May, igji. 



American Vee Journal 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



Improvement in the Honey-Bee 



BY E. S. MILES. 



After deciding which our best colo- 

 nies are, comes the question of how to 

 rear our queens from them. 



I do not profess to know much about 

 queen-rearing, but 1.5 years' experience 

 has convinced me that natural-swarm- 

 ing cells are the poorest of any. Not 

 that a large part of them will not be 

 good, prolific queens, but for some rea- 

 son I do not understand, a good strain 

 of bees will degenerate by that method, 

 while improvement is also impossible 

 by it. 



There are several good methods of 

 artificial queen-rearing, but I think 

 there are a few principles we must ob- 

 serve in all to insure success. 



First, there must be plenty of food 

 and heat. The first can be supplied by 

 feeding if there is nothing to be gath- 

 ered, and the latter is generally in- 

 sured by having very strong colonies 

 for rearing the queens. If one can find 

 a colony wanting to supersede its 

 queen at the time we want cells, that is 

 a good place, usually, to get good cells. 



I prefer artificial cell-cups, as they 

 make cells so easily handled. I also 

 have a notion, though I can not prove 

 it, that cells made from light wax give 

 lighter-colored queens than from cells 

 on black comb. 



I would not recommend the ordinary 

 run of bee-keepers to attempt to rear 

 many queens except in hot weather, 

 and while there is plenty of nectar and 

 pollen in the flowers. 



If I can not find a supersedure colony 

 at the proper time I use the Doolittle 

 method, except instead of a story over 

 an excluder I use queenless and brood- 

 less bees. One can take some colony 

 that does not promise much for honey, 

 if there is such an one, and unless the 

 weather is very hot, it should be 

 strengthened with brood so as to be 

 strong in young bees when the time 

 arrives for cell-building. 



When we have the cell-cups ready, 

 and a cell or two to furnish royal jelly 

 for the batch we propose to start, we 

 go to this colony and take away all 

 brood, having previously made it queen- 

 less a few days before, and here we 

 can get our royal jelly if not otherwise 

 provided. 



We leave it at least 2 combs of honey 

 and pollen, spread apart far enough for 

 the queen-cell frame to go between, 

 and fill out each side of the hive with 

 empty comb or sheets of foundation. 

 Then we graft our cells from our breed- 

 ing stock, and place in the center of 

 this prepared hive, and leave them until 

 they are ready for the nuclei. If there 

 is a good honey-flow these cell-build- 

 ing bees will fill up their combs, and 

 may need some taken out and other 

 empty ones put in. 



When the cells are ready to hatch, 

 we put them in nuclei of 1 to 3 frames, 

 according to the weather and our 



stock of combs of brood. We think it 

 better to put in not less than 2 frames 

 of brood well covered with bees in 

 each nucleus. We dent the comb 

 directly at the top edge of the brood 

 with our finger, and press the cell in so 

 that the lower point of the cell is just 

 at the upper cells of the brood, and 

 place combs in the hive with the queen- 

 cells in between the combs. This is to 

 insure the bees clustering on it at all 

 times. If there are doubts of the first 

 night or two being warm, we shut the 

 nucleus up tight, and leave it for 24 or 48 

 hours in the honey-house. Usually we 

 close the entrance 24 hours or more 

 wherever we set the nucleus hive, when 

 the young queen will be out and the 

 bees will stay. 



If we have a colony we wish to re- 

 queen, we set a nucleus behind such 

 colony with the entrance at right an- 

 gles to it. After the honey crop is off, 

 kill the queen to be replaced, and two 

 days afterward change places with the 

 nucleus having the young queen of 

 good stock. The next day go to the 

 old hive, which now sits behind the 

 nucleus, and after smoking sharply at 

 the entrance take out enough frames to 

 fill out the nucleus, and fill out the 

 nucleus with them. Just slip the dum- 

 my over to the side, and set the 

 frames of brood and bees quietly in, 

 and close the hive; it should not take 

 over a minute or two, and I have done 

 it when robber-bees were extra bad, 

 and never lost a queen that way. I then 

 have a better colony than ever for the 

 fall honey-flow, if there is one. 



