INTKODUCIKG. 



289 



INTEODUCING. 



We copy its manner of construction from 

 Dr. Miller's own words: 



Take a block 3 inches long-, Va, wide, and % thick; 

 two blocks 1 inch by {s^%; two pieces of tin about 

 an inch square ; a piece of wire clotli 4!/4x3%: two 

 pieces of fine wire about 9 inches long, and four 

 small wire nails }4 or % long. That's the bill of ma- 

 terial. Lay down the two small blocks parallel, % 

 of an inch apart, one piece of tin under, and one 

 over them. Nail together and clinch. These two 

 blocks, being % inch apart, make the hole to fill with 

 Good candy, through which the queen is liberated 



Another feature of this cage, of great im- 

 portance to beginners, is as a queen-catcher. 

 It can be put down over the queen after the 

 wooden slide is removed, and when she 

 crawls upward the plug is replaced. 



m'intyre's cage. 



Another excellent introducing - cage is 

 the one devised by J. F. Mclntyre. How 

 it is managed, we copy from Mr. Mcln- 

 tyre's article in Gleanings in Bee Culture, 

 page 880, 1890 : 



I take a piece of wire cloth 5K inches square, cut 

 little pieces % of an inch square out of each corner^ 

 and bend the four sides at right angles, making a 

 box 4 inches square and ?£ inch deep. Tn one corner 



I fasten a tube of wood or tin ^ inch in diameter, 

 and two inches long, which is filled with Good candy, 

 for the bees to eat out and liberate the queen. 



I use this cage altogether in my apiary, for chang- 

 ing laying queens from one hive to another. I kill 

 my old queens when they are two years old, and in- 

 troduce young laying queens in their places. My 

 practice is to go to the nucleus havingthe young lay- 

 ing queen; lift out the comb with the queen on, and 

 press one of these cages into the comb over the 

 queen, and what bees may be aroiuid her. Carry 

 this comb to the hive which held the old queen. 

 After finding and killing her place the comb with the 

 young queen caged on it in the center of the hive, 

 taking one comb from the hive back to the nucleus. 

 In a week I go and take the cage out and find the 

 young queen laying. When I receive a valuable 

 queen from a distance I liberate her at once on a 

 comb of hatching brood, with some young bees ; and 

 when she commences to lay I introduce her as above. 

 ^ Fillmore, Cal., Oct. 21. J. F. McIntyre. 



A cage that is very popular with many 

 bee-keepers, and somewhat similar to the 

 foregoing, is shown in the two illustrations 

 10 



next following. From a piece of wire cloth 

 perhaps 6 inches square a piece U inches 

 is cut out of each corner, as shown in Fig. 

 2. Several strands of wire are then raveled 

 out, and it is then folded as shown in Fig. 3. 



Tic-a 



To introduce, the queen is placed on a patch 

 of hatching brood with a few cells of honey. 

 Wlien she is at the right point the cage is 

 clapped over her, and the strands are forced 

 clear up to the cross-wires. The young bees, 

 as t hey hatch , will treat 

 her kindly, and in the 

 mean time she will be- 

 gin laying in the cells 

 vacated by the bees. If 

 the outside bees seem 

 to be favorably dispos- 

 ed, in two days the 

 cage may be pulled off; 

 and if the bees still 

 treat her kindly, the 

 comb can be put back 



into the hive, which is then closed up. If 

 the bees show any disposition to ball her, 

 she should be caged again as before, but this 

 time all combs with unsealed larvte should 

 be removed, and care must Ije taken that 

 there be no queen-cells of any kind. In 

 from three to five days more she may be 

 released again. By this time the bees will 

 be almost sure to accept her. 



The difference between this and the Mc- 

 Intyre cage is that the apiarist has to release 

 the queen himself, whereas by the Mclntyre 

 plan the bees eat out the candy and liberate 

 her automatically. The latter plan is to be 

 preferred, because sometimes opening the 

 hive will so disturb the bees as to cause 

 them to attack the queen. 



A SURE WAY OF INTRODUCING. 



There is one perfectly sure way of intro- 

 ducing a very valuable queen, such as an 

 imported one, if w^e only observe the condi- 

 tions carefully. Remove frames of hatch- 

 ing brood from several hives, shaking off 

 every bee and put them into an empty hive 



