394 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Wheu a queen is uot to be mailed but merely introduced, a cage 

 simpler than the usual shipping cage will do as well or better. Mil- 



^ - ^ !r j-_ lei's introducing cage can be had 



^ ) of supply dealers for 10 cents, or 



^ you can make one yourself as fol- 



From lioot s ABC of Bee Culture. c- 



1^ wide, and f of an inch thick; two blocks 1 inch by j^ by % of an 

 inch; two pieces of tin about an inch square; a piece of wire cloth 

 4|x3| inches; two pieces of fine wire about 9 inches long, and four 

 small wire nails ^ or f of an inch long. That's the bill of material. 

 Lay down the two small blocks parallel, three-eighths of an inch 

 apart, one piece of tin under and one over them. Nail together and 

 clinch. These two blocks, being three-eighths of an inch apart, make 

 the hole to fill with good candy, through which the queen is liberated. 



You will readily see that the queen can not get out of the cage until 

 the bees have eaten out the candy with which you have closed the 

 passage. The candy is of course packed in previously, and the large 

 block is to be pulled out to admit the queen. In order to make the 

 time longer for the queen to be liberated, it has become the fjractice 

 to tack a piece of rather thin pasteboard over the place where the 

 workers are to get at the candy. A few small perforations are made 

 in the pasteboard, or else it is nailed on so that it does not entirely 

 cover the candy at one edge. This tempts the bees to get at the 

 candy, and they will spend perhaps a day in gnawing away the paste- 

 board. 



While not more than one queen in a hundred may be lost in the 

 plan last described, still it is not entirely certain, although perhaps 

 the safest of the plans mentioned. If a valuable queen is to be 

 introduced, it may be worth while to use a plan that is more trouble- 

 some but entirely safe. Put into an empty hive two or more frames 

 of brood with young bees just hatching out, but with no unsealed 

 brood. Put the queen in this and close the hive bee-tight, and keep 

 it in a warm room for five days. By that time a respectable force 

 of young workers will be present, and the hive may be placed on 

 the stand ^vhere it is to remain and the entrance opened. As a matter 

 of precaution against robbers, make the entrance large enough for 

 only one bee to pass at a time. Instead of taking the hive in the 

 house, it may be placed over a strong colony with wire cloth betw^een 

 the two hives to prevent passage from one hive to the other. 



When a colony has been queenless long enough to have queen-cells 

 well under way, it is not so easy to introduce a queen, and when it 

 has become so hopelessly queenless that a greater or less number 

 of workers have assumed the duty of egg-laying it is hardly worth 

 while to attempt the introduction of a laying queen. That is one 

 of the reasons why it is advised to break up a colony with laying 



