MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 191locality that probably means that the bees should not start tobuild queen-cells until white clover begins to yield, or any timelater; and, of course, the empty frame must be given to your bestcolony a week or so earlier.Q. Is the nature, quality, color, etc., of queens affected by thebees that rear them frpm the egg? That is, if I give a crosscolony eggs from a queen whose workers are gentle, to rear aqueen, will the workers of the queen reared be gentle if she isfertilized by a drone from a gentle colony?A. It is held by some that the character of a queen is materiallyaffected by the nature of the nurse-bees that rear her.is certain that a young queen poorly fed will not be so good asone that has a bountiful supply of best food. That is, perhaps,the chief reason why the attempt to rear queens very early inseason is generally a failure. But take two royal larvae, one fedby nurse-bees of the most vicious temper, the other by thegentlest of all bees, each being alike lavishly fed, and it is hardto understand that there should be any great difference in temperof the young queens, if both had the same mother.Queens and Swarms.—Q. When a first swarm issues, how longis it before the young queen emerges in the hive?A. The first afterswarm issues about 8 days after the primeswarm (perhaps sooner, perhaps later), and the young queenprobably emerges the day before that, say about a week after theprime swarm.Q. Is a queen on the outside or inside of a swarm which isclustered on a limb?A. She may be anywhere in the cluster, and sometimes thebees willcluster and the queen not with them at all.Queens, Shipping.—Q. Do you think that queens that comethrough the mails are as good as those not caged?A. Certainly it would not be safe to suppose that a queenwill be improved by a journey through the mails. She may not beinjured at all by such a journey, and the injury may be serious.Even in a case where a queen is greatly injured by being mailed,she may be a very profitable investment. Suppose you have astrain of very poor bees, and you order a queen of a strain of beesthat will store double as much as your bees. She is so badly injuredin the mails that she is slow about beginning to lay, laysvery sparingly, and gives up the ghost before you have had her amonth. All the honey stored by her progeny, if sold at a highprice will not amount to as much as you paid for the queen. ItItthe