(1
rac{1}{2}\) inch beyond the entrance, and a sloping alighting-board, \(\Lambda\), 7 inches or 9 inches broad, should be fixed at the end of it. The floor and alighting-boards should be nailed on to the stand p b, which should be 4 inches or 6 inches wide and made of 1-inch or \(1
rac{1}{2}\)-inch wood, the latter thickness being best.
Figure 8: Dread-abcaledTop Bar with Saw-cut for Fondation.
Figure 7: Metal Ends. A, The Old-fashioned Metal End. B, The " W. B. Carr * Metal End now more generally used.
Figure 9: Floor-board and Alighting-board.
The Body Hive.
The body hive (fig. 10) should be 9 inches deep. The frames may run either at right angles to the entrance (as in the figure) or parallel to it.
The inner walls, on which the ends of the frames rest, should be 8\(
rac{1}{2}\) inches deep ; for a ten-frame hive they should be 15 inches long ; for a twelve-frame hive 18 inches ; they must be placed 14\(
rac{1}{2}\) inches apart, so that there may be \(
rac{1}{4}\) inch between the sides of the frames and the hive's walls.
The Entrance.
The entrance (fig. 11, o) should be 8 inches or 9 inches long, and \(
rac{1}{2}\) inch deep.
A hive should be provided with some means of contracting the entrance.
Fig. 11 shows a very good kind of entrance-contractor, B B, which fits into a piece of wood, A, provided with a groove and fixed to the front of the hive.
Figure 11: \(ullet\), \(ullet\), Grooved piece of wood, in which Entrance-contractors (**a**) run.
c, Front of Hive, showing Entrance.
**The Porch.**
**A** hive must be provided with a porch [fig. 6 (\(eta\)), C] to keep off the drip which falls from the roof upon the entrance when it rains.
**The Dummy or Division-board.**
Every hive should be fitted with a dummy-board, or, better still, two (fig. 12) : they are used to partition off a portion of the hive when the bees do not occupy the whole of it. They should be made of \(
rac{1}{2}\)-inch or \(
rac{3}{4}\)-inch wood, \(14
rac{1}{2}\) inches by 9 inches, with ears \(
rac{1}{2}\) inch broad and \(1
rac{1}{4}\) inch long at the top.
**The Roof.**
**I** prefer a roof sufficiently deep to cover a crate of sections--i.e., 5 inches high to the eaves, as in fig. 13. It should be 9 inches or 10 inches high to the ridge, and the board along the ridge A should be about \(4
rac{1}{2}\) inches wide.
Such a board is exceedingly convenient, as, when the hives are placed in a row it serves as a stand for the smoker, uncapping-knife, or other implement required while we are manipulating the adjacent hive.
**A** round hole, b, 1 inch in diameter, should be bored at
Figure 13: Hive Roofeach end of the roof for ventilation, and covered with a square of perforated zinc on the inside, to prevent the bees escaping from the hive, or robber bees entering it. A better plan, however, is to cover this hole _on the outside_ with a cone-shaped bee escape (fig. 14_b_), which allows any bees accidentally imprisoned during a manipulation to escape.
The roof and body hive must both be provided with plinths --the former all round, the latter on all sides except that in which is the entrance.
Position of Frames.