QUEEN-REARING—DOES IT PAY?

Otago Witness, Issue 3400, 14 May 1919, Page 9

QUEEN-REARING—DOES IT PAY?

PERHAPS NOT IN DOLLARS, BUT IN ACQUIREMENT OF BEE LORE IT DOES. Since no method has yet been discovered whereby nectar can bo gathered aud converted into honey by machinery, man has concluded that the life and prosperity of a hive depend upon a virile and protected motherhood. Otherwise, worker bees, which already are carrying pollen and nectar in loads many times their own weight, making wax, building cells, nursing younger sister bees, and doing military duty, would no doubt bo spending their odd moments in reproducing the species. Artificial queen-rearing, like other stock-' raising pursuits, is only another version of making two blades of grass grow where only one grow before, with the additional object of improving the stock by breeding only from the finest strains. ■ Therefore, when the new firm of beekeepers became established, an Italian breeding queen was purchased from which to requeen the apiary and to provide queens for prospective new colonies.

Of the 415 cells grafted, 109 were capped or accepted. Of these, 20 failed to hatch, and were found, - fully developed, dead in the cells. Of the 89 that did hatch, only 36, less than half, mated and began laying. The other 53 virgins were lost, presumably on their nuptial flights, the majority probably being ambuscaded en route by yellowjackets, which increased to an army more and more formidable as the season advanced. The voracious insects became a pest in dwelling-houses, and a menace even to pot animals—dogs and cats often being deprived of their rations by a sudden visitation of the yellow peril, which, without a by-your-loave, would swarm over the food and carry off the meaty portions. Against such an enemy the virgin queen is defenceless —six veteran bees, according- to the observations of a statistically-inclined beekeeper, being required to vanquish one yellow-jacket. Tho beekeepers of England, especially near London, are said by those familiar with apiculture in that country, to suffer greatly from losses caused by the yellow-jacket-pest. A towil of- 36 queens, although a small result for a season s work, and only 33 1-3 per cent, of the 109 cells capped, and 8 per cent, of tho total number of cells grafted, was still a sufficient number to requeen their small apiary, had not fresh disasters, not mentioned in the books, befallen them. At the end of the season, artificially-reared queens in hives and nuclei numbered only 28, the other eight queens having met their death during the delicate operations of casing and introduction; two died in cages, together with, their attendants, while in transit from nuclei to their permanent homes in regular hiyes. An inquest was held. "Sunstroke", was the verdict, based on the expert testimony of a beeman who learned that the cages had been exposed to the" sun during the short time necessary to open the hives and spread the frames preparatory to introducing the queens. There being no .other logical explanation, the verdict was accepted. But the same expert had nothing definite to offer when a beautiful golden queen was found lying dead in front of a hive two days after introduction. He said that bees would sometimes release a queen by eating through tho candy, and then execute her; but he could offer no satisfactory explanation for such conduct. A few days later another ciueen met the same fate, and the hive was finally requeened only by giving to it' a frame of brood from which the colony produced a queen more to their likiieginners are more or less prepared by reading for the eccentricities of royalty. "The books say" that young queens often return to the wrong hives after their mat-ing-flights, and that others are nervous and restless when the hive is opened for inspection; but no account of a queen emerging from a hive at one end of a row find returning to the hive at the extreme other end, as the first young queen did, has ever been noted in literature. There were 19 hives iii a row. In hive No. 1 the queen was due to begin laying, and the frames were inspected for eggs. None was found, and a diligent search failed to locate the queen. In hive No. 19, queen-cells had been placed only a few days before. These were intact, although a fine mature Italian queen was in full possession of the hive. All our other hives, with the exception of No. 1, being either queenright or supplied with cells not yet ripe for hatching, it was evKlent that the queen on her nuptial flight remembered that her hive was situated at the end of the row, but had neglected to make a memorandum as to which end of tho row it stood. Matters were evened up by removing from hive No. 19 the frame of brood containing the queen-cells to hive No. 1, left queenless because of its young queen's defective bump of location. A"-ain, the books say that a queen begins to lay in from five to 10 days after mating, and that, if delaved beyond that time, she is likely to become a drone-layer. I his particular queen waited three weeks. ,She then filled her hive in an amazingly short time, and following a second call to adventure, swarmed out in August, three months after *he was discovered to be in the wrong hive. Unfortunately the swarm was lost, and with it tho closing chapter of the queen s life history. . The history of hive No. 1 was no less turbulent. Tho bees would have none of th.> strange queen-cells from. No. 19_, but proceeded against them with systematic destruction. When the lower part of one of the cells (the part next the comb) was eaten away, a worker bee was seen to sting the exposed abdomen of a virgin queen which was struggling to free herself, but whoso head was still imprisoned in the unbroken tip of the cell. We then introduced cells in wire protectors, but in each instance the queen would mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, laying workers developed. Tho frames containing the brood wero judiciously distributed among the strong colonies of the apiary, on the theory that the laying workers would remain with the brood, and so be overpowered by the bees in the stronger colony in which they were nlaced. After a three-months' struggle the hive was successfully queened. Three cases of balling were experienced. One queen managed to disentangle herself; and, tho cover being off tho hive, she flew away. Whether or not it was her nuptial flight it not known. At any rate, _on the next visit she had returned to the hive, and eventually became the mother of a large colony. The two other queens were rescued and placed in nuclei (by introducing in the usual manner) in order that they might have every chanco of recovery. One died, and tho other degenerated into a dronelayer.

Estimated strictly in terms of dollars and cents, no one could possibly figure a profit on the firm's first season in queen-rearing.

Tho hard-headed business man would say to a beginner, "Buy tested queens from a reliable breeder, and savo money and time." But tho new firm is neither hard-headed nor business-like. Indeed, the individuals who compose it have scaroely enough sand between them to dethrone a reigning queen, no matter how black or otherwise undesirable she may be, to make room for one of their own new queens.

As to business, however, the ambition of the firm to master the technicalities of beekeeping outweighs even the very human dosire for immediate monetary returns; and for one who would learn quickly the handling of frames, the control of strong colonies, the wonder of their busy existence, tho habits and the intimate family life of the boo artificial queen-rearing is the shortest and surest route. —C. D. Stuaet, in G-leaning 3.