DEVOTED TO BEEH AISI> HOIVEY, AIVD HOME INTERESTS. 



Vol. VII. 



JULY 1, 1879. 



No. 7. 



A. I. ROOT, ) Published Monthly. (TERMS : Sl.OO Per Annum in Ad- 



Publisher and Proprietor, > •> vance; 3 Copies for $2.50; 5 for $3. 75; 



Medina, O. ) Established in 1 873. ClO oi more, 60c. each. Single Number, lOc. 



SCRAPS AND SKETCHES. NO. 7. 



INTRODUCING AND SHIPPING QUEENS. 



3N tho spring of '78, I purchased an imported 

