Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained Part 6

But with very large families, their proceedings are different: as any part of the cl.u.s.ter of bees is warm enough for breeding, there is less necessity for economizing heat, and having all the eggs confined to one small spot, some unoccupied cells will be found among the brood; a few will contain honey and bee-bread.

HOW POLLEN IS STORED IN THE BREEDING SEASON.

But in the height of the breeding season, a circle of cells nearly all bee-bread, an inch or two wide, will border the sheets of comb containing brood. As bee-bread is probably the princ.i.p.al food of the young bee, it is thus very convenient.

When pollen is abundant, and the swarm is in prosperous condition, they soon reach the outside sheets of comb with the brood. At this period, when the hive is about full, and the queen is forced to the outside combs to find a place for her eggs, it is interesting to witness operations in a gla.s.s hive. I have seen her several times during one day, on the same piece of comb (next the gla.s.s). The light has no immediate effect on her "Highness," as she will quietly continue about her duty, not the least embarra.s.sed by curious eyes at the window.

Before depositing an egg, she enters the cell head first, probably to ascertain if it is in proper condition to receive it; as a cell part filled with bee-bread or honey is never used. If the area of combs is small, or the family is small, and cannot protect a large s.p.a.ce with the necessary heat, she will often deposit two, and sometimes three, in one cell (the supernumeraries I suppose are removed by the workers).

But under prosperous circ.u.mstances, with a hive of suitable size, &c., this emergency is avoided.

OPERATION OF LAYING AND THE EGGS DESCRIBED.

When a cell is in a condition to receive the egg, on withdrawing her head she immediately curves her abdomen, and inserts it a few seconds.

After leaving it, an egg may be seen attached by one end to the bottom; about the sixteenth of an inch in length, slightly curved, very small, nearly uniform the whole length, abruptly rounded at the ends, semi-transparent, and covered with a very thin and extremely delicate coat, often breaking with the slightest touch.

After the egg has been about three days in the cell, a small white worm may be seen coiled in the bottom, surrounded with a milky-like substance, which is its food, without doubt. How this food is prepared, is merely guess-work. The hypothesis of its being chiefly composed of pollen, I have no objection to; as it is sufficiently proved by the quant.i.ties that acc.u.mulate in hives that lose their queen, and rear no brood (that is, when a requisite number of workers are so left). The workers may be seen entering the cell every few minutes, probably, to supply this food.[6]

[6] When the comb in our gla.s.s hive is new, and white, these operations can be seen more distinctly than when very old and dark.

TIME FROM THE EGG TO THE PERFECT BEE.

In about six days it is sealed over with a convex waxen lid. It is now hidden from our sight for about twelve days, when it bites off the cover, and comes forth a perfect bee. The period from the egg to the perfect bee varies from twenty to twenty-four days; average about twenty-two for workers, twenty-four for drones. The temperature of the hive will vary some with the atmosphere; it is also governed by the number of bees. A low temperature probably r.e.t.a.r.ds the development, while a high one facilitates it. You may have seen accounts of the a.s.siduous attentions given to the young bee when it first emerges from the cell: 'tis said they "lick it all over, feed it with honey," &c., desperately pleased with their new acquisition.

ROUGH TREATMENT OF THE YOUNG BEE.

Now, if you expect to see anything of this, you must watch a little closer than I have. I have seen hundreds when biting their way out.

Instead of care or notice, they often receive rather rough treatment: the workers, intent on other matters, will sometimes come in contact with one part way out the cell, with force sufficient to almost dislocate its neck; yet they do not stop to see if any harm is done, or beg pardon. The little sufferer, after this rude lesson, scrambles back as soon as possible out of the way; enlarges the prison door a little, and attempts again, with perhaps the same success: a dozen trials are often made before they succeed. When it does actually leave, it seems like a stranger in a mult.i.tude, with no friend to counsel, or mother to direct. It wanders about uncared for and unheeded, and rarely finds one sufficiently benevolent to bestow even the necessaries of life; but does sometimes. It is _generally_ forced to learn the important lesson of looking out for itself, the day it leaves the cradle. A cell containing honey is sought for, where its immediate wants are all supplied.

GUESS WORK.

