IT A LI AX BEES. 



29-5 



ITALIANIZING. 



up iill their availaljle stores in raising bees, 

 when Italians would conserve their energies 

 and h^ave enough honey for winter. 



In the matter of rearing queen - cells, 

 either the Cyprians or Holy Lands will rear 

 more queens than any Italians, Carniolans, 

 blacks, or hybrids we ever saw. We have 

 known as many as a hundred natural cells 

 on one frame ; and w-e also had one instance 

 where 25 cells from a Holy Land queen 

 hatched within a feAV minutes of each oth- 

 er; and so vigorous were these young queens 

 that some of them actually flew^ the moment 

 they popped out of their inclosures. 



ZTALIAN'IZIN'6. Few questions are 

 asked oftener than, '4Iow shall I Italianize? 

 and when shall I do it?" There is always a 

 loss in removing a queen and substituting 

 another, even where we have laying queens 

 on hand ; and w-here we are to use the same 

 colony for rearing the queen, there is still 

 greater loss. Under the heads of Nuclei 

 and Queen - rearing these points will 

 be found fully discussed. Where one has 

 an apiary of black bees, his cheapest w^ay, 

 especially if he has plenty of time to devote 

 to the subject, is to purchase three or four 

 choice tested breeders, and rear his own 

 queens from them after the honey-flow. He 

 should then put drone-traps on all his black 

 and hybrid colonies, leaving only the Italian 

 drones the freedom of the air. See Drones. 

 If the breeders are bought in the spring or 

 summer months, w^e would not remove the 

 old queens until the summer crop of honey 

 is over; only, instead of allowing natural 

 sw^arming, take two or three frames from 

 each old stock about swarming time, and 

 make nuclei, giving them queen-cells from 

 the breeding stock. 



When these queens are hatched and lay- 

 ing, build the nuclei up, with frames of 

 brood given one at a time until they are full 

 stocks. By such a course you have the full 

 benefit of your old queens during the honey- 

 season, until the new ones are ready to take 

 their places. After the honey-yield has be- 

 gun to slack you can remove the old queens, 

 and give the now small colonies queen-cells, ' 

 as you did the nuclei at first. This does the 



swarming for the season, and the Italian- 

 izing, at one and the same time. See In- 

 crease; also Nucleus. 



If you have more money than time to 

 spare, and wish to have the work done up 

 quickly, purchase as many queens as you 

 have colonies, and introduce them at any 

 season of the year, as directed in Intro- 

 ducing Queens. You can purchase all 

 tested queens if you wish, but w^e would ad- 

 vise taking untested Italian queens dur- 

 ing the months of .July and August, when 

 they are the cheapest, as this is also the 

 best time of the year to Italianize. If done 

 in the spring it is liable through change of 

 queens to cut off brood-rearing, and, hence, 

 cause few worker-bees when the harvest 

 comes on. Some find it more convenient to 

 change queens during the swarming season, 

 first for the ])urpose of stopping sw^arming, 

 and, second, because there are plenty of cells 

 usually at this time from choice stocks. See 

 West's queen-cell protector under (^ueen- 



REARING. 



After your stocks have all been provided 

 with Italian queens, by either of the plans 

 given above, if you wish your bees to become 

 pure Italians you are to commence replac- 

 ing all queens that prove to be hybrids, as 

 soon as the young bees are hatched in suffi- 

 cient numbers to enable you to decide. See 

 Italian Bees. Now, if honey only is your 

 object we would not replace these hybri(ls 

 until they are one or two years old ; for they 

 will average nearly if not quite as good 

 honey-gatherers, and will raise just as pure 

 drones as pure Italians. If you should find 

 the bees of any particular queen too cross to 

 be endurable, replace her with another, at 

 any time. Be careful, however, that these 

 hybrid colonies be not allowed to swarm 

 naturally; for if they raise a queen she will 

 produce hybrid drones*; and this is some- 

 thing we wish most scrupulously to guard 

 against. It will be better to raise all the 

 queens yourself, and make nuclei while 

 seeking to Italianize. 



*To g-et rid of black and hybrid drones, see 

 Drones. 



