(QUEENS. 



;;66 



QUEENS. 



five or ten minutes to find a qiietn and clip 

 her wings, tiiking colonies as they run. 



But entrance-guards are objected to be- 

 cause they obstruct more or less the passage 

 of bees to and from the hive; and this, in 

 the height of the season, it is argued, cuts 

 down somewhat the actual amount of honey 

 secured. We hardly think there is much in 

 this; still we are willing to admit it may 

 possibly make an appreciable difference. 



There are very few who believe or piofess 

 to believe that clipping is injurious to the 

 queen. The fact that queens after being 

 clipped seem to do good service for two or 



MANNER OF HOLDING A QUEEN DURING THE ACT 

 OF CLIPPING. 



three years, and sona'liines four, and the 

 further fact that such queens do as well as 

 those not clipped, would seem to show that 

 no detrimental results follow. 



HOW TO CLIP queens' WINGS. 



There are several ways of accomplishing 

 this. One plan is to grasp the queen by the 

 wings with the right hand, in the usual 

 manner, as shown in No. 1 on this page. 

 With the thumb and fore finger of left band, 

 take hold of her waist, or thorax, as at 3. 

 In this way she can be held very securely 

 and safely, leaving her legs as well as her 

 wings entirely free. With a pair of slen- 

 der-pointed embroidery scissors (or any 



kind of sciss( rs if these are not obtainable) 

 clip olT the two wings on one side, leav- 

 ing anywhere from i to ,'e ot" '^^ inch, and 

 being careful not to cut too close. This ac- 

 complished, drop her gently between two 

 frames of brood; but in no case let her fall 

 more than an inch ; for a queen during the 

 height of the egg-laying season is liable to 

 be injured if handled roughly. Some pre- 

 fer, after picking up the queen, to grasp her 

 by the legs as shown at 2 ; but this is liable 

 to pull one or more legs off unless done just 

 right, and we therefore recommend plan 3. 

 Now, before you attempt any cue of these 

 plans, if you have had no expeiience 

 you should first practice on drones. If 

 these are not to be found, try jiicking 

 up worker bees by the wings until you 

 become reasonably expert; but don't 

 attempt to put a worker between the 

 thumb and finger of the other hand, as 

 you will run a good chance of being 

 stung. For this ])art of the work get 

 drones if possible. Then, wheu you 

 can do both operations well, try a 

 queen. Even then we advite the at- 

 tempt ( u one of not much value, as it 

 is a nice piece of work to do it well. 



Sometimes in an outyard, when a 

 pair of scissors is not to be had, we 

 use the sharp blade of a penknife. 

 This is passed under the two wings in 

 such a way as to cause them to bear 

 directly upon the edge of the blade. 

 The thumb is now pressed down upon 

 the wings over the blade, and then 

 drawn back and forth set saw fashion, 

 perhaps two or three times. If the 

 knife is sharp, the wings will be sev- 

 ered with two or three strokes. If it 

 is dull, the queen should be laid on 

 her back, still holding her between the 

 thumb and finger of the left hand so 

 that her wings will bear directly upon 

 a hive-cover or any other piece of board or 

 wood. The edge of the knife should be 

 brought to bear upon the wings, when a 

 slight pressure will cause the blade to pass 

 through the wings into the cover. 



During these operations be careful to han- 

 dle a queen only by the wings or the thorax. 

 This way avoids all danger of hurting her in 

 the least, providing you are not too clumsy. 

 But always be careful not to press the abdo- 

 men of any queen. 



A very simple device, and something any 

 one can make, is shown in the illustration 

 on page 367. It consists of a piece of section 

 stuff i inch thick, whittled out as shown. 



