Show II Oregon Hens Are Wise II I Worth their weight in coined sUver silver silver sil sU- ver is the value attached to his flock of hens and chickens by W. W H. H PenI Penning Penning Pen Pen- I ning the most most- extensive producer of honey thoney in the alfalfa region ab about t OnI Ontario On On- I tarlo tario Ore This high price for poultry is not on I account of the beauty or size or pedigree pedigree gree of his Sock flock but on account of their having developed a faculty or In Intelligence to distinguish between a working bee and a drone which enables enables enables en en- ables him to secure a much larger yield of honey from his hives as his hens keep the number of lazy idle drones who are not armed with stings but who have good appetites reduced to a minimum and more cells are filled and sealed daily dally by the b busy sy workers Mr Penning told the Oregonian the story of the wonderful development of his hens which are allowed to run at large among his beehives and who have a fondness for bees bugs grasshoppers grasshoppers grasshoppers grass grass- hoppers and other Insects but which generally speaking have learned to leave bees entirely alone having in their early attempts at swallowing them found that pain and danger lurke lurked in the stings f Within the past year or two he has noticed his hens peeking into the entrances en entrances en en- trances of hives and occasionally seizing a bee which after placing on the ground and examining critically they theT would sometimes swallow and sometimes allow to fly away This resulted in a careful investigation investigation gation gatlon by him of the strange action of f the hens and he soon found that the fowls had learned to distinguish the and useless drones from the armed working bees and that inconsequence inconsequence in la consequence the number of the eaters eat ers but non producers of honey was being kept within reasonable limits I He has also discovered that this season the old hens have taught their chickens how to distinguish between the two classes of bees He believes that no other fowls have ever acquired acquired ac ac- this valuable knowledge and has not found anyone who has ever heard of such knowledge being displayed dis played by any fowl or bird Portland Portland Oregonian |