A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Interests of Hoqey Producers. 



$L00 A YEAR, 



W. Z. HUTCHlNSOfJ, Editot* & PPop. 



VOL, V, 



HLINT, MICHIGAN, JUNE 10, 1892. 



NO. 6. 



The special topic of the next issue is 



Smoke aqd SiTjokers, 



How to Manage Bees After the ftueens 



Have Been Removed to 



Prevent Swarming. 



E. O. AIKIN. 



EIGHT days af- 

 ter the queens 

 were removed, we 

 must again exam- 

 ine each colony 

 and cut out the 

 nueen cells. If 

 they were remov- 

 ed the seventh day 

 there would still 

 be unsealed brood: 

 and since it is a 

 case of " life or 

 death," queen cells will be built on such 

 larvie as never make queens, but nuisances 

 that will frustrate our plans. The ninth 

 day is as good as the eighth ; the tenth will 

 answer, although some queens will hatch on 

 that day. These newly hatched queens will 

 rarely if ever lead out a swarm until the 

 next day, but with queens hatching, or just 

 ready to hatch, there is more excitement. 

 This we would avoid, so we limit the time of 

 removal to the eighth and ninth days. Com- 

 mencing on the eighth day, we remove ev- 

 ery queen cell from each colony, leaving the 

 hiees hopelessly queenless. It will answer to 



leave one cell and allow the bees to reqneen 

 themselves, or we can save choice cells from 

 choice colonies, and when working colonies 

 that are not as good as we desire, give each 

 a choice cell instead of leaving any of their 

 own construction. 



The first objection to these plans is that 

 the cells are built under circumstances of en- 

 forced queenlessness, hence many of the 

 cells are from three and four-day larvcB, as 

 is indicated by their hatching on the tenth 

 day ; we don't want such queens. 



The second trouble is that the swarming 

 fever will not be entirely off yet, and some 

 colonies will make a feeble attempt at 

 swarming when the young queen goes out to 

 mate. In two year's experience with nearly 

 200 colonies I have not had a colony cast a 

 full swarm with a mating queen. Perhaps 

 one in ten or fifteen make the attempt ; and 

 of the young queens thus accompanied by 

 small swarms, perhaps one-half will leave 

 with the bees. At this time, however, the 

 swarming effort is weak ; it comes just on 

 the spur of the moment as the queen takes 

 wing, and, coming unexpectedly, all of the 

 bees don't "catch on" until the queen has 

 left the hive. Fully half, if not two-thirds, 

 of such queens, after flying aV)Out a few 

 minutes, return home. If they do get away, 

 there is no great loss as the swarms are small. 



For these reasons, instead of re-queening 

 in this way, I leave the colony hopelessly 

 queenless for four or five days before giving 

 a cell. If left a week or more, fertile workers 

 begin to appear, and they are perfect nui- 

 sances. 



