The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1897-02-05
nenex Bem.

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Ess Monsy Bees.
The queen honey bee il the mother
"a the swarm Of colony, writes q. WI
lemaree IN Rural World. The number
= bees in 1 colony varies according
;to the time Of year. In the height OF
ne breeding season, say in the month
~ June. . large colony Of bees may con-
sa1n nifty. and even sixty thousand
" Workers.. the, progeny Of one mother
Dee' called tho queen. In the swarm
ans season q strong queen in her prime
VIII lay from two to three thousand
eggs in twenty-four hours. AS IN
credible az II may look to the uniniti-
ated very prolific queen can lay her
own weight in eggs in day. The sex
"a pee economy is the same as in other
ANIMALS, there is no such thing as
"neuters" among bees. The queen
lays best two kinds Of eggs, male and
female. The worker bees are unde-
vcloped females and the drones are the
males. The queen is highly developed
female. She 10 reared in q cell one
tnird OF an inch in diameter, and is
mighty fed on royal jelly" while in
the larval state: on the sixteenth day
from the laying Of the egg, she emer-
ges from her cell q queen indeed.
When i've to seven days old she takes
her first flight into the open air in
search Of a mate. On the first day Of
ner bridal trip she may take two
Nights. and DO absent two to five min
utes each time. On the following day,
II the observer will take his position
IN front Of the hive at o'clock p. M,
u Will not be long till he sees q slight
commotton at the front Of the hive:
the worker bees running excitedly
ABOUT the entrance; this warns him that
ner royal highness is making ready for
her wedding tour. On the previous
day her flights were in circles. her
mead all the while turned toward her
domicile. but now she appears finely
minated and bravely dashes into space.
A4e observer keeps his eyes on her
III she passes out OF sight, with watch
In hand he counts the minutes. It ten
or twelve minutes expire and she de-
lays her coming, it may prove her
last trip. though she may return once
or twice in less time. On her final trip
she will be absent from Is to % min
utes. and when she returns to the evil
dent Joy Of the bees who watch for her
return. she brings with her the visible
evidence Of having mated" From
that day she never leaves the hive. ex-
cept to go out with a swarm, though
she may live and deposit eggs, two,
three or four years. I owned one
queen Of the Italian race, a daughter
OF queen imported from Italy, that
lived four years and two months. I
clipped one Of her pairs of wings, SO
THAT I could identify her. now clip
all my queens. This is done to prevent
thP swarms DESERVING at swarming
ti1e. The worker bees is produced
from the egg in 81 days. It requires
three. days for the egg to hatch into a
minute larva (worm). The larva state
lasts about seven days, when the cell
Is iealed over by the nurse bees; then
follows the chrysalis or nymph state
the greatest Of all mysteries in insect
feand this is followed by the per-
feet imago-the worker bee. The drone
is produced IN his season, in % days
from the laying Of the egg. Queen bees
live on the average about two and one
half years. Worker bees in the work.
ing season, live about 60 days. but in
| n kotA ~ no In xu31HfnYs
quarters. the workers may survive six
months, and in some cases longer. It
is more difficult to ascertain the ma
tural life of the drones or male bees, as
the workers will not tolerate them af-
ter the swarming season is past. But
I have kept them in Queenless colonies,
and found that they will live two or
three months. It could never be
known to certainty, how long bees
live under natural conditions. until
bees differing in color from our COM
mon black or brown bees were import
ed to this country. and the art of in
PRODUCING one queen in the place of
another was discovered. If we capture
and remove the queen from a colony
of black bees and introduce queen Of
one of the yellow varieties-Italian,
Cyprian or Syrian-in her place, it will
be found that the colony will be
changed to colony of yellow bees in
about two months from the time the
last of the progeny Of the black queen
matches out. nearly all the black bees
will die in that interval Of time.
The Sheep Tick.
Everyone who has sheep knows the
tick, the worst pest of this animal.