Practical bee-breeding

Front matter

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CPRACTICAL ‘BEE-BREEDING

Introduction

Sn the publication of Sladen’s Queen

Rearing in England, some twenty years ago, no work on the breeding of bees has appeared in this country. British bee-keepers have turned their attention to other things, and seem to have neglected this important subject. Such new books as have appeared, as far as I am aware, are either general treatises, or deal with some other special branch of the craft.

In the meantime, other countries have not been idle. Much interest has been aroused in Switzerland, and Dr. Kramer’s Rassenzucht has lately been revised and brought up to date. Perret- Maisonneuve’s book has appeared in France, and still more recently, Jay Smith’s Queen Rearing Simplified has given us an account of the latest developments of the Doolittle System in the United States of America.

Mr. Gilman’s Practical Bee-Breeding adequately fills the gap in our bee literature. His book is no mere compilation from other people’s works, nor is it limited to Queen Rearing. It ix x INTRODUCTION is an entirely new work on a much wider subject —Bee-Breeding—and is written by an original thinker and practical bee-keeper.

Most writers on this subject agree in thinking that we ought to apply to bee-breeding the principles that have been followed with so much success by farm-stock and plant breeders, but the attempt to do so has not resulted in any marked improvement in the bee corresponding to what has been achieved by workers in these other departments. This is not, as the author of this book clearly shows, because the principles of animal and plant are not applicable to bees, but because the fact of parthenogenesis introduces a complication which breeders of other stock do not have to reckon with, and necessitates certain modifications in the practical application of those principles to bee-breeding if the best results are to be obtained. No previous writer seems to have grasped the full significance of parthenogenesis for the breeder of bees, and this is where the present book breaks really new ground. The author not only states the modifications in general breeding practice necessitated by it, but clearly explains the reason for them.

The book abounds in valuable material both theoretical and practical, but the chapters on Breeding through the Drone, Making a Strain,

INTRODUCTION xi and Line-Breeding (with its method of starting a “line” with three queens, and the admirable chart which accompanies it), are specially deserving of mention. The author has also invented a new method of Queen Introduction, and his Group System is calculated to simplify the work of the large breeder.

Whether all larvae are fed alike for the first three days or not, is a question not at all easy to decide. For the present I cannot accept the author’s views on this matter though he brings forward a considerable amount of evidence in support of them. I do not feel the question can be finally settled without further careful scientific research, and until this has been carried out I prefer to keep an open mind both on this, and on the important practical question out of it, whether equally good queens can be reared from grafted larvae as from eggs.

I welcome this new book and heartily recommend it to all progressive bee-keepers. The author is to be congratulated on his achievement, and our thanks are due to him for passing on to us the fruit of his labours. May it help to stimulate a new interest in Bee-Breeding in this country, and may the time be not far distant when the attempt to improve the bee is not left to the professional specialist alone, or to an enthusiastic xii INTRODUCTION amateur here and there, but when intelligent bee-keepers everywhere work together in friendly rivalry, not only to produce better honey for the show bench, but to breed better bees.

L. ILLINGWorRTH.

Contents

CHAPTER

I.—Tue Hive Il.—Some Races or THE Honey-BeExr

III.—DestrasLe CHARACTERISTICS IN THE Honey- BEE

CHAPTER I THE HIVE The Inmates

The inmates of the bee-hives are of three kinds: queen, drone and worker. The queen and drone are the two reproductive castes; the worker is a neuter.

Each of these castes has a function to perform peculiar to itself, and never does the function of one caste overlap that of another. Although the duties of each caste are clearly defined, the continuation and prosperity of the colony depend entirely on the combined operation of the functions of all three castes.

The Queen The queen is the only perfect female in the hive, and her sole function is the laying of eggs. She has no concern with the after care of her eggs 3 or the progeny resulting therefrom. That duty devolves upon her non-reproductive daughters— the workers.

The queen differs from the other castes in size, shape and colour, being longer and of more slender structure.

By any untoward occurrence that deprives a colony of its queen, the bees are thrown into a state of great excitement, and they run everywhere, both inside and outside the hive, in the endeavour to trace and find their queen-mother.

The bees will maintain this search for many hours, eventually to be convinced that the old queen has departed for ever. They then proceed to rear other queens from larvae hatched from egos laid by their lost queen.

