QUEEN UEAllING. 



849 



QUEEN-REARING. 



The next operation is to talce a frame of 

 young larvsej list hatched from tlie eggs of 

 onr best breeding queen. Each little grub 

 should be picked up with the aforesaid ear- 

 spoon, and gently laid on the royal food pre- 

 viously prepared in one of the cell-cups. A 

 larva shonld be given to every one of the 

 cell-cups in this manner, and when all are 

 supplied they are to be put into the cell- 

 building colony. 



Before grafting, liowever, it is advisable 

 to stick a row of about a dozen of these cups 

 on a Hat stick with hot wax. When they 

 are all mounted one may then graft as ex- 

 ])lained. 



After this stick of grafted cups has been 

 mounted in a brood-frame we are all ready 

 for tlie l)ees to begin wliere man left off. If 

 it is during the swarming season I would se- 

 lect some very strong colony having a queen, 

 place on it a queen-excluding honey-board, 

 and over this an upper story with a few 

 frames of brood. If the colony is already 

 a two-story one, the perforated zinc-board 

 should be inserted between the two sections 

 of the hive. When honey is not coming in 

 freely it should be fed liberally for several 

 days before giving the prepared cups, and 

 until the cells are all capped over. This is 

 important. Into the upper story of such a 

 colony we place our frame with i)repared 

 cells between two frames of brood and bees. 

 If the colony is strong enough the bees will 

 go to work immediately, drawing out the 

 queen-cells, giving them an added supply of 

 royal jelly, and finally completing them. But 

 if it is not very strong or has not been fed 

 before and while the cells are being built, it 

 may and probably will clean out and leave 

 every cell. 



But tlie average beginner would find 

 it more satisfactory to use for cell-building 

 a strong queenless colony that has been made 

 queenless, broodless, and eggless four or five 

 days previous to the giving of the cups. But 

 it is imi)ortaut at the time of making this 

 cell-building colony queenless to begin stim- 

 ulative feeding, giving them half a pint of 

 syrup daily. After the lapse of four or five 

 days a frame of prei)ared cell-cups as before 

 directed should Ije given, when the bees are 

 almost crying for a queen or for something 

 from which they may start cells. Under 

 such circumstances they will immediately 

 accept the cujis and draw them out, feeding 

 them lavislily with royal food, and the cells 

 will be e(iual to any swarmiug cells, if liber- 

 al feeding has been continueil until all the 

 cells are capped over. 



Another excellent cell-building colony out- 

 side of the swarmiug season is one having 

 a queen which it is trying to supersede. 

 One or more such colonies will be found 

 in a large apiary, but as a general rule tlie 

 queen is hardly good enough to use as a 

 breeder. Having found our colony, we be- 

 gin giving it daily feeds at once, being a 

 prime requisite for the best results in cell- 

 building with any colony, either with a queen 

 or without one. This superseduie cell- 

 building colony will not only draw out and 

 complete one set of cups but several sets 

 in succession; but it is best not to give any 

 one such colony more than a dozen or a dozen 

 and a half prepared cups at a time. Allow 

 it to finish up one batch, and then, if neces- 

 sary, give it another. 



To one of our snpersedure colonies, as we 

 call them, we gave one batch of Doolittle 

 cups after another until they had completed 

 over 300 fine cells ; but we were careful to 

 take away each lot before any could hatch, 

 of course, for a young virgin would very 

 soon make havoc of the other cells un- 

 hatched, and besides would get the colony 

 out of the notion of trying to supersede the 

 old queen. 



Just how far snpersedure bees will con- 

 tinue to build out batches of cell cnps one 

 after another, we are not al)le to say; but if 

 they are fed half a pint of syrup daily they 

 appear to be willing to keep up the work 

 indefinitely, in the hope that they will some 

 day be able to rear a virgin that will sup- 

 plant the old queen that appears to be failing. 



REARING QUEENS IN LARGE NUM- 

 BERS. 



Thus far we have considered the old orig- 

 inal Doolittle system of rearing queens; and 

 where one desires only a few for his own 

 use he may find this method more conven- 



CKOSS-SECTION OF WOODEN CELL HOLDEU; 



CELL CUP PARTIALLY PUSHED 



INTO PLACE. 



lent than the one we will now describe. But 

 if he has any numljer to rear he should by 

 all means carry out the following plan. The 

 method of preparing the colonies for cell- 

 building will be the same. 



Instead of dipping the cells one by one 

 with a stick, or dipping several sticks at 



