MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

198 DR. miller'scolony, you will help keep up its laying strength, and you willkeep it from having laying workers. And if the brood you givethem be mostly eggs and very young brood, it will not cost sucha great deal to the colonies from which it was taken.After all, that's hardly answering your question, for you said:"What would you do?" In the preceding I've said what you cando. It isn't likely I'd do that. I would harden my heart and breakup that queenless colony. At least I'd unite it so there would beone less colony in the apiary. If there was another colony quiteweak, but with a good queen, I'd put a sheet of newspaper overthe queenless colony, and set the weak colony over it. Then thebees would gnaw a hole through the paper and unite peaceably.I hadn't a very weak colony, I'd divide combs with adhering beesamong two or more colonies, taking such colonies as most neededhelp. In this way, although I would have one less colony, I wouldbe likely to have more bees, and by the middle of the summerlikely more colonies.Q. If the hives are broodless and queenless by June 1, andif given a frame of eggs, larvas, and sealed brood to rear a queen,will the queen be fairly good?A. Young bees are the ones to rear a good queen, and in thecase you mention there are probably few or no young bees, sothe resulting queen would not be likely to be very good. Thebest thing to do with such a colony is to break it up and unitewith another colony or with other colonies. If you haven't theheart to do that, then a better way than the one you mention isto give your queenless colony the queen of some other colony,and let that other colony rear its own queen.Q. Will a colony of bees that loses its queen in October orNovember live through the winter? And can they be kept untilMay, or until the shipping season begins?A. They are not likely to live over, but sometimes they do. Itwill probably be more profitable to unite them with a colonyhaving a laying queen, even if you divide again in the spring.Q. If you had a colony of bees quite strong with a lot ofdrones, that was discovered to be queenless as late as November1-, what would you do with it?A. Before doing anything with it, I should want to be quitesure it was queenless. "A lot of drones" in a strong colony inthe fall is not always sure proof of queenlessness, although somethingdepends upon how large the "lot" is. The absence of allIf