The time before it is ready to leave the hive for honey, I might guess would be two or three days. Others have said "it would leave _the day it left the cell_;" but I guess they guess at this point. They tell us, too, that after the bees seal over the cells containing the larvae, "they immediately commence spinning their coc.o.o.ns, which takes just about thirty-six hours." I think it very likely; but when I admit it, I cannot imagine how it was ascertained;--the faculty of looking through a mill-stone I do not possess, and it requires about the same optical penetration to look into one of these cells after it is sealed over, as it is all perfect darkness. Suppose we drive away the bees and open the cell, to give us a look at the interior: the little insect stops its labor in a moment, probably from the effect of air and light. I never could detect one in its labor. Suppose we open these cells every hour after sealing; can we tell anything about their progress by the appearance of these coc.o.o.ns, or even tell when they are finished? The thickness of a dozen would not exceed common writing paper. When a subject is obscure, or difficult to ascertain, like this, why not tell us how they found out the particulars; and if they were guessed at, be honest, and say so? When the bee leaves the cell, a coc.o.o.n remains, and that is about all we _know_ about it.

TERMS APPLIED TO YOUNG BEES.

The young bee, when it first leaves the egg, is termed grub, maggot, worm, or larva; from this state it changes to the shape of the perfect bee, which is said to be three days after finis.h.i.+ng the coc.o.o.n; from the time of this change, till it is ready to leave the cell, the terms nymph, pupa, and chrysalis, are applied. The lid of the drone's cell is rather more convex than that of the worker's, and when removed by the young bee to work its way out, is left nearly perfect; being cut off around the edges, a good coat or lining of silk keeps it whole; while the covering of the worker's cell is mostly wax, and is pretty well cut to pieces by the time the bee gets out. The covering to the queen's cell is like the drone's, but larger in diameter, and thicker, being lined with a little more silk.

DISCREPANCY IN TIME IN REARING BROOD AS GIVEN BY HUBER.

We are told by most writers, the period of time necessary to perfect from the egg, the three different kinds of bees. Huber leads the way, and the rest, _supposing him to be right_, repeat in substance his account as follows: That the whole time necessary to perfect a queen from the egg is sixteen days, the worker twenty, and the drone twenty-four days; Huber (as quoted by Harpers) gives the time of each stage of development belonging to each kind of bee; but is rather unfortunate in arithmetic; the items, or stages, when added together, "do not prove," as the school-boys say; that is, he gains time by making his bee by degrees. He says, first, of the worker, "It remains three days in the egg, five in the grub state, it is thirty-six hours in spinning its coc.o.o.n; in three days it changes to a nymph, pa.s.ses six in that form, and then comes forth a perfect bee." How do the items add?

The egg, 3 days.

Grub, 5 "

Spinning coc.o.o.n, 1-1/2 "

Changing to a nymph, 3 "

In that form, 6 "

------- 18-1/2 days.

One and a half days short. We will next see how the figures with the royal insect match; recollect sixteen days are all she has allowed; then, of the different stages, "three days in the egg, is five a worm, when the bees close its cell, and it immediately begins its coc.o.o.n, which is finished in twenty-four hours. During eleven days, and even sixteen hours of the twelfth, it remains in a state of complete repose.

Its transformation into a nymph then takes place, in which state four days and part of the fifth are pa.s.sed." Now let us add the items:

The egg, 3 days.

A worm, 5 "

Spinning a coc.o.o.n, (24 hours), 1 "

Reposes eleven days and 16 hours, 11-2/3 "

A nymph four days, and part of the fifth, 4-1/3 "

------- 25 days.

Now, reader, what do you make of such palpable blundering guess-work? A difference of nine days--the merest school-boy ought to know better!

Can we rely on such history? Does it not prove the necessity of going over the whole ground, applying a test to every a.s.sertion, and a revision of the whole matter throughout? My object is not to find fault, but to get at _facts_. When I see such guess-work as the above published to the world, in this enlightened age, gravely told to the rising generation, as a portion of natural history, I feel it a duty not to resist the inclination to expose the absurdity.

THE NUMBER OF EGGS DEPOSITED BY THE QUEEN GUESSED AT.

