September, 1913. 



[American Hee Journal 



who wish to establish a mail-order 

 trade, do not exaggerate in your adver- 

 tisement. Furnish only honey of the 

 best quality, the best well-ripened 

 honey, and remember, ill-flavored and 

 unripe honey won't bring you any re- 

 turn orders. Put up your honey in the 

 best possible shape, neatly labeled — 

 only then will you be able to stand 

 back of your product. Write a per- 

 sonal letter to your customer, telling 

 him that if the honey does not give en- 

 tire satisfaction you will send him back 

 his money and take back the honey. 

 If you do that, you will win his con- 

 fidence, and if your bees gather a good 

 crop of honey, you won't have to lie 

 awake nights and worry about selling 

 your honey at a decent price. 

 La Crescent. Minn. 



Rearing Queens 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I SEE by the June number of the 

 .A-merican Bee Journal that Wesley 

 Foster and his helper are having 

 some trouble in rearing queens as 

 given in "Scientific (Jueen-Rear- 

 ing." And I also note that both Mr. 

 Foster, and the Editor in his foot-note, 

 speak of the plan as given in that book, 

 as requiring that the queen is to be put 

 " in the upper story over an e.xcluding 

 zinc." This is something entirely new 

 to me, and something which I never 

 did in all the years in which 1 have 

 kept bees. 



As I have written for publication 

 since the book was in print, when 

 very early queens are desired be- 

 fore the colonies are strong enough 

 to profitably occupy an upper story, 

 such can be reared to fairly good 

 advantage by slipping down a queen 

 excluding-zinc to one side of the hive, 

 so as to enclose two combs of young 

 brood and one of honey, the comb con- 

 taining honey being ne.xt to the zinc. 



When using a 10-frame hive this 

 gives 7 frames on the side the queen 

 is to be left in, and 3 frames where we 

 expect to put the frame having the 

 prepared cell-cups. The hive, after it 

 is thus prepared, should be left 2 days, 

 when, at the time we are about to get 

 the little larva for transferring, we take 

 out the frame of honey and spread the 

 2 frames of brood apart preparatory 

 for the reception of the frame having 

 the prepared cell-cups. 



This is done so that the nurse-bees 

 may be clustered between these two 

 combs of brood when the prepared 

 frame is put on, as the best of queens 

 are only reared where there is an 

 abundance of nurse-bees to care for 

 them. Now, did we put on an upper 

 story as did Mr. Foster, we should 

 have so divided the colony that the 

 bees would have seen that there was a 

 need of retrenching rather than ex- 

 panding, and anything that looks 

 like poverty, famine, or the need of 

 contracting the cluster from insufficient 

 heat, makes the bees averse to the rear- 



ing of queens. If any are reared under 

 such circumstances, they will be of a 

 most inferior kind. Then by putting 

 the queen above, as given in the Tune 

 issue of the American Bee Journal, the 

 most of the heat of the hive centers 

 where the queen is, rather than where 

 she is not, or where we wish to rear 

 our best queens. 



When any colony gets strong enough, 

 or can be made thus by massing early 

 maturing brood in it to occupy to 

 overflowing two hives, then a queen 

 excluding-zinc is put on top of such 

 a hive, and over this zinc is placed an- 

 other hive fitted as follows: 



Next to one side of the hive is placed 

 a division-board feeder, then three 

 combs containing mostly eggs and 

 small larvae (this can be taken from 

 other colonies), then three combs like 

 the first three next to the feeder, and 

 la.st an empty comb, thus completing 

 the necessary 10-frame space. The two 

 frames of eggs and young brood are to 

 be taken from other colonies rather 

 than disturb the hive below, and are 

 used for the purpose of drawing many 

 young nurse-bees right where they are 

 wanted to feed the little transferred 

 larv;e which are to be given two days 

 later. If plenty of honey is coming in 

 . from the fields, no feeding need be 

 done ; but at any time and all times very 

 little nectar is to be had, a good feed 

 should be given in the feeder each 

 night about sunset. This will keep 

 the bees active, similar to what they 

 arc in swarming time, and this feeding 

 should begin the night of the day ii.'hen 

 l/if liifc is prepared, instead of waiting 

 until the night after the cell-cups are 

 put in. 