Under normal conditions the bees will raise queens when preparing to swarm. The cells are started and into them the queen lays the eggs that will eventually be transformed into queens, one of which will ultimately head the colony after the departure of the swarm with the old queen. As the queen larvae develop, the cells are built in a peculiar manner to accommodate their royal occupants. The cells of both drone and worker larvae are almost horizontal with the mouth of the cell slightly inclined upwards, which causes those two castes to develop while in a horizontal position. The queen cell, however, is built to assume a pendulous position, with the result that the queen pupa develops in the cell with her head downwards.

The bees also raise other queens from eggs laid by the old queen when the latter is found to be approaching the end of her usefulness in egg-production. The young queens are raised before the actual demise of the old queen, who is frequently found functioning in the hive at the same time as one of her daughters. Eventually the old queen disappears, and the younger one is left in sole and undisputed possession of the place of royalty.

Should there, by any means, be an absence of drones when the young queen is reared, she could not become fertilised, and would in consequence become incapable of producing any caste other than the drone.

There seems to be a limit to the period during which the young queen can be fertilised. After that period, which is usually twenty-one days, although some reports show that it may be extended, the queen cannot mate and, therefore, can never function as a perfect female. Her progeny consist of nothing but drones, which are produced from unfertilised eggs and_ she becomes known as a “drone-breeder.” Her value is nil, and her place is soon filled by the apiarist with another and normal queen.

Up till quite recently it was universally accepted that a queen mated only once in her life. Evidence is now forthcoming that some queens mate at least twice. As to the intervals between the first and second mating, there is no reliable evidence, but what there is tends to show that the period varies in length.

A moderately fecund queen will lay about three thousand eggs in one day. As eggs must come from food in excess of that required by the creature for its own sustenance, it is obvious that the feeding of the queen must be different from that of the females of other live stock of an oviparous nature. That feeding is carried out by the nurse bees, who supply the queen with a glandular secretion of a rich nature derived from themselves.

The queen possesses a sting, but whereas that of the worker is straight, that of the queen is curved. It is taught that the queen never uses her sting except against a rival of her own sex. We believe that to be an error. There must be some reason for the sting being curved, and it is most probable that it takes that form to enable the queen to use the sting to release herself from the embraces of the drone when mating. Considering what takes place when mating has been accomplished, the separation of the two castes must be painful to the drone, who probably needs some forcible persuasion to make him release his mate.

The Drone

The drones are the male bees and have as their sole function the fertilising of the young queens. Having no sting, they are quite defenceless. They are incapable of working to help in the support of the colony, since they have no suitable proboscis for honey gathering, no pollen baskets on their legs with which to carry pollen, and no wax pockets on their abdomens for secreting wax. They are, therefore, absolutely dependent on the workers for their support.

The drones make their appearance well before the swarming season, but the actual time is governed by the forwardness or backwardness of the season, by the strength of the colony, by the amount of food in possession of the stock, and by the strain of bees; some bees more readily producing drones than other strains.

Mating The mating of the queen with the drone takes place in the air. This must be so since the sexual organ of the drone cannot be brought to function without the filling of all the trachee with air. This can only take place during rapid flight.

The fertilisation of the queen by the drone results in his death. When the act of mating has been accomplished, the organ of the drone is torn from him and the queen returns to the hive with his organ attached to her abdomen. After a time the drone’s organ withers and is removed from the queen with the assistance of some of the workers.

At the end of the season when the honey-flow has finally ceased, the drones remaining are no longer needed and they must be cleared from the hive, since they would otherwise consume the stores to no purpose. To get rid of them, the workers withhold food and drive the drones from the hive to perish.

The drone, as is well known, is produced parthenogenetically. This peculiar method of re- | production, operating with other creatures besides the bee, must have some necessity in the provision of nature.

The fact that mating takes place in the air has led to the belief that the object is to avoid inbreeding. To a certain extent that is true. If a drone were capable of fertilising the young queen in the hive the stock would eventually deteriorate, since no outside blood would be introduced to counteract consanguinity. But in the very nature of the bee and its method of fecundation, it must arise at times that a queen should mate with a drone from her own stock. Here then we find the necessity of parthenogenesis, which causes a difference of fifty per cent in the blood of a virgin and that of a drone from the same queen-mother; a margin sufficiently wide to counteract any deterioration likely to arise by the occasional mating of the two castes from the same stock.

It has also been thought that fecundation in the air permits or provides for the crossing of the breed, which, by many, is considered necessary for the continuation of the vitality of the colony. But crossing can only take place where there are two or more distinct races of the bee. A female is not crossed by mating to a male of her own race.

