THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



147 



the best nourishment of queen-cells, and 

 that good queens cannot be reared in col- 

 onies which are not so provided. Too 

 much stress cannot be given to this high- 

 ly important matter; queens cannot de- 

 velop a strong physique and become pro- 

 lific mothers unless they are well fed 

 during infancy. For this reason queen 

 cells, however started, should be nour- 

 ished during the larval period of feeding 

 in strong colonies, and for the same rea- 

 son, we prefer to have fix frames of 

 brood with their compact and warm clus- 

 ter of feeding bees in our queen-rearing 

 super. 



We prefer a telescope cover for the 

 queen-rearing hive with plenty of wrap- 

 pings in case of cool nights. We remem- 

 ber one spring when for two weeks we 

 had to wrap our queen-rearing colonies 

 in blankets during the month of May to 

 save our cells from chill. "Swarthmore" 

 laid great emphasis on this matter of 

 keeping cell-building colonies warm, and 

 while it requires some degree of fussing 

 about, it pays in vigorous young queens. 



STIMULATIVE FEEDING. 



It will be well to have a Doolittle feed- 

 er in the queen-rearing super, and as soon 

 as operations are started feed lightly with 

 a mixture of honey and syrup made from 

 granulated sugar. This will be very nec- 

 essary if honey is not coining in and if kept 

 within bounds will do no harm at any 

 time. If the brood frames are not fairly 

 well supplied with pollen, substitutes 

 must be provided for it; use rye meal or 

 corn meal or wheat shorts; if these are 

 placed in a barrel the hens cannot get at 

 them and the bees will soon find all they 

 want. This matter of stimulative feed- 

 ing and pollen substitutes is a good thing 

 on general principles and is worth prac- 

 ticing in ane apiary. 



GETTING CELLS STARTED. 



We are now ready for some queen 

 cells. Place the prepared super on a 

 strong colony with at least four or five 

 frames of brood containing eggs and 

 young larva in the center division. Keep 

 the lower story full of frames. Have the 



brood frames placed in the super clear 

 of bees when they go in. This will in- 

 sure that plenty of young bees will at 

 once go aloft and begin their work of 

 feeding. It will be best not to try to 

 start cells until there are plenty of drones 

 beginning to appear, which will be soon 

 after fruit bloom. If all goes well you 

 will be likely to find a few nice cells 

 started in the upper story within a few 

 days. 



When these cells are sealed over, select 

 two frames each containing a cell and 

 place one in each side compartment with 

 a plentiful cluster of bees. Keep the 

 flight hole closed for two days and then 

 open it to the one bee space. This will 

 get the bees to recognize these side com- 

 partments as their new home and they 

 will use the flight hole without trouble. 

 If more than one cell is on a frame the 

 surplus may be removed and grafted on 

 other frames of brood and used for start- 

 ing nuclei with queenless bees. If you 

 wish to continue the queen-rearing oper- 

 rtion, after the cells have been sealed a 

 week remove the super-frames to the 

 lower part of the hive and put some 

 fresh frames of brood above to start a 

 new lot of cells. 



In due time the queens will hatch in the 

 side compartments, fly out and be mated 

 and begin their work of laying. They 

 can then be removed and introduced else- 

 where, or the entire nucleus can be re- 

 moved and a new colony started. In 

 case the queen only is removed the nu- 

 cleus of bees should be at once placed 

 below and the original operation continued 

 so long as it is desired to rear queens. 



ADVANTAGES OF THIS PLAN. 



This system of rearing queens offers 

 distinct advantages to the bee-keeper 

 who wishes to rear only a few queens. 

 He needs little technical knowledge of the 

 fine art of queen-rearing and no consid- 

 erable amount of paraphernalia. The 

 warmth of the colony below insures that 

 the cells will be well incubated and the 

 abundance of bees ensures that they will 

 be well fed; the two principal things re- 