Two days after preparing the hive, 

 when you get the little larvae for trans- 

 ferring, stop and take out one of the 

 frames of honey from the prepared 

 hive and spread the two frames of little 

 larvx and eggs apart for receiving the 

 frame of cell-cups when you have them 

 ready, so that the nurse-bees may be 

 clustered between them, as given ear- 

 lier in this article. 



I see by what Mr. Foster writes that 

 his Mr. Bird did his transferring of the 

 tiny little larva outdoor in the sunshine 

 in April. We do not try to rear queens 

 here in the cold of central New York 

 before June 10, and then, as well as at 

 all other times when the mercury does 

 not stand at 87 to 90 degrees in the 

 shade, do this in our room (letting in 

 the sunlight through a south window). 

 Then if the mercury is less than 75 de- 

 grees in the shade, the frame having 

 the prepared cell-cups is wrapped in a 

 warm blanket when carrying it to 

 the prepared colony, so that it goes to 

 the bees at about the temperature 

 necessary for successful brood-rearing. 



I mistrust that most of the failures 

 are due more largely to the matter of 

 transferring the larva than elsewhere. 

 I am constrained to give the fullest 

 possible directions in this matter. To 

 those who have not succeeded, I would 

 say try the matter at swarming time, 



or on some colony that has been 

 queenless long enough to have queen- 

 cells nearly ready to seal over, those 

 having plenty of royal jelly in them. 

 After having removed the larvK occu- 

 pying these cells, transfer the larvae 

 from your selected breeding queen to 

 the royal jelly left, just as you removed 

 the original larv;E from it, then put 

 them back in the swarming or queen- 

 less colony. If this is a success you 

 may know that there is no trouble on 

 your part in the transferring process; 

 but should it not prove successful, you 

 may rest assured that you killed the 

 larv.e in some way in manipulating 

 them. If you succeed here, try the 

 same natural cells in the upper story of 

 a tiered-up colony, and if I am not 

 greatly mistaken you will succeed here 

 also unless you try in early spring or 

 late in the fall, at which time the bees 

 are averse to rearing queens except in 

 queenless colonies. 



If you succeed with these cells hav- 

 ing royal jelly in them, and cannot 

 with the cell-cups, then you may know 

 that there is some mistake in your 

 manipulation of the royal jelly, or else 

 the cell-cups are not fashioned in ac- 

 cordance with those built by the bees. 

 But you should have no trouble with 

 the cell-cups if you fit your forming 

 stick in accordance with a naturally- 

 built cell at the time you find an egg 

 in it. 



A few suggestions about transfer- 

 ring: Make the point of the quill, or 

 whatever you use, very thin and quite 

 broad ; then give the point enough 

 curve so it will fit the bottom of the 

 cells nicely. Now before trying to 

 transfer the first larv;e, dip the point 

 in royal jelly until it is thoroughly 

 moistened with the same, when you 

 will note that, as you pass it under the 

 larv;e, said larvae will float upon this 

 jelly so it does not touch the trans- 

 ferring instrument at all, and it cannot 

 be injured if you use any care in set- 

 ting it down in the royal jelly you have 

 previously placed in the cell-cups. 



If you are bothered about seeing, 

 shave the piece of comb containing the 

 larva: down close to the base of the 

 cells. No one who can read the 

 print on these pages should have diffi- 

 culty in seeing perfectly. 



And now (any one who should hap- 

 pen to fail in using the plan as given in 

 "Scientific Queen - Rearing '' ) don't 

 think hard things of Doolittle, for I 

 have no more interest in that book 

 than I have in any other bee-books ex- 

 cept that it is my "baby." I let the 

 manuscript for the book go for less 

 price than I get for this article, giving 

 the whole thing to the world free, and 

 sent out the matter with the only wish 

 that it might bless the bee-keepers 

 of the world, hundreds, if not thou- 

 sands, of whom are being blessed in 

 accordance with the multitude of testi- 

 monials which have been given during 

 the past nearly a quarter of a century. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



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