BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Now going back to our subject, how queens are reared, in three days after the egg is laid, the temperature the bees keep in the hive, and the attention given it, will hatch it, when it will be a tiny larva. At once the nurse-bees deposit around and over this tiny bee the richest and most thoroughly digested food possible, which food is called royal jelly. The nurse-bees continue to deposit this rich food on the larva, and it continues to lavish itself on it, and in about three days the bees will begin to enlarge the cell, and they will continue enlarging it and feeding the larva for about three days more, or six days from the time the egg was hatched. By this time the larva has developed wonderfully, and is lying in a mass of this rich food; and a wax cell as large as the smallest finger on an adult's hand, and half as long, has been built out from the comb, extending downward and capped over their future mother. Now the queen enters her larval state in her cell, and continues thus for about ten days; but let us look at this cell for a moment, which shows that the bees have built in with great care, and that it contains something that they prize greatly. The instinct of the bees has guided them in this work, and they have done the best they could, and did what man can not do for them; but he can assist them in this very important work, so that they will raise as fine a mother as possible (see "queen-rearing").
Now, at the end of the ten days, or about sixteen days after the egg is hatched, the young queen will gnaw her way out of the cell; but the bees generally thin the cell down at the end so the queen can easily gnaw out. The first four or six days after the young queen emerges from her cell she will remain in the hive or the comb, crawling about over the interior of the hive. At the end of this time during the middle of a warm sunny day, she will be seen on the alighting-board, then she will be seen out flying around the hive in a circling manner, then back into it again; but in a short time she will take another flight; and after she has taken several of these short flights she will disappear in the element, and during this flight she is encountered by a drone (the male bee), and returns to the hive, and is never again encountered by the drone, though she lays thousands and thousands of eggs, and never again leaves her hive unless it is to go out with a swarm of bees.
In six or eight days after she returns to the hive from her mating-tour she will begin to lay and keep up her colony of bees. While she is subject to death at any time, she may live to be the mother of the colony for four or six years.
Though there is plenty of honey in the cells which the queen crawls over, yet she is mostly fed by her daughters. Especially is this true during a honey-flow or when the bees are breeding fast or rearing young bees rapidly. They will keep her fed up to the highest egg-laying point possible. It seems that worker-bees can not show their affection for their mother enough. As she crawls around over the comb they move out of her way and give her passing room; and as soon as she halts to rest, one more will offer her food, and others will gather up around her in a loving manner, giving her loving touches and strokes.
Queen and Retinue
The queen is the only perfect female bee in the hive. The large amount of rich food which is deposited around her, and which she consumes while in the cell, develops her ovaries, and therefore she is a perfectly developed bee.
We will next consider the worker-bee, or the bees which gather all the honey, build all the comb, carry in all the pollen and water, feed all the young, and perform all the work about the colony except the egg-laying, which the queen does.
Worker-bees are reared in the smaller size of cells on the comb; but before the queen lays eggs in them they are cleaned out and polished by the bees; then the queen, making trips over the comb, looking for cells to deposit her eggs in, finds them thus made ready for her, when she deposits eggs in them. In three days the eggs are hatched, and for the next three days the tiny larva is fed as they would feed one to develop a queen; but at the end of three days they change the food of the larva and give it much coarser diet (a milky-looking substance), then feed it on this food for three days more. As it lies coiled up in the bottom of the cell, the nurse-bees are constantly depositing food around it, and on the sixth day after the egg hatches the cell is capped over, and soon the larva uncoils itself and eats up all its food, then begins to spin its cocoon about as other insects do. In about 24 hours this task is performed, and it is incased in its silken home. Then it varnishes it, and turns its head toward the capped end of the cell. Now the larva is in its pupal state, during which time the legs, wings, etc., are formed and colored; then in about six days the pupal skin will become loose, and be cast to the bottom of the cell, and then the worker-bee is developed and begins to move about in the cell, and soon acquires strength enough to gnaw its way out. In about 21 days from the time the queen deposits the egg the worker emerges from the cell; and as soon as it does, by the use of its legs it frees itself of the particles of pupal skin, which may be yet clinging to it; and during the time it is moving about on the comb it thrusts its head down into the cells, eating, and feeding the young larvae. Thus it goes from cell to cell, giving nourishment to the younger, for about eight or ten days; then it changes from a nurse-bee to a field-bee; and if there is any pollen or honey in the field it will wear its life out in a few days. Honeygathering is perhaps the highest work a worker-bee aspires to; and when it begins this work its energies are excited beyond its physical power to save as much honey as possible to tide them over in the future. In a few days it may be found dead in a blossom or under a tree where it was gathering honey or pollen, or in the forest or field over which it was flying, or on the ground in front of its hive in which it died, or give away under its heavy load of work, and it is dragged out by its sisters and dropped on the ground to die; or it may be overtaken by some of its enemies and killed.
