[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Ovaries of queen and workers: A, abdomen of queen--under side (magnified eight times); P, petiole; O, O, ovaries; _hs_, position filled by honey sac; _ds_, position through which digestive system passes; _od_, oviduct; _co.d_, common oviduct; E, egg-passing oviduct; _s_, spermatheca; _i_, intestine; _po_, poison bag; _p.g_, poison gland; _st_, sting; _p_, palpi. B, rudimentary ovaries of ordinary worker; _sp_, rudimentary spermatheca. C, partially developed ovaries of fertile worker; _sp_, rudimentary spermatheca. (From Cheshire.)] CHAPTER II. =KINDS OF BEES COMPOSING A COLONY--BEE PRODUCTS AND DESCRIPTION OF COMBS--DEVELOPMENT OF BROOD.= KINDS OF BEES IN A COLONY. Each colony of bees in good condition at the opening of the season contains a laying queen and some 30,000 to 40,000 worker bees, or six to eight quarts by measurement. Besides this there should be four, five, or even more combs fairly stocked with developing brood, with a good supply of honey about it. Drones may also be present, even several hundred in number, although it is better to limit their production to selected hives, which in the main it is not difficult to accomplish. Under normal conditions the queen lays all of the eggs which are deposited in the hive, being capable of depositing under favorable conditions as many as 4,000 in twenty-four hours. Ordinarily she mates but once, flying from the hive to meet the drone--the male bee--high in the air, when five to nine days old generally, although this time varies under different climatic conditions as well as with different races. Seminal fluid sufficient to impregnate the greater number of eggs she will deposit during the next two or three years (sometimes even four or five years) is stored at the time of mating in a sac--the spermatheca, opening into the oviduct or egg-passage (fig. 5, _s_). The queen seems to be able to control this opening so as to fertilize eggs or not as she wills at the time of depositing them. If fertilized they develop into workers or queens according to the character of the food given, the size and shape of the cell, etc.; if unfertilized, into drones. The queen's life may extend over a period of four or five years, but three years is quite as long as any queen ought to be kept, unless a particularly valuable one for breeding purposes and not easy to replace. Indeed, if full advantage be taken of her laying powers it will rarely be found profitable to retain a queen longer than two years.