ro 



"novice's" gleanings in bee culture. 



contains ample room we may allow the 

 queen to remain in it a few days it the 

 colony lias queen cells not quite ready to 

 remove. 



Again fifteen of these cages just fill a 

 Langstroth frame, and when fastened with 

 transferring clasps or some similar device 

 until the bees wax them fast we have a 

 very convenient nursery, just as good as 

 if it was patented. The whole could in 

 fact be made of one piece of wood if pre- 

 ferred. While bees in with the cells are 

 not positively necessary, we should al- 

 ways put in a few unless in cutting *he 

 cell apart some of them get cut open. 

 And here is a point new to us at least : 

 In cutting apart three cells built all to- 

 gether we supposed the central one would 

 have to lie destroyed, and we cut out a 

 white queen, without wings or even legs, 

 hardly; at a suggestion from P. G., the 

 embryo queen was laid on a leaf in one 

 of the cages on top of the frames of a 

 hive. Imagine our surprise and astonish- 

 ment, at finding a few days after a full 

 Hedged ami colored queen as occupant, 

 and stranger still to us was it to see her 

 well received by a queenless colony in 

 another hive, and the way she went to 

 diving into the cells for honey the first 

 thing, caused ,; P. G." to christen her 

 "Lunatic" and of course her queen. 

 She is now a fine, large, yellow one. 



Now it, has always been to us one 

 <>f the things inexplicable why a queen 

 was always well received in a hive from 

 simply being hatched there, and it seem- 

 ed almost, like superstition that a whole 

 colony of bees know whether a young 

 queen, when seen crawling about on the 

 comb, was hatched in the hive or was 

 placed there. Those who have made 

 tutile efforts to introduce virgin queens 

 will readily understand us. And we were 

 still more surprised to find that our friend 

 Shaw introduces virgin queens by caging 

 them from twelve to sixteen hours, not 

 more. The experiment with "Lunatic" 

 seemed to imply that the bees had no 

 grudge against an infant queen, and to 

 our great surprise and relief we have 

 been for the past week putting queens 

 just hatched into any hive with impunity. 

 We simply remove a frame from the 

 queenleis hive and place the young queen 

 among the bees, she instantly begins to 

 search in the cells for honey, and so far 

 we have hardly had a bee take any notice 

 of them unless it was to attempt to drag 

 •^uch a punj T , weak thing out of the hive 

 when we cage her a few hours or until she 

 is able to walk steady. These queens 

 after a few hours seem perfectly at home 

 11 nd as we have had only one out of near- 

 ly a dozen "turn up missing" we shall 

 think it safer and less trouble than to in- 

 sert cells. A large number of cages can 

 be kept in one hive and thus facilitate 

 examinations: or indeed the whole top of 

 the frames of a strong colony may he 

 covered with cages so arranged that no 

 bees can pass abave them, aud we can 



then open the doors to put in cells, ex- 

 amine queens or remove them without 

 smoke, veil or anything of the kind. 



The top of a Langstroth hive will con- 

 lain thirty of our cages, or a frame can 

 be made of strips of wood divided into 

 apartments of the same material and the 

 whole bottom covered with wire cloth, so 

 that we can have sixty-three cages nearly 

 two inches square each. Of course each 

 one must have a separate door and to use 

 all the apartments we would need a very 

 strong stock of bees, a two story hive re- 

 duced to one for instance, and the whole 

 should be made very close and warm, 

 with a soft thick quilt on top. Such an 

 apparatus should be examined two or 

 three times each day ; for to succeed in 

 introducing the queens they should be 

 removed almost as soon as hatched. Put 

 three or four bees in with each cell taken 

 from the hive on which it was built; these 

 may be secured by holding the cell against 

 a cluster of them. When a cell must be 

 cut open in separating them, omit the 

 bees, but it must then be examined oftener 

 and the young queen will soon die unless 

 they have a drop of honey. 



Since writing the above we have actual- 

 ly been using a fifty-four cage nursery- 

 above the frames ot a hive without doors 

 at all, but simply a piece of rather thick 

 stiff woolen cloth is tacked to one edge 

 and spread over Ihe cages, and with a 

 quilt over this the cells are as warm as in 

 the body of the hive. We used a two 

 story "simplicity," reduced to one so that 

 it is crammed with bees, and we can ex- 

 amined the whole in one minute, for all 

 that is to be done is to raise the lid and 

 roll up the cloth and quilt. No fears 

 need be entertained that the queens will 

 get together, for they instinctively stick 

 to the wire cloth on the bottom of the 

 cages, seeing the bees below. We need 

 hardly add that not-having a bee in your 

 way to bother is a great relief, and we are 

 certain that just as fine queens hatch out 

 without any aid from bees being kept in 

 with the cells, nor is it necessary to make 

 any provision for food in the cages, as the 

 queens should be removed and introduced 

 in a few hours at most. 



The time occupied is less than that 

 i, l inserting a cell, and we find it less 

 risk: where we have waited until the un- 

 queened colony had started cells, we 

 have had no loss, and we have usually 

 succeeded, even when the old queen 

 was killed and the young one put in on 

 the same day, and even with the most vin- 

 dictive hybrids at that. To make a nur- 

 sery as we have described, it is only nec- 

 e.-saiy to make saw cuts across an inch 

 board, two inches apart and half way 

 through ; now, when strips are ripped ofl 

 from this board just thick enough to fill 

 the saw cut, it will readily be seen that 

 they can lie pushed into each other, so as 

 to form cages two inches square. Cover 

 the under side with wire cloth, lay it on 