Therefore, we believe that wrong deductions have been made as to the reason for mating taking place on the wing. Probably it may be to avoid the perpetual mating of drone and queen from the same hive. But that does not show the necessity for crossing. In fact with some of the most virile races of the bee, such crossing has not and could not have taken place for many centuries, owing to the absence of any other race of bee.

The bee’s peculiar method of mating we believe to be due to a necessity to prevent the reproductive castes of the same hive continuously mating; but the mating of queens with drones of the same strain and race is compatible with the production of sound stock, and further, is not only the true method, but the one that is endorsed by nature.

The belief in the necessity of the queen being crossed when mating, has undoubtedly led to extremes in that matter. At the present time, especially in this country, no breeding is considered right that does not include a considerable amount of out-crossing. Occasionally out-crossing may be true and necessary for other live stocks, which are not the subject of parthenogenesis, but we do not believe it applies to the bee. If it does, how can we account for the virility of certain races of the bee that have not been outcrossed for centuries?

We believe that environment is all-sufficient to change the blood of a stock so that no deterioration will result, when individuals of the same strain, but from different environments, are mated together. Thus a poultry breeder who knows his business will endeavour to obtain the same blood as his own, but of that reared in a different locality. In the latter case the birds would have been subjected, in addition to the particular influences due to different surroundings, to different treatment regarding food and housing, all of which would have some influence in altering the relative value of the blood.

In the apiary, the environment of one hive is not that of another, either internally or externally. That there is a difference in the external environment of two fives in the same apiary may be questioned. But all stocks do not gather nectar and pollen from the same sources, and those products coming from different plants must necessarily vary in composition.

Since, therefore, the bee is always consuming for its own sustenance some of the nectar and pollen it gathers, the variation in the composition of its food must have some influence in altering the composition of its blood, exactly as is the case with poultry, subjected to different treatment in different localities. It is because the bee covers, in comparison with other kinds of live-stock, such a huge territory, that we can rightly assume each hive as being in an environment peculiar to itself, and one quite different from that of any other hive.

The Worker

The worker-bees, although smaller in size than either the queen or drone, constitute the much greater portion of the colony. They are undeveloped females and therefore are neuter as regards sex.

Their duties in the hive are many and various. Upon them devolves the welfare of the entire colony, the various duties being carried out by different ages. Some search the flowers in the surrounding country for nectar and pollen which in combination form the food of the bee. Some gather propolis with which to fill up all cracks and crevices in their home and so protect themselves against the weather. Some ventilate the hive and remove dead bees and other debris. Some secrete the wax made in their own bodies for building the comb, the cells of which act as both cradles for the larvae and store cupboards for the honey and pollen, while others carry water which is required in large quantities in the production of brood.

Although the worker has no part in the production of progeny, it has an important office of a dual nature in caring for the eggs and their resulting larvae after hatching. That office consists of nursing and brooding. The younger workers, termed “nurse-bees,” prepare food for the larvae from a secretion from certain glands in their heads, and distribute the food as required by the larvae. They also maintain the temperature of the hive necessary for the proper development of the larvae to maturity.

The worker energetically defends its home and stores of food, for which purpose it is provided with a sting, which it never fails to use when occasion demands.

The period of the life of a worker is comparatively short, but its length greatly depends upon the amount of work performed. It is usually computed to be from six to eight weeks in the honey-gathering season, at which time the work is severe; but its life is much longer at other times like that of winter, when very little activity takes place. The same statement applies to the foodsecreting glands,of the nurse-bees. Those glands also have a certain length of life, which depends upon the amount of function they are called upon to perform.

Although we said that a function of one caste never overlaps that of another, occasionally there is an attempt by one caste to function for another. The attempt is actuated by necessity.

When a stock has been queenless for a considerable period, some of the workers will endeavour to function for the queen by producing eggs, instinct informing them of the vital necessity for a continuation in the production of progeny. But this attempt is quite futile, since the laying worker, like the nonfecundated queen, can lay none but infertile eggs, and therefore can produce no caste other than the drone. The drone, however, from such parents is undersized and believed to be of no breeding value. In such circumstances the colony is ultimately doomed to perish unless of course rescued by the apiarist—but if the queenlessness has been of very long duration, the stock is not worth the trouble of saving.

