The Honey Bee 1405 



from the nucleus or colouy coiitaining the queen you wish to 

 introduce, take out two combs containing Lees and hatching 

 brood, and with the queen between them, protected l)y her own 

 bees, place them in the queenless hive, — close it up and leave un- 

 disturbed for a time. I have success with this plan. 



At one time I had a particularly stubborn colony which posi- 

 tively refused to accept a queen, but I won finally by removing 

 all of their combs and keeping them combless until they were 

 thoroughly subdued and accepted a queen. For best results, the 

 colony should be queenless but a few days, not more than a week 

 at most. 



Mr. C. Eussell of Conesville, N. Y., an expert apiarist, has had 

 success in introducing by caging the old queen in the cage to be 

 used for introducing the new one, leaving her there for from 

 twelve to twenty-four hours, then removing her and caging the 

 new one. The object is to give the cage the scent of the old queen. 



In any case, if the bees of the colony " ball " the cage — as it is 

 called — by clustering tightly upon it and biting it, the queen 

 must not be liberated until such demonstrations 'cease. Place the 

 comb back into the hive and examine them a day or two later. 



Should a queen be balled by the bees at any time, she may 

 quickly and safely bei released by dropping the ball in a pail of 

 water, catching the queen, caging her at once and placing 

 where desired. This works better than smoking the ball as the 

 bees are more likely to sting the queen, particularly if the smoke 

 is hot or even warm. 



A veiy valuable queen may be safely introduced by placing her 

 on two or three combs of hatching brood, placed in a hive and 

 closed bee tight for a few days, until enough bees hatch to care for 

 the queen, when the entrance may be opened. This brood must be 

 kept warm in cool weather. 



Queens from a distance may be clipped before introducing 

 them to prevent their loss by flight should they have an oppor- 

 tunity. This may best be done inside of some building at a 

 closed window. 



