BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
If one has two apiaries situate two miles or more apart, the return of the bees may be entirely avoided by making up the nuclei from colonies in the one apiary and putting them out in the other. The same result may be accomplished if one can establish a mating station two or more miles away from one's apiary.
QUeEN-REARING IN ENGLAND.
But often a bee-keeper is compelled to place his nuclei within a few yards of the hives from which the bees are obtained.
One way of preventing many bees from returning is to keep them confined for five days, but this method cannot be recommended unless they can be placed in a cool and dark cellar, for in their efforts to get out they rush about and gorge themselves with food, and, being unable to evacuate the accumulated waste matter, they tile, the mortality being specially great amongst the old bees.
It is, however, possible to get bees to remain in the new hive without confining them for any length of time. It has been done in my apiary more or less successfully on many occasions.
The bees are taken from their hive without any queen or any unsealed brood, and confined in a limited space from about r p.m until nightfall, due precautions for the supply of food and air being taken. About four hours after the confinement commenced a virgin two or three days old is run in amongst the excited bees, who accept her immediately. The nucleus is not disturbed for a day or two, and usually very few bees return.
In carrying out this method in the case of nuclei placed in Sladen nucleus hives, each nucleus is made to consist of sufficient bees to cover three combs thinly, or two combs thickly, and it is placed, with three combs, in its compartment occupying one-third of the space in the hive. The combs together contain at least 3lbs. of honey, or syrup--slbs. is better--and one or two of them, though this is not essential, should contain some sealed brood. Care is taken to see that no eggs, larva, queen-cells, or queens, are included.
While it is possible to succeed in making up such nuclei with bees taken from any hives that can spare them it is much letters to select bees that are in the most suitable condition.
The best are obtained by breaking up colonies that have swarmed or have had their queens removed ten or fifteen days previously (all queen-cells having been removed before they could hatch). Advantages derived from making the nuclei from such colonies are that they supply the combs of honey and sealed brood that are wanted, and also that the bees have grown somewhat idle and forgetful of their old location, and, therefore do not readily return to it.
Unfortunately, colonies in these conditions are not often available, but almost as good results may be got by using combs of brood that have been placed in queen-excluded supers ten to fifteen days before the nuclei are formed, with the adhering bees.*+ In a well-stocked queen-rearing apiary, this is, indeed, the way in which the majority of the nuclei should be formed. It is a good plan to follow for discouraging swarming, two or three combs of brood being taken out of the brood chamber and empty combs supplied in their place.
Footnote *: The queens may be reared in these supers. See page 19.
When nuclei are wanted and no previous provision has been made for forming them, they may be made by shaking the bees off three or four of the brood combs of an ordinary colony, and supplying them with combs of honey, care being taken to see that the queen is not included. It is not wise to mix bees from different hives unless honey drops out of the combs, for if there is no honey flow they may fight and kill one another in large numbers.
As soon as the bees and combs have been placed in the hive a quilt is put on top and the entrance is stuffed with grass to prevent the bees from escaping. The two remaining compartments of the hive are then stocked in the same way. The quilts covering the frames are of thin sacking, obtained by cutting up old American flour bags, and with the grass in the entrance they supply the requisite ventilation. The quilts are held down with a rack--an ordinary section rack does very well. Special care is taken to prevent the confined bees from getting overheated and thus stifled, the hive being shaded from sunshine and, if the temperature is above 70 degrees, or there is no wind, fewer bees are placed in it. If the quilts get thoroughly wet over the spaces between the frames--a little moisture does not matter--it is a sign that the bees are getting overheated and some should be let out.
About 5 p.m. the hive is rapped so as to cause a great humming and the emission of the alluring s 73), and then a virgin 36 hours to three days old is run into each nucleus through a hole made in the quilt with the point of a pencil. At the same time a note is made of the parentage and date of hatching of each queen on a card tacked on the inside of the roof. At dusk the grass is removed from the entrances and the rack removed from over the frames, the roof being placed there instead. The reaction of content that follows the introduction of the queen after four hours of intense excitement usually lasts through the following day, provided the bees are left perfectly quiet. It is true a few bees fly out in quest of honey, carefully marking the new location, but they never return, and the non-arrival of food-laden bees has a quieting effect on those that remain. Sometimes, however, they get excited and begin flying out in some numbers. This rapid diminution in the population generally causes a panic and stampede, and the bees--even the young ones that have never flown before--desert the hive in a wholesale manner. To guard against such an accident it is best to watch the newly-formed nuclei carefully on the first morning, and if too many bees are seen to be leaving any of them, to immediately re-block its entrance with grass. It is very likely to happen if the queen is less than 36 hours old when introduced, such a queen being often unnoticed. Another cause of the trouble is placing insufficient bees in the nucleus to fairly crowd it during confinement, for, in this case, the bees are likely to kill the queen when she is introduced, especially if they have been obtained from a hive containing a fertile queen. During the first few days of its existence, the only time of the day when a nucleus should be examined is in the evening. If, on the first evening, any nucleus is found to have lost two-thirds or more of its original strength during the day or to have insufficient bees to cover its brood, it must be reinforced by young
Figure 26: Funnel for shaking bees into a hive.