The possibility of a neuter or worker-bee becoming fertile is an interesting fact: more so, since the worker is incapable of fecundation. Apparently, some workers retain a portion of their ovaries in a rudimentary form, which only needs

certain conditions, such as queenlessness, an ab-

sence of worker-eggs or larvae, some food, and a sufficient number of nurse-bees, to cause their ovaries to develop sufficiently to permit the formation of eggs. These eggs, however, always produce the drones.

Another interesting point is that infertile eggs should hatch at all. This is not peculiar to the bee, there being many instances among insects of the production of offspring without the mother having been fecundated. This is known as “virgin production” or “parthenogenesis.”’ Only one caste of the bee is subject to parthenogenesis —the drone.

The transformation of the bee from the egg to the perfect insect is divided into periods which, however, vary with weather conditions and the amount of food available. The following table shows the normal periods:—

Queen. Drone. Worker.

Days. Days. Days.

Period of incubation of eggs... .3 3 3 Growth of the feeding larvae... .5 614 5 Spinning of cocoon by larvae....1 2 2 EON SESE ee iiss o a's's a's ce 2 314 3 Transformation into pupa....... 1 1 1 Period in pupa stage.......... 3 8 7

Average total period of transformation from egg to perfect insect 15 24 21

CHAPTER II SOME RACES OF THE HONEY-BEE Apis Mellifica

While there are several species of the honey-bee, there is only one—Apis Mellifica— with which, because of its economic importance, we are here concerned. It is indigenous to the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. Of that species there are again several varieties, each having characteristics developed probably by environment. Some varieties have been domesticated and the most important are the following :—

The British Black

This is a black bee with faint bands of white hair on the abdominal segments. It is a moot point whether this bee should be written of in the past or present tense. If this bee has been allowed to die out, it is a matter that reflects no credit on British Apiculture. Prior to the ad-

SOME RACES OF THE HONEY-BEE 1% vent of the I.O.W. disease, it had been condemned for being insufficiently prolific and for its rather excitable behaviour when under manipulation. While, it is granted, the fecundity of this race was below that of other races, it by no means follows that that was a disqualification. From whom came the condemnation on account of its want of prolificness?, Not from the average bee-keeper, who was quite content with the bee in that respect. The climate of Britain is not such as to demand a very prolific bee; what is necessary being a bee that builds up early in the season; and this trait we had in the old British Black.

If instead of importing bees of almost every race under the sun, we had endeavoured to improve the native bee, it is probable that we should never have had the sad and expensive experience of the I.0.W. disease. The British Black had characteristics that were eminently suitable to the changeable climate of the country. It never bred out of season, and was very conservative in the use of its stores, always looking forward to the bad seasons which are more frequent than good ones. That it had faults is admitted. But so had other domestic stock, whose faults in the hands of capable British stock-breeders were eliminated: their good points developed and their economic value much increased. The same results could have been achieved in the case of the native bee. It was hardy; wintered well; did not swarm excessively; withstood dampness and various epidemics; was docile when pure; industrious and strong on the wing, and its sections were unsurpassable.

When the disease known as I.0.W. visited this country, the bees in this country were found to be very susceptible, and the British Black was condemned as being more susceptible to that disease than any other race.

The fact, however, that fresh importations of bees fell victims almost immediately to that disease, should make us pause in the condemnation of the native. That there should have been a greater number of British Black stocks affected is only to be expected, since stocks of that race were in a great majority. But apart from these considerations, it is to be regretted that after the abatement of that scourge no definite action was taken to discover whether any pure British Blacks were still in existence: for had there been any, their existence would have been conclusive evidence of the possession of both a robust constitution and a high degree of immunity. Such a bee would have been invaluable and worthy of retention.

SOME RACES OF THE HONEY-BEE 19

The Carniolan Bee

This is another black bee with the white bands much more pronounced than they are in the British Black. It is also a larger bee and very good tempered. Its swarming propensity is such, however, as considerably to reduce its value. It is an excellent builder of comb, and leaves the cappings pure white. As regards surplus gathering, the author must confess to never having done any good with them. There is always a great display of energy at the entrance to the hive; which leads the apiarist new to their peculiarities, to build visions of huge surplus, which seldom materialises. A cross with the male Carniolan and a queen of another race brings very little improvement on the pure race, but a cross in the opposite way results in a really good bee.

The Caucasian Bee

This is very similar in appearance to the last named bee, but in the author’s opinion much superior. It is as gentle as the latter, but has failed in public estimation on account of the large amount of propolis it gathers and uses. There is, however, one strain that has had this fault bred out.

