148 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



About ten days previous to the time for re- 

 queening, I go to some choice colonies that 

 were allowed to retain their queens for this 

 purpose, and remtjve what cells they may 

 have started. From these I select those not 

 far advanced — simply cups containing small 

 larva; — fasten them to a stick or upon a 

 comb and put them in some queenles colony 

 for completion. When they are developed, 

 and four or five days have elapsed since the 

 other cells were clipped, I take these cells 

 and place one in each colony. The giving 

 of these cells may seem like quite a task, 

 but it takes only a short time. I place them 

 in a d sh, cover them to protect them from 

 the heat or cold, pass along the rows of 

 hives, raise the supers and slip a cell in be- 

 tween the brood combs. The cells might be 

 put in the supers only that one or two sec- 

 tions would be spoiled. Perhaps it would 

 be better to use Doolittle's method of rear- 

 ing the queens, and jast as they hatch 

 let one run into the top of each hive. I have 

 requeened some in much this way. 



The requeening being accomplished, our 

 whole time is now devoted to looking after 

 the honey. While cutting out cells and re- 

 queening we have, as we went along, added 

 fresh supers as needed and taken off any 

 finished ones. If the flow be fair to good 

 the bees ought to now be finishing up the 

 sections very rapidly. For several days 

 now the bees have had nothing to do except 

 to bring in honey. We go from hive to 

 hive, removing finished supers, putting on 

 new ones if needed, or changing the position 

 of those already on if it is necessary. We 

 may have previously placed a fresh super at 

 the bottom, with two or three full, but un- 

 finished ones on top of it ; should they not 

 be finishing as we think they ought, we put 

 the one the least worked on top ; or what- 

 ever arrangement, in our judgment of the 

 prospect of a continuance of the honey 

 flow and the strength of the colony, is best 

 to get the honey finished the quickest and 

 best. This work we do from time to time, 

 and from apiary to apiary, and we can't be 

 too careful. 



The production of a first class article of 

 comb honey requires a full and practical 

 knowledge of the business, a clear judgment, 

 and much care. 



Of course, the brood chambers are now 

 full of honey. Almost the whole force is 

 concentrated in the supers. Twenty-one 

 days after the queen was removed the last 



bees were hatched. If the colony was re- 

 queened without waiting the five days, the 

 young queens will now be just about ready 

 to lay. The last plan given will delay the 

 laying perhaps a week. After the twenty- 

 first day from date of beginning the colony 

 begins to decrease in strength. When the 

 young queen begins to lay, the honey begins 

 to move from the brood chamber. As fast 

 as room is needed, up goes the honey into 

 the super. If honey still comes from the 

 fields, the super work goes on as rapidly as 

 ever. Should the bees be making only a 

 living, enough honey will be going up from 

 below to finish up many sections. That is a 

 cheap way of " feeding back to finish sec- 

 tions." 



As the flow closes and the colony decreases 

 in strength, we do not add more supers but 

 keep taking ofl: each super as finished and 

 closing down. If one wishes, one may finish 

 up by taking the tail end of the flow in the 

 extracted form, having regulated the supply 

 of sections so as to have all finished and off. 



The moving of honey from the brood 

 chamber to make room for the brood helps 

 out in this matter. 



In requeening, some cells will fail. Some 

 queens, too, will fail in mating. Having 

 introduced cells of which we knew almost 

 the exact age, we can determine very nearly 

 the time to expect the young queens to be 

 laying. Most queens will lay in nine days 

 from date of hatching. A very few will 

 over-run this time. We must also look care- 

 fully to this matter. Our record will show 

 the date of dequeening, the clipping of cells, 

 the introducing of cells or queens, and all 

 such. If we have worked regularly, as we 

 should, a very little time serves to see that 

 colonies have requeened " ( ). K." 



The expert apiarist can almost tell from 

 outside appearances ; as, for instance, the 

 amount of honey going into the supers. 

 The colonies having no queen, and hope- 

 lessly so, begin to be listless. The honey 

 does not move up from the brood chamber. 

 All these little signs, familiar to an expert 

 apiarist, will help to determine the condition- 

 To make sure, however, we again look into 

 the brood chamber. Often just a peep will 

 tell the story, especially if the queen has 

 been some days laying. (Jften we see the 

 queen herself, as she runs down the combs. 

 This examination should not be delayed too 

 long, for a week to ten days of queenlessness 

 under these conditions will develop fertile 