The average life of a worker-bee is estimated at 60 days from the time it hatches frcm the egg. If it is raised late, in the fall, or during winter, it will live longer, or over the winter, perhaps. But if it is raised during the honey-flow, or the bees' busy season, it will live less than 60 days.
The worker-bee is an imperfect bee because its sisters change its diet when it is about three days old, and give it such food as will not develop it to a perfect bee.
We will next consider the drone, which is the largest bee in the hive, and possesses no sting. It is known everywhere and by nearly every person as an idler, loafer, or a lazy bee. But he is the male bee, and by no means a worthless one, but the only purpose of his existence is to fertilize the queen; and in performing this act he imparts his life to the queen and instantly dies, so it is said.
The drones are raised in larger cells than the workers. They can be easily detected by examining the comb of a colony of bees, for the cells are much larger. The comb containing these large cells is called drone comb. The drone is raised about as the workers are; but he is in the cell about three or, four days longer, or about 24 days from the time the queen deposits the egg in the cell; and, as previously explained, the egg that produces a drone is an unfertil one; consequently the drone has only one parent--a_mother --but no father.
Drones are raised only during the spring months and summer, when bees are spreading their brood rapidly, and when they are expected to be needed to fertilize queens.
Drones have a very easy existence. They stay in the hive and eat honey when they feel like it; then when it is uncomfortable in the hive they leave it and sail around in the cool air and return when they feel disposed to do so. Then during winter or cold weather, if there are any drones in a hive they will be found about the middle of the cluster, where they will be sure to keep warm; so it is the nature of the drones to keep comfortable, have plenty to eat, and do nothing. Then, too, the drones are the only bees which have the privilege of going into any hive they wish in the apiary, and go from hive to hive if they desire; but they are apt to stay where they are given the best reception; but, unfortunately, his days are numbered; for as soon as the bees decide not to swarm, and that drones will not be needed, the workers will turn their vengeance upon them, and soon the colonies are about rid of them. The bees do not kill many of them, but they pull them out of the hives and torment them by pulling them around by the wings, and continue to hold to them, even after the drones consent to leave, and are often on the ground near the hive. Sometimes these drones will collect in great numbers in the weak and helpless colonies, and especially those which are queenless, and soon eat up their honey. But this is not a common occurrence; for I believe that, when drones are not wanted, they will wander off and die; for it seems to be the instinct of the bee to do this, for the workers, as soon as they realize that they are of no more service to the colony, will leave it to die. I have seen many of them drop from the cluster, and crawl to the edge of the alighting-board, then drop on the ground and die, wandering, may be, a few feet from the hive, but never making any effort to return to it.
There is a worthless bee of no importance, and a hindrance to its race, which we will consider under "Queen-Rearing."
RACES OF BEES.
THEIRGO AND BAD QUALITIES.
Better stock for our apiaries has not been considered enough in the South. There have been too many empty or light hives on hand at robbing-time to expect great progress in the bee and honey industry. There have also been too many poor honey years for it to take a rise. Locations have too often been considered poor for bees. Honey-plants have been abused for not secreting honey. The forest has been cleared too much to keep bees successfully, etc. Everything has been brought up against bee-keeping except the scrubby stock of bees that are most commonly found in our apiaries.
Now, dear reader, right here is where the trouble lies in bee culture in the South. The run-down race of bees has been tolerated too long. Conditions would have been much better if even this race of bees had been looked after; and as soon as this is done you will see progressive apiaries appear all over the Southland.