The Dutch Bee This bee much resembles the British Black, but is, if anything, rather smaller. It is notorious as a swarmer; but there are strains that are no worse in this characteristic than many other races. It also seems amenable to swarm control and in this matter is preferable to the Carniolan. It is a fine builder of comb, and its cappings equal those of any bee in existence.

The Italian Bee

This bee, as its name denotes, originally came from Italy. It is of the yellow race and is conspicuous by having bands of yellow which vary in colour from orange to bright golden. It is good tempered and quiet under manipulation. It is prolific—a characteristic that has been pushed by most breeders. Another characteristic that has received much attention from breeders is the size of the queens, those of some strains being very large. The queens also vary considerably in colour from a dark to a lighter yellow.

In our experience this race seems to be more suitable for a warm climate, or one having a long summer season. In a cold climate it is late getting to work at the beginning of the season, but as the season advances and the weather becomes warmer, it usually makes up for lost time.

This race has been so widely disseminated throughout the world that there is scarcely a

SOME RACES OF THE HONEY-BEE 21 country, with a moderately warm climate, that does not possess Italians. But like all popular varieties of live-stock there is a vast difference between strains—some are quite inferior while other strains are altogether superior, to the general.

While this bee is endorsed by many experienced apiarists who will keep no other race, it has a fault that few have observed. The failure to discover this fault is, we believe, due to the absence of Black bees which are necessary for the purpose of discovery. The fault to which we refer and which is made conspicuous only where Black bees are in the same apiary with Italians is their thieving propensity with its possible and probable consequence. In connection with this trait of the Italian bee, the author cannot do better than to give his experience in two instances that occurred within recent years. When he returned to this country the first bees he obtained were Italians. That was only natural, since he had imported this bee direct from Italy prior to taking up his residence abroad, and also had had them when across the water. Hearing and reading, however, many adverse criticisms of the Italian bee, he decided to test it against some Blacks. Of these latter he procured several races, the number in the first year being twenty-two stocks, which came along during the month of May. Well, within three weeks, no less than seventeen stocks of the Blacks had Italian lodgers, not only from those stocks within the apiary, but also from other Italian stocks, both pure and hybrid, belonging to other apiaries. No doubt many of the same sort of travellers would have been in the remaining five hives, had not the inmates been Caucasians and Carniolans. In no Italian stock in the apiary was there a single Black bee; either they stayed right at home, or else the Italian would not permit their entry. That one occurrence alone was sufficient to prove the Italian bee to be absolutely dangerous. What would have occurred if one of the Italian stocks had been heavily diseased? The disease would most certainly have been scattered throughout the apiary and probably the whole apiary wiped out.

On another occasion a small piece of comb containing a very small quantity of honey had been built beneath a shallow frame feeder that had been used in a stock on deep frames. This piece of comb was put on the bench when the writer was called away for a few minutes. When he returned there were several hundred Italian bees, either on the piece of comb or on the window, but not a single Black. The next day the Italians returned, but finding nothing to steal, soon made

SOME RACES OF THE HONEY-BEE 23 for the window again, and among them on that day was just one solitary Black bee.

From this most undesirable trait of the Italian bee, we get some explanation of the spread of foul brood. It is a serious and urgent matter that requires the fullest investigation, for no live-stock industry can for long withstand a devastating disease, and a stock whose characteristic is to disseminate that disease.

The Cyprian Bee

This is another of the wallow races. The queens are most prolific and a peculiarity of this race is the very large number of queen-cells raised when preparing to swarm, sometimes as many as a hundred being built. The bees themselves are rather warm in temper, but according to a prominent breeder, in its homeland, this propensity has been altered considerably for the better—a good bee for extracted honey, but quite outside the pale for comb honey.

CHAPTER III DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS IN THE HONEY-BEE Relative Value

In dealing with the most desirable characteristics of the bee, we think it will be agreed that any reference to their relative value is quite out of the question, since in whatever order of importance they were placed, there would certainly be some difference of opinion. Therefore, we leave every reader at liberty to place them in the order he thinks their importance demands.

There is, however, one characteristic that, by its very nature, must be placed at the head, since on it depends the economic result that constitutes the ultimate object of the bee-keeper. The quality to which we refer is stamina.

Stamina

Stamina is by far the most important quality that a creature of economic value to man can possess. It is the very foundation of success in every direction, and a quality that should be possessed by every kind of live-stock, whether it is to be expressed in physical effort as in the horse, or in the production of wealth from itself, such as milk from the cow or eggs from poultry.