been shaken into it off a brood comb from another colony. For this purpose it is convenient to use a large funnel.*
Footnote *: It is a remarkable fact that bees thus added to a nucleus, even if taken from a different hive, do not attack the virgin. This is probably because they feel themselves to be strangers. Also, they do not attack the bees of the nucleus, which is too weak to set up opposition.
Some nuclei lose hardly any bees. This is frequently the case with nuclei made up from colonies that have been queenless for one or two weeks. With most nuclei, however, there is more or less loss, and if half the bees remain it may be considered fairly good.
After three or four days the initial dwindling ceases, and if the nucleus was supplied with a good deal of sealed brood when it was made up, it will have grown quite strong after it has been established about a week. Such a nucleus may now be broken up into two, by removing about two-thirds of the bees to a new hive in the evening. It is best to remove the queen with the bees if she has not yet made a flight, and to give the parent nucleus a ripe queen-cell.
Weak colonies, or those containing chiefly old bees, may generally be made to produce a nucleus by moving the hive to a new location and putting a new hive containing one of the combs covered with bees in the old location to catch the flying bees. A ripe queen-cell is put into the hive at the old location unless there is a flying virgin, in which case the cell must be given to the portion that is moved.
Excellent nuclei may be made -from " second " swarms or casts, that is to say, swarms accompanied by virgin queens. Secure the swarm as soon as it has settled and cage the queens to prevent the swarm absounding. An hour before sunset, if the temperature is as low as about 55 degrees, or at sunset if it is about or above 65 degrees, kill the queens and break the swarm up into a number of little swarms, each weighing about half -a-pound, and run into each swarm a two-day-old virgin. The bees will at first miss their comrades and become restless, but the gathering night will make them settle down, and by the morning all desire to unite will have gone. The number of bees in each nucleus may, if necessary, be equalised by exchanging the frames on which the bees are clustering. One advantage possessed by these little swarms is that they do not require combs of honey or sealed brood, but may be hived on foundation. If this is done, feeding should commence the first evening.
A prime swarm, that is, one accompanied by a fertile queen, cannot be treated in this way. The bees have an intense affection for their old queen, and as soon as they discover that they have lost her they become frenzied and will kill any virgin that may be substituted, though after a while they will accept queen-cells.
**Boying Bees to Make Nuclei.** -- Sometimes one has queens ready but no bees for making the nuclei. It is then worth while to buy bees from an apiary situated two or more miles away. If they are shaken off their combs and so caused to rush about and emit the alluring scent, are supplied with plenty of food and are confined pretty closely for four or six hours, they will accept two-day-old virgins even if they have come from colonies containing fertile queens.
**Fertilisation of the Queen.** -- On the fifth day after she has emerged, the queen, provided the weather is favourable, takes short flights between the hours of ir a.m. and 3 p.m., thus accustoming herself to return to the hive and she is followed, at first hesitatingly, but later with more easeness, by the drones which are then flying in numbers. Her flights are continued on the next day, when they usually culminate in the marriage flight, which lasts about ten or fifteen minutes.
On this occasion, if the drones are plentiful, the queen is closely followed by a crowd of ardent suitors. The excitement brings more drones, probably attracted by scent emitted by the others, and the air grows thick with them. A comet-like flock of drones is formed with the queen in the nucleus, and it darts about in an erratic manner, assuming all kinds of strange shapes. One of the swiftest and strongest of the drones succeeds in seizing the queen and he flies away with her. When the two separate the drone's organs are torn from him and their torn ends usually protrude from the frequently gaping anus of the queen for some hours. The queen is generally rather exhausted after the ardcal and may alight on a leaf of a tree or a blade of grass to rest and recuperate. Should a dark cloud now happen to obscure the sun and a chilly wind spring up she may become beumbed and never reach home. Having recovered somewhat, she takes wing and flies off to the hive. Here the bees may already be beginning to show signs of alarm at her long absence, working themselves up into a state of excitement, running in and out of the entrance humming and emitting the alluring scent and also taking short flights. The unwonted stir helps to guide the queen to the hive. She hovers about for a few seconds among the excited bees, and then, having assured herself that the hive is her own, she makes a dash for the entrance and, without carrying, hurries inside.