## Black Bres.
The black or German bees are the most common ones found in the South, and there are two varieties of them. One has a brownish waist, and short dubby abdomen. Another variety is black, and has a longer and smaller abdomen. We will first consider the brown variety, as it is most common. They are gentle where they receive constant attention, and are very good honey-gatherers when they receive culture and there is plenty of honey in the fields; but they will not exert themselves to get it when it is not plentiful, or the honey-plants are yielding sparingly. In most sections in the South we have a long slow honey-flow during summer and fall, and they will live in a hand-to-mouth manner during this time, and will store very little if any surplus honey. Therefore they die heavily, during fall, winter, and spring. They have two good qualities. One is that they are good comb-builders, and cap their honey beautifully white; and their other good quality is that they can be easily built up to a non-swarming point, and a large comb-honey business established and easily operated.
The queen of the brown bees, even when they are raised under the most favorable conditions, are not very prolific, and for this reason they can easily be brought up to the non-swarming point.
We will next consider the black bees, which are not as common as they were many years ago when the South was mostly a forest. They are very spiteful and furious stingers--so much so that brimstone has almost exterminated them in many sections. They seem to be a wild race of bees and love the forest, and are too spiteful to be cultivated to any great extent, and so are considered the uncultivated race of bees.
I have noticed that comb built by them sometimes has cells not uniform in size, and that many of the workers are very small and uneven in size. Perhaps they are no more prolific than the brown strain, and on account of their spitefulness will never receive much cultivation.
The queens of the German bees do not lay as many eggs as queens of more prolific varieties do; and especially is this true after spring at the close of the first honey-flow. They seem almost to stop egg-laying, and do not get it to its height again before the following spring, and therefore there is not much honey saved during the summer and fall honey-flows.
## Italian Bres.
The Italian bees are the next most common race here, and there are several varieties of them--five-banded, three-banded, golden, and leather-colored Italians, etc. They are better known as yellow bees, because they have yellow bands around their abdomens. The queens of this race are very prolific. They will continue to spread their brood, and keep egg-laying at a high pitch from flow to flow, or the entire season for bees to work, and will store a surplus of honey during summer and fall, and go into winter quarters strong and in good condition.
The different varieties of Italian bees are about alike as honey-gathers; but they are all hard to get to work in comb-honey supers, while the blacks will easily enter them, and many times will store nearly all their honey in them, so they will have to be fed soon after the honey-flow if the honey is all removed from the supers. The Italians, being very prolific, will swarm before they will enter the supers. Their swarming is hard to control, and will give the extensive comb-honey producer a lot of trouble in this respect. Then, too, most varieties of them are poor comb-builders, and cap the honey flat, or down on it in the cells, which gives it a watery appearance, and?spoils its looks; and they do not attach the comb well to the sections, especially at the bottom, and will pull the honey too far away from the sections, and build it thin at the bottom, and thereby make too many light-weight sections.
The golden and five-banded Italians are worse in these respects than the other varieties. The three-banded and leather-colored Italians, or the darker strains of them, give better satisfaction in the production of comb honey. The Italian bees are very gentle where they are kept pure, are great honey-gatherers, and large crops of chunk or extracted honey can be secured by them.
The Italian bees have another failing. In their haste to gather and store honey, they cap the poorer grades too soon, and do not evaporate or ripen it enough, or quit it before they have done enough to it; consequently it soon sours, or ferments, in the comb, and is unwholesome; but they'will secure or keep good grades of honey as well as any bees.
Honey will granulate, but will not sour if the bees give it proper care or keep it spread out in the comb until it is thoroughly evaporated. In many sections of the South we have a flow of this honey during summer or fall, which requires more evaporating than other honey.
## 7.1. Carnian Bres.
The queens of this race of bees are very prolific, and their workers are gentle and great honey-gatherers, and they cap their honey beautifully white. They are good comb-builders, and in other respects are about like the Italians.
## 7.2. Caucasian Bexs.
This is a new variety of bees which of late years has been imported into the United States by the Government. Their queens are very prolific, and their workers are very gentle and great honey-gatherers. They have a very compact brood-nest, and are still and quiet on the comb while they are being handled; and it is a pleasure to handle them, as they do not sting, run, fly, and boil out of their hives as some other races do. They are great comb-builders, and cap their honey snow-white, making it a fancy article in appearance. They are also great cell-builders. A strong colony will build from 20 to 40 large cells containing queens well developed. This is one thing to their credit. showing that they are a very prolific race, are easily kept up, and better for slipshod bee-keeping than some other races of bees. They not only behave themselves well in and around the hives, but around the apiary, even while they are being molested.
