MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

70 DR. MILLER Sbrood in worker-cells in colonies where all combs were drawnfrom worker foundation, the drone-brood being started inspring at the beginning of brood-rearing, and a considerablequantity of it being intermixed with the worker-brood?I notice it in one of my two colonies, and it seems to belargely in the upper part of the comb. Is it on account of thefoundation sagging, thus making the cells a trifle larger? Thequeen in this hive was of last season's rearing, would you thinkbecause of this drone-brood that she was inferior?A. It is not common.If the cells in the upper part of the comb arc larger because ofstretching of foundation it may have some effect in preventing thev>5?^®s;'^mFig. 1.'..—The bees patch up holes in combs with drone-cells unless worker-combor foundation is inserted by the beekeeper.queen from laying in these cells, and if she does lay in them theeggs may be drone-eggs. If drone-broml is found only in theseenlarged celN, it ought hardly to condemn the queen. If, however,drone-brood is mi.\ed in with the worker-brood of regular size,the probability' is that the queen is l)cginning to fail, no matterwhat her age and very likely it will not be long till she becotnes adsone-layer.O. Is it safe to uncap drone-brood and then put it back ithe liive for the bees to clean the cells?A. Entirely safe; but j-ou can save the bees the labor ofcleaning out the cells, and also save the considerable amount offood fed to the larvas if you cut out each patch of drone-comb andput in its place a patch of worker-comb.Drone-Comb.—Q. In reading the American Bee Journal, I seem