The first few hours after fertilisation are a critical period in the life of the queen. She is restless and the workers are excited and seem uncertain how to treat her. The remains of the drone organs which hang as an appendage from her tail seem to irritate them, and they follow her and try to catch hold of it. They may even show hostility to the queen herself, and in extreme cases, which occur chiefly in late summer when food is getting scarce and robbers are inclined to be troublesome, they will actually ball her and even sting her. Sometimes the stings prove fatal, but more often they cause paralysis of one or more of the legs. If it is one of the hind legs that is paralysed the queen is useless and should be killed, but if it is one of the middle or fore legs, she will not be any the worse and the paralysed leg will in time wither and drop off. When the queen is being attacked there is generally a good deal of running out and flying about the entrance, and should this be noticed it is best to open the hive and place the queen in a candy introducing cage (see page 47) with the tin slide drawn so that the bees can liberate her in about 24 hours by eating away the candy. Similar symptoms are shown if the queen is lost.
The appendage, if present, dries up and disappears, the abdomen swells, and on the second day after mating provided honey is coming in and it is not too late in the season, the queen begins laying. A queen mated in September may not begin laying for a week or more, or even until the spring, but one can generally coax her to lay by making the colony stronger by uniting and by regular feeding.
For a queen to get mated as early as the sixth or seventh day after emerging from the cell, the temperature must approach or exceed \(\gamma\)o degrees, there must be little or no wind, and unless it is very warm, the sun must be shining without much intermission. This combination of weather conditions is rare in many parts of Britain, and consequently the majority of queens are not mated until about nine or ten days after emerging, when it seems they venture to take flight in less favourable weather and also are more attractive to the drones. But I have never known a queen to get mated on a day on which the temperature between ii a.m. and 3 p.m. was less than 62 degrees, and mating has only taken place at this temperature when the air was perfectly still and sunshine bright and continuous.* When the British Isles are under the influence of depressions advancing from the Atlantic in quick succession, weather sufficiently good for mating may not come for two or three weeks, especially in the north and west and exposed places on the south coast; while on the east coast several days' delay is often caused by a cool anticyclonic breeze from the North Sea.
Footnote *: These data are for British Goldens. Whether British Black queens would be hardier I cannot say.
Abundance of drones and a good honey flow also favour quick mating, but many cases of failure to get mated that are ascribed to lack of drones are really due to insufficiently favourable weather conditions for, when the weather is perfect, drones will discover queens at a great distance from their hives. When, however, drones are scarce, as in April and September, the weather must be very fine indeed to ensure mating.
The workers grow to dislike a queen that flies out day after day without succeeding in getting fertilised, a state of affairs that takes place during a spell of weather that approaches, but does not quite reach, the standard requisite for mating, and they are very likely to pull her about and to tear her already weather-beaten wings, ultimately damaging them to such an extent that she can fly no more, and then they often kill her and turn her out. It is better that the weather, while kind, should be too lad for her to fly. But she cannot wait inde-finitely; for, if she fails to get fertilised within a certain period, she will commence to lay eggs which will produce drones only, and she will lay no others during the rest of her life.
**Drone-Breeding Queens.--**The age at which a queen is too old to get fertilised has been state! by several authors to be usually twenty-two days, but Berlepsch and Dizerzon are quoted by Cowan ("The Honey-Bee," 2nd Edition, page 141) as having occasionally found a queen to get fertilised at thirty days old, and in one case at forty-seven days. Several of my British Golden queens have failed to get fertilised within three weeks after hatching and have then, the weather improving, met the drone and become properly impregnated.
**A British Golden that emerged on July 19, 1912, when killed and examined on August 28, after forty days of continuous bad weather, was found to be unfertilised, but full of eggs, some large enough to be laid.**
**To make a** _post mortem_ **examination of a queen for the purpose of ascertaining whether she has been fertilised or not requires no technical skill nor special instruments. Carefully tear apart the abdomen near the tip with the thumb-nail, then squeeze or drag out of the severed portion on to the finger the internal organs, taking care not to crush them. Amongst them will be found a firm globular body about r-24-in, in diameter, and of a silvery colour. This is the spermatheca, or vessel for containing the millions of spermatozoa supplied by the drone. The silveriness is due to a network of trachee which can easily be rubbed off, leaving the spermatheca, which, if the queen is unfertilised, is filled with a perfectly clear fluid and is as transparent as a drop of water ; but, if the queen has been fertilised, is cloudy, being filled with countless spermatazoa, which, under the microscope, are seen to be in motion, reminding one of a field of barley in the ear waving in a breeze.**
**In a considerable number of drone-breeding queens that I have killed and examined it was found that the spermatheca contained spermatazoa, but it was often less densely packed with them than in a normal fertile queen. Such queens may produce drones only or, more often, a mixture of drones and workers. The recovery of queens producing a mixture has been reported, but I have never kept one long enough to confirm this. It is evident that when the spermatozoa are very deficient in numbers, recovery will not be permanent. The only way to tell for certain whether a queenis a drone-breeder or not is to wait until the brood is sealed over. If the sealing of the cells is flat they contain worker brood, but if it is convex they contain drone brood.