The Caucasian bees will come as near gathering honey every day in the year as any bees, and at the same time they will keep it spread out in the comb uncapped longer than any other bees I have ever had any experience with; and even the poor grades of honey are thus made wholesome. But being very prolific they are great swarmers, and hard to control in this respect. Their only failing is that they will carry into their hives a lot of propolis or bee-glue in the fall of the year if there is no honey-flow on.
## Hybrid Bees
These are crosses between races of bees which sometimes make a great improvement in the honey-bee, combining the good qualities of two races in one; but generally these crosses are too cross, and it is considered best to keep stock as nearly pure as possible. The crosses between blacks and Italians show great improvement in the prolificness of the blacks; but at the same time they are very spiteful and unpleasant to handle. Crosses between blacks and Caucasians remain gentle and pleasant to handle, and show a great improvement in the blacks. While the Caucasians possess all the good qualities of the blacks, and are, besides, very prolific, it would not pay to mix the two races; but if it were done it would also be a desirable strain of bees. A cross between Italians and Caucasians makes good workers but very furious singers--so much so that they are not desirable bees.
If any reader is not satisfied with his race of bees, and is not getting returns from them he should, the above may help him to select a better race.
There are other races and strains of bees, but not common in the South.
## Bee Culture
We will begin bee culture from a bare swarm of bees which has just issued, and settled on some object about the apiary. Now, the aim of this swarm is good, for they propose to go into some crevice or hollow place, and there establish for themselves a permanent abidding-place and be rich in honey, and also send out, other swarms to other places, and thereby continue the existence of their race. But they are subject to failure. Why? Because they are dependent on man for culture and weather for progress, which I wish to prove. As soon as this clustered swarm of bees is hived in a good box, log gum, box hive, a neat modern hive, or reaches its future abiding-place in a crevice or hollow in a tree in the forest, the bees will at once begin to build comb from the top of the hollow or some other seemingly good place to them, or in the top of the hive, should they be hived, and store their honey and rear their young. As they build the comb downward they will form what bee-keepers call a brood-nest, which will be about the center of the mass of comb when it is completed. This central portion of the comb called the brood-nest will be occupied by the queen and the nurse-bees in rearing the young. In the comb around this they will store the honey upon which they live. Now the colony of bees is established in its new quarters, but not permanently, unless man comes to their assistance. At the time this swarm issued from their parent colony there was a honey-flow on, and prosperity was smiling upon them with a great glare, and even the weather conditions seemed favorable to their progress; but soon after they are in their new quarters, weather conditions may change, the wind, cold, or rain may drive them in from their pasture where they are gathering honey; and by the time the weather changes in their favor the honey-plant that was yielding honey is done blooming, and they haven't enough honey saved to tide them over the honey-death until some other honey-plant begins to blossom. The result is that the once strong vigorous swarm of bees, so full of life, and destined to accomplish so much, is now on the road to destruction, and will soon reach it if men do not intervene and feed them. Should they scrimp along and not all perish until the next honey-plant came in bloom they would not be in any condition to gather honey; consequently they would die soon afterward, or be cleaned up by the bee-moth.
Suppose the weather conditions remain favorable after this swarm issues, and they save plenty of honey to tide them over any honey-death, the queen, which does all the egg-laying for the colony, is likely to die at any time; and very often, during a honey-death, she will cease egg-laying for a short time, and may die during this time, and leave the colony with no eggs or very young bees from which to rear them another mother. The colony will speedily go to destruction if man does not come to their assistance and give them another queen and some eggs or young bees from which they can rear them another queen.
If the queen does not fail in this way she may for some cause cease laying worker or fertile eggs, and lay unfertile ones; and before the bees are aware of the failure of their mother they have nothing from which to rear them another queen except unfertile eggs or young drones, which can not produce a queen. So the swarm is again at the mercy_of man.
Then, again, suppose the colony would thrive and cast a swarm. The old queen would go with it and the parent (or old) colony would be left in the care of a young queen which, on her wedding-tour during which she is mated, is lost or returns to the wrong hive and is killed by the bees. The colony has no brood or eggs; and if they are not supplied with some eggs from another colony, or a young queen is given them, they will go to nothing, and the colony will be lost. Then, again, the bees may not supersede their mother, when she is old and failing, with another queen, thinking that, may be, she will do better until they dwinddle down so low that the bee-month will destroy them unless the failure of their queen is detected and she is killed and the colony supplied with another. So there can be no question that bees need a guiding hand and culture; and if they have it, great progress will be made in the industry.