THE FECUNDITY OF QUEEN BEES.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 2502, 6 September 1890, Page 7

THE FECUNDITY OF QUEEN BEES.

By L.T.C. The number of eggs daily laid by a given bee is regulated by various surrounding circumstances—the amount of food being gathered, the period of the year, the condition of th© hive as regards population, and the queen’s own age. To a large extent the supply of honey being gathered regulates the quantity of eggs laid, it being apparently a decided matter in the bees political economy to abstain from increase when the prospect of food runs short ; but whether the queen acts from her own observation, or is coerced by the workers, is a moot point—possibly the latter. It has been proved that in other matters in which th« queen was supposed to be the prime mover, she merely obeyed the will and direction of the workers. Anyhow the daily tally of eggs laid will diminisb as the supply of honey does. In cases of great scarcity of food the queen will almost cease laying. It is probable that the amount of food supplied to the queen may regulate the output, for the queen is a more machine for the transformation of food into eggs, and when busily employed laying is liberally fed by attendant bees.

In this climate there are only a few weeks in the year when queens cease laying, generally during June and July, but given mild and moderate weather during which the bees may get about, and the queen will keep on laying, and so keep up the population of the hive. With the earliest approach of spring, if there is any honey in the hive, or the bees are able til get out and gather from any source, the queee will begin to lay, starting with a patch in the centre of the hive, about as large as the palm of the hand. This area is gradually widened and extended to other combs. As the young bees hatch out in three weeks from the laying of the egg, the population of the hive is gradually added to, and nurses provided for the daily increasing family. As population increases aud more warmth attained thereby, the queen extends her operations, and lays each day an increasing number of eggs. By the end of September, provided pollen and honey are abundant from spring flowers, the queen has got her hive fairly populous, and is at the top of her laying powers. Her daily average now will be from 3,0©0 to 4,000 eggs, provided she can find cells enough to deposit them «—in normal condition the time must soon come when she cannot find the room she wants, aud the hives becomo overflowing with bees. Hence the next thing that ensues is the departure of a swarm with the old queen, to begin again where more room can be found—the old hive having the cells emptied by hatching ©f bees for two or three weeks after the departure ©f the old queen, and before the young one begins to lay. As stated in a previous paper, the increase of the number of colonies by swarming is by no means the best arrangement for honey gathering. Although it would appear at first glance to be better to have two swarms of bees at work than one—this is not the case. Fully a month will ©lapse before the old queen will have got any way near to the tally she made previous to leaving the ©ld hive. For the first week she will lay but very few eggs, waiting for comb to be built. The working strength of her hive being daily diminishing by death of the old bees during the three or four weeks previous to the hatching of the fu st laid eggs, her area of laying is curtailed for want of sufficient bees to cover combs, nurse, etc. She will, therefore, probably only average 2.0(H) eggs a day for the four weeks after swarming. So that the loss in the number of bees preducod is equal to about 30,000. If by this time the old hive has been split up by succeeding swarms, so much the worse. Each smaller section needs so much time before it can act up to working pitch and have sufficient, bees to spare for honey gathering after the home duties are provided for. It should be the aim of the beekeeper to keep his queen in a stroag colony provided with abundant room forth© storage of both food and eggs. The longer he can delay the swarming process the better, for his increase of bees and the more honey gathered in the winter. Swarming may o® retarded either by removal ©f brood ©r neney. If increase is desired, an artificial colony may be formed with a frame or tw© ©f bees and brood, and a queen raised with them, and to this may he added from time to time other frames ©f brood from the ©ld hive, and their places supplied with empty frames or combs—the ©ld queen being by this means kept fully employed, and the full working strength of the hive kept at work honey gathering. The other method for ©hocking swarming ip t© remove all honey as fast as gathered by extracting. This process gives th® queen abundant laying room, and *er daily tally is kept up. Provided th® ©ld queen goes out with a swarm to begin housekeeping anew, she will begin to get up steam in four or five weeks, by which time, if honey is coming in prettv fast, a difficulty again presents itself for £he queen to find sufficient room t© lay. The workers, eager and anxious to secure the honey crop, crowd the brood meat with honey, filling all available cells.* Every be® that can be spared goes honey-gathering, and home duties arc neglected. If this is allowed to continue, in a short time the queen’s Hmit is a very small one, consequently the supply ©f workers is largely diminishing. Moans must, therefore, be devised to remove the honey, and give the queen ample roam to lay. I have frequently known strong colonies, with a good quee* at the head, to run down very low through this process—filling the hive full of honey, but decreasing the numbers, where, with a little management, the full strength of the kive eould have been kept up, and the amount of honev gathered been five times as much. It should be the aim of the bee-master to see that at all times the queen is amply provided with room to deposit her eggs,, and that storage-room for honey is also supplied. If this point is carefully guarded, the results n honey-gathering will largely increase.