Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-03-24
BEE KEEPERS COLUMN.
How Qneen Bees are Produced.

How the Queen is produced and
what makes the difference in sex, size,
symmetry, ETC., is a queary to the no.
vice. A queen is fully developed
female, while workers, are imperfect
females, said to be without Sect They
never meet a drone, yet in the absence
of queen they will lay eggs which
produce nothing but drones. Yet they
are produced from the same eggs that
produce queen. The difference being
in the manner in which they are rear
ed. When bees decide to rear queen
they select cell which they enlarge
to two or three times its original size,
building it long so that it protrudes
from the comb from I inch to an inch,
or even more and resembles peanut
somewhat in appearance. Before it is
completed they remove an egg from
another cell and place in 1t. Some
royal jelly is also placed at the base
of the cell. This royal food at first
resembles in appearance starch, but
in few days It's color is tinged with
brown and it looks like apple jelly. This
article OF food Is prepared for the
queens alone. The egg in three or
tour days is changed to small white
worm or grub which is then called
idrUd, Latin word meaning "maskn
and is so applied when the insect is
masked or III a concealed state. The
larva feeds on the royal jelly about
five days when some of the same food
is deposited at the lower end of the
cell Which is then sealed over and the
larva left to undergo the necessary
change to form perfect queen. 1t
lies with its head to the lower
end of the cell. In seven or eight
days from the Gaping of the cell the
young queen emerges from her prison
home by cutting away he lower nd of
the cell. We have noticed that in the
States the time of appearance depended
somewhat on the condition. If the
weather was damp and cold the pro-
cess was somewhat retarded. Queens
are sometimes raised from eggs after
they have germinated. These queens
are not usually perfect as the eggs are
too far advanced to receive a sufficient
amount of royal jelly to fully mature
them, and consequently are small and
Indifferent. The size and shape of the
cell and feed unquestonably produces
the difference between the queen and
worker bee. When a colony deter
mines to rear a queen they usually
Guild from five to fifteen royal cells,
and it is generally supposed that the
first queen that emerges from her birth
place bites open the other cells and
destroys the occupants. This is not
always true, as we have often seen
from two to six come out with the
swarm. We are of the opinion that
after fertilization royal battle en-
sues and the stronger and more vigor-
Gus kills the others that may be in the
hive and is queen of all she surveys.
Two queens cannot occupy the same
hive. In this respect they are like
ladies (pardOn me) one room is insuf-
ficient for two. There have been in
stances where two queens have occu-
pied the same hive and reared brood
together, but they are very rare. A
queen is capable of laying eggs before
meeting drone. Such eggs produce
nothing but dones which must be of
the same blood of herself. Should an
italian queen meet with black drone
progeny will be hybrids, except the
drones, which are not effected by ma
ting with drone. In about three
days after queen returns from her
bridal trip. she is prolific layer; will
lay sometimes as high as 5000 eggs
per day.