Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1897-03-18
Honey Bees.

OF the swarm or colony, writes @ w
Demaree in Rural World. The numb!
OF bees in colony varies accordiu,
to the time of year. In the height \
the breeding season, say in the month
VI June, large colony of bees may con-
tain fifty, and even sixty thousapa
workers, the progeny of one motbei
bee, called the queen. In the swarm.
ing season a strong queen in her prims
Will lay from two to three thousand
eggs in twcntyfour hours. As in.
credible az It may look to the unini,i.
ated very prolific queen can lay he,
own weight in eggs in a day. The s.,
in bee economy is the same as in othe,
animals, there is no such thing a.
"neuters" among bees. The queen
lays best two kinds of eggs, male and
female. The worker bees are upaa
vcloped females and the drones are ,bs
males. The queen is highly developed
female. She is reared in a cell ono.
third OF an inch in diameter. and i.
highly fed on royal jelly" while In
the laryal state; on the sixteenth dav
from the laying of the egg, she emer.
ges from her cell a queen indeed
When five to seven days old she takes
her first fight into the open air in
search OF mate. On the first day Of
her bridal trip she may take two
flights, and he absent two to five min.
utes each time. On the following day
If the observer will take his position
in front of the hive at l o'clock D, M
1t will not be long till he sees slight
commOtion at the front of the hive
the worker bees running excitedly
about the entrance; this warns him that
her royal highness is making ready for
her wedding tour. On the previous
day her flights were in circles, her
head all the while turned toward her
domicile. but now she appears finely
inflated and bravely dashes into space.
The observer keeps his eyes on her
till she passes out Of sight, with watch
in hand he counts the minutes. II ten
or twelve minutes expire and she de.
lays her coming, 1t may prove he,
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 evi.
dent JOY Of the bees who watch for be,
return, she brings with her the visible
evidence Of having mated" From
that day she never leaves the hive, ex
cept to 60 out with swarm, thougl
she may live and deposit eggs two
three or four years. l owned on
queen Of the Italian race, daughte
of a queen imported from Italy, tina
lived four years and two months.
clipped one of her pairs of wings, 8
that I could identify her. I now eli
all my queens. This is done to proven
the swarms DESERVING at swarmin
time. The worker bees is produce
from the egg in 81 days. 1t require
three days for the egg to hatch into
minute larva (worm). The larva sta
lasts about seven days, when the &c
is sealed over by the nurse bees the
follows the chrysalis or nymph state
the greatest Of all mysteries in inse
life-and this Is followed by the pc
) feet imago-the worker bee. The drol
. is produced in his season. in % da'
from the laying of the egg. Queen be
live on the average about two and on
] half years. Worker bees in the wor
9 ing season, live about 60 days. but
: a state of rest, as when in whit
s quarters, the workers may survive
s months, and in some cases longer.
is more difficult to ascertain the .
n tural life of the drones or male bees,
t the workers will not tolerate them
ter the swarming season is past. b
d have kept them in Queenless coloni
a and found that they will live two
8 three months. It could never
@ known to a certainty, how long b.
It live under natural conditions, un
Il bees differing in color from ouc co
h mon black or brown bees were impo
q ed to this country. and the art Of
l. PRODUCING one queen in the place
, another was discovered. If we capt.
q and remove the queen from a colo
4 Of black bees and introduce a queen
10 one Of the yellow varieties-Itali
a Cyprian or Syrian-in her place, it
70 be found that the colony will
~ changed to a colony of yellow bees
/ about two months from the time
r. last of the progeny of the black gu
10 matches out, nearly all the black b
will die in that interval of time.