The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-03-19
Freaks and EoOentrieItIes In Bees.

NV. Oemaree In American Bee Jour-
nal. The things that bees do out of the
general order of things as pertains to
thelr well settled habits, / think are
properly called freaks" Those of us
who have handled bees for years, and
observed closely their habits, know
that bees some times do things that
cannot be reconciled to the common
laws of reasoning, or instinct. Such
acts are freakish-sudden starts in
action, governed by no laws, reasona-
bic or instructive.
have seen a colony of bees virtually
attempt to commit suicide, by refusing
to accept a queen, or queen-cell, and
even refuse to nurse young brood.
Some people would be glad to say,
Maybe they were too DID," etc. But
this cannot be, for l have wintered
many queenless colony, and made
them rear a queen and nurse brood
until the hive was well stocked with
young brood ready for the main early
honey harvest.
Last summer l was walking through
my apiary and discovered some bees
hopping and crawling on the grass in
front of one of the hives. went up
closer, and found the grass for several
feet around the entrance covered with
partially paralyzed bees dragging
themselves aimlessly about. "a case
of paralysis!" exclaims the novice. No;
the cause was "balled queen" Bees
often sting each other in their scramble
to ball queen, yet, strange enough,
they do not sting the queen.
I have seen truant swarm leave
the apiaTy and go straight to hollow
tree, and have seen a swarm of bees
leave the apiary with business airs"
and pass over fields and through
dense woods straight to a bunch of
ironweeds, two miles away. I saw one
swarm of bees pass through the largest
tract of timbered land in the vicinity
of my apiary and settle on fence near
farm house, and was taken in by
! the farmer. l had a swarm of bees
| take leave of my apiary-as though it
was disguised with such quarters, go
a quarter of a mile, settle on a bush,
then break the cluster, and make &
| tie on tree.
I once saw a swarm of bees "hived"
by what may properly be called an &C,
cident (?). The swarm was Struggling
in the air against a stiff gale, and q
sudden gust of wind swept them to the
ground near the entrance of an empty
hive, and the hive acting as Sound"
| ;no boord,s ;n raCOnnsa IN tho hmm NJ
| their wings, the bees caught the sound
and hived themselves. My observations
have led me to believe that in a state
of nature more swarms of bees find
homes by the sense of hearing than In
all other ways.
/ once saw a swarm of bees in its
flight pass near the top Of large sp-
pie tree, and the rear part of the swarm
seemed to catch the sound from hole
in dead limb of the tree, and made a
rush for the hollow limb, while the
main part of the swarm was evidently
bent on going forward, but the loud
hum Mt the hole in the limb pre-
vailed, and the whole swarm attempted
to enter cavity in the limb too small
a
smoked them out and hived them.
once had a swarm of bees to refHse
to stay in any hive put them INFO.
Their craze was to locate and build
comb on the limb they first settled nn
and finally l let part of the swsIm
try the experiment. They made a liv-
ing until the honey season was over,
and then starved out.
Bees do some things so wide of the
mark of common sense that their acts
are both amusing and astounding to
a reasoning mind. The following iq an
example among many that might be
mentioned:
1 sometimes leave on the hive a case
of partially filled sections with honey.
to supplement scant winter stores in
the breeding department Of the hive
Well, in some way large grey mouse
got into one Of the cases above the
! brood nest, and its escape was cut off
| by a full brood nest of lively bees be-
low. It occurred to me that if those
bees had stopped to reflect, they might
have cleared way down through the
brood department to the entrance. and
then sent a detachment OF fierce young
"buck" bees into the super, with in
structions to shrek and yell after that
mouse until, panic-stricken, he hied his
way-hair and midtown the cleared
way to the open air, and thus summari-
ly eject him as an obstreperous tenant.
But they did no such thing. They ma