The number of eggs that a queen will deposit is often another point of guess-work. When the estimate does not exceed 200 per diem, I have no reason to dispute it; the number will probably fall short in some cases, and exceed it in others. Some writers suppose that this number "would never produce a swarm, as the bees that are lost daily amount to, or even exceed that number," and give us instead from eight hundred to four thousand eggs in a day, from one queen. The only way to test the matter accurately, is by actually counting, in an observatory hive, or in one with sufficient empty combs to hold _all the eggs_ she will deposit for a few days, when, by removing the bees, and counting carefully, we might ascertain, and yet several would have to be examined, before we could get at the average. The nearest I ever came to knowing anything about it happened as follows: A swarm left, and the queen from some cause was unable to cl.u.s.ter with it, and was found, after some trouble, in the gra.s.s a few rods off. She was put in the hive with the swarm about 11 o'clock, A.M.; the next morning, at sunrise, I found on the bottom-board, among the scales of wax, 118 eggs that had been discharged in that time. Probably a few escaped notice, as the color is the same as wax scales; also, they might already have had combs containing some. I have several times found a few the next morning, under swarms hived the day previous, but never over thirty, except in this one instance. The reason of this queen not being able to fly well might have been an unusual burden of eggs. Perhaps it would be as well to mention here, that in all cases where eggs are found in this way, that they must be first swarms which are accompanied by the old queens.

Schirach estimates "the eggs a single female will lay, from 70,000 to 100,000 in a season." Reaumer and Huber do not estimate so high.

Another writer estimates 90,000, in three months. Let the number be as it may, probably thousands are never perfected. During the spring months, in medium and small families, where the bees can protect with animal heat but a few combs, I have often found cells containing a plurality of eggs, two, three, and occasionally four, in a single cell.

These supernumeraries must be removed, and frequently may be found amongst the dust on the bottom-board.

A TEST FOR THE PRESENCE OF A QUEEN.

If you have a hive that you suspect has lost a queen at this season, her presence can be ascertained nine times in ten by this method. Sweep off the board clean, and look the next day or two after for these eggs.

Take care that ants, or mice, have no chance to get them; they might deceive you, being as fond of eggs for breakfast as anyone.[7] When one or more is found, or any immature bees, it is sufficient, no further proof of the presence of a queen is needed.

[7] It is said that the bees will devour these eggs also.

Another portion of eggs is wasted whenever a supply of their food fails; if we remove the bees from a stock during a scarcity, when the hive is light, we will be very likely to find hundreds of eggs in the cells, and but very few advancing from that stage towards maturity. I have thus found it in the fall, in July, and sometimes the first of June, or at any time when maturing the brood would be likely to exhaust their stores, to endanger the family's supply. Now, instead of the fertility of the queen being greater in spring and first of summer than at other times, (as we are often told), I would suggest the probability that a greater abundance of food at this season, and a greater number of empty cells, may be the reason of the greater number of bees matured.

WHEN DRONES ARE REARED.

Whenever the hive is well supplied with honey, and plenty of bees, a portion of eggs are deposited in the drone-cells, which three or four days more are necessary to mature than the worker.

WHEN QUEENS ARE REARED.

Also, when the combs become crowded with bees, and honey plenty, the preparations for young queens commence: as the first step towards swarming, from one to twenty royal cells are begun; when about half completed, the queen (if all continues favorable) will deposit eggs in them, these will be glued fast by one end like those for the workers; there is no doubt but they are precisely the same kind of eggs that produce other bees. When hatched, the little worm will be supplied with a superabundance of food; at least, it appears so from the fact, that a few times I have found a quant.i.ty remaining in the cell after the queen had left. The consistence of this food is about like cream, the color some lighter, or just tinged with yellow. If it was thin like water, or even honey, I cannot imagine how it could be made to stay in the upper end of an inverted cell of that size in such quant.i.ties as are put in, as the bees often fill it near half full. Sometimes a cell of this kind will contain this food, and no worm to feed upon it. I _guessed_ the bees had compounded more than their present necessities required, and that they stored it there to have it ready, also, that being there all might know it was for royalty.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE OF THE THREE KINDS OF CELLS.]

The taste is said to be "more pungent" than food given to the worker, and the difference in food changes the bee from a worker to a queen. I have nothing to say against this hypothesis; it may be so, or the young bee being obliged to stand on its head may effect it, or both causes combined may effect the change. I never tasted this food, or found any test to apply.