Drone brood in worker cells is also produced by fertile workers in the absence of a queen. When the eggs are laid irregularly, three or more being placed in some cells and none in others, it may be suspected that a fertile worker is present. With some foreign races of bees--Cyprians, for instance--workers will in time become fertile in all hives lacking a fertile queen ; but in hives of English or Italian bees fertile workers are rare.
**Management of Nuclei.**--Xuclei require regular attention. They must not be allowed to run short of food, feeding being resorted to when necessary, and continued, if need be, twice a week. During a dearth of honey feeding is valuable for stimulating the queen and drones to fly.
If the queen has got lost or injured, or has become a drone-breeder, a ripe queen-cell must be given in her place as soon as possible. A frame of sealed brood from a nucleus that can spare it should be given to keep up the population. About half-an-hour after a queen gets lost the bees become more or less excited and restless. They start humming, and a few will run or fly out of the entrance and back again. The same symptoms are shown when the queen is balled, and also occasionally, when nothing is wrong. If the hive is rapped or examined the humming develops into a roar. For several days after the queen is lost this roaring may be induced by rapping or examining. A nucleus that does not roar in the least when examined is sure to contain a queen or occupied queen-cells.
When the honey-flow begins to decline special precautions have to be taken to guard against robbing. These consist in :--
(r) Keeping the entrances of the nuclei small--pieces of section may be tacked over them to reduce their size to tin, by fin.
(r) Maintaining in each nucleus a sufficient population of bees between the ages of one and three weeks. This is best done by the supply of sealed brood in good time. Very young bees are powerless against robbers and old bees are little better.
(3) Opening the hive as a rule only in the evening during the hour or two preceding sunset. Robbers quickly learn to follow the smoker and will bounce down on a nucleus directly it is opened, and having once gained an entrance, other bees from the robbing hive or hives will soon join them, but darkness puts a stop to their depredations.
Feeding is best done at dusk. In America soft candy is sometimes used instead of syrup, because it causes less excitement. Fresh nuclei should not be formed when the honey-flow is declining or over. Prospectors are sure to be provling about then, and they are wonderfully quick in discovering a newly-formed nucleus, which, having no spirit to resist, will be completely overcome in two or three hours by the host of robbers which in a trice follow on the heels of the innocent-looking discoverers. Of course, no honey or syrup should be dropped about the apiary, and the door of the honey-house should be kept strictly closed at all times. A solar wax extractor is not desirable in a queen- rearing apiary : the smell of the wax arouses the robbing instinct. Robbers make robbers, and it is much better and easier to prevent the vice beginning than to try to cure it.
The nuclei should be examined at least every tenth day. Examinations should not take place in windy weather, for this may induce balling, and consequently the maiming or killing of queens. The combs, when being examined, should be held over the open hive, so that, if the queen drops off, she will not be lost. A card for notes should be tacked on the underside of the roof of each nucleus hive. On this should be written with an ordinary lead pencil at the time the queen or queen-cell was given, her parentage and the date of emergence, and subsequently every event of importance--for instance, the estimated date at which laying commenced and, if the queen is kept long enough, the colour of the workers she produces, and finally the date she is removed, this being followed by a line drawn across the card.
The queen should not be removed until most of her eggs have hatched, or many of these will perhaps be destroyed. If she can be left in the hive a few days longer, all the better. When she is taken away, a ripe queen-cell, from which the new queen is due to emerge within a day or two, is given to the nucleus in the queen-cell detector, shown in Fig. 4 and described on page 7, the date she is due to emerge and her parentage being noted on the card. I do not find it satisfactory to introduce hatched virgins to established nuclei. too many are killed.
A convenient way to mark bives that want attention is to place stones on them. In Ripple Court Apiary one stone signifies that the hive should be examined again in two or three days, while two stones indicates queenlessness.
At the end of the season the three nuclei in each hive are united to form one strong colony. I have, however, found no difficulty in wintering a nucleus on three full-sized combs in the mild climate of Dover, provided it is strong and the combs are full of stores. But only two nuclei should be wintered under one roof, for they keep one another warm better than three.
When uniting nuclei at the end of the season it is very important--in the case of hybrids at least--to see that the combs are fairly full of stores. If they are not, the queen is very likely to be killed. This catastrophe can, however, be prevented by caging her for three days and feeding the colony heavily. I always cage the queen when uniting, not liberating her for three days, and then the uniting can be done as soon as the surplus queens are removed.