If a little increase is wanted, by hav- 

 ing a few extra queens, the combs that 

 are left can be given to them, or they 

 can be tiered up over any suitable col- 

 ony. If we can get our young queens 

 reared and mated before the swarming 

 season is over, in case one wishes to 

 run any undesirable colonies for sec- 

 tion honey, and they swarm, just 

 place the nucleus containing the young 

 queen on the stand that cast the swarm, 

 after removing the old hive to a new 

 stand, and hive the swarm in with the 

 nucleus. With this operation our 

 queens must be clipped so as to catch 

 the undesirable queen and dispose of 

 her. 



The nucleus can be filled out with 

 starters in brood-frames, and given the 

 supers from the old hive, or new su- 

 pers, according to circumstances. In 

 practicing this latter plan it is advis- 

 able to have the young queen laying a 

 week or more, and have her clipped, 

 as occasionally one may swarm out or 

 attempt to abscond. They should, of 

 course, as all swarms, be well shaded, 

 and given plenty of room and ventila- 

 tion for the first few days. 



Now, our success in improving our 

 bees lies partly in being able to rear 

 good queens, but unless we pick the 

 right stock to breed from our success 

 will be limited. What I wish to call 

 attention to is this : Suppose we have 



in our apiary 3 or 4 colonies that appear 

 to be about equal, and all seem fit for 

 breeders. Now we might rear all our 

 queens from one of these, and 50 per- 

 cent of them may not come up to the 

 qualities of the parent colony. We 

 might take another of these colonies, 

 and 7.5 percent or more might have the 

 qualities of the parent colony. In other 

 words, some one of these apparently 

 equal colonies may be a great deal 

 more prepotent in the traits we desire 

 to perpetuate. I know of no way to 

 find this out except to select the most 

 promising young queens and test them 

 by breeding one batch of cells from 

 them the first year, or as soon as we 

 can see that they may be fit for breed- 

 ers. 



We must judge a queen largely by 

 what her queen progeny will be, in 

 breeding for improvement. If we find 

 one whose progeny is holding the traits 

 well that we want, we can then breed 

 largely from her. 



I find it takes about all of the life of 

 a queen to test her rightly for breed- 

 ing. We have to keep her over one 

 winter to test her wintering qualities ; 

 and one season to test her for building 

 up in the spring and honey-gathering, 

 non-swarming, etc. ; then by the time 

 we take our first batch of cells, she is 

 2 years old. Then we need at least one 

 season to judge her first progeny, which 

 brings us to her third year. So we 

 really have only the fourth or last year 

 to use her for a breeder. I have had 

 none live over the fourth year, and 

 would not want to breed from anything 

 shorter-lived. It seems reasonable to 

 think that long-lived queens would pro- 

 duce long-lived workers. 



In writing the above, no considera- 

 tion has been given the drone. Let 

 each one do what he can to hold back 

 undesirable drones, and let all good 

 colonies rear a reasonable number of 

 drones. If we can not directly control 

 the drones, let us do what we can. 



Dunlap, Iowa. 



Various Apiarian Opinions 



BY 0. B. GRIFFIN. 



It is interesting to seethe differences 

 in opinions held by different members 

 of a profession regarding ways of 

 doing things. I hardly think these 

 differences are any greater among bee- 

 keepers, but being a bee-keeper I think 

 I notice them more. I would not be 

 much surprised if it is some tirne 

 proven that getting used to a certain 

 race of bees, a particular kind of hive 

 or appliance, or some method of pro- 

 cedure, largely influenced us to believe 

 earnestly that particular one the best, 

 or only one, according to our differing 

 temperaments. Then, again, I come 

 back to my personal view, that locality 

 does make a difference. 



It seems to be my lot to be on the 

 "off side" much of the time. Not be- 

 cause I like argument, or am like the 

 man "drawn on the jury," who found 

 on the panel " eleven of the darnedest 

 contrary men he ever met." It is a lit- 

 tle easier to drift than to swim, but one 

 does not always get quickest to the 

 shore he seeks in this way. 



