Read Maeterlink's "The Life of the Bee"

He answered the age old question does the queen sjit in the hive?

its now actually in the public domain and available on-line at
http://www.eldritchpress.org/mm/b.html

Dave





At 08:33 AM 6/25/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello All,
>
>> "...It is known that bees only defecate outside the hive.
>
>I don't believe the above is totally true but enough true put in print. Got
>to be accidents once in a while as I see signs in hives which are not very
>hygienic.
>
>>But does the  queen go outside to relieve herself?
>
>I would say no.   I have seen the queen defecate once but she did so while
>moving.
>
>> Or are there bees that gather her
>> droppings and take them out?"..
>.
>House cleaning bees in my opinion remove everything the bee considers
>foreign to the hives well being. Even dysentary with nosema spores. They
>propolis items to large to remove such as many times a dead mouse. The above
>is only my opinion and based on observations.
>
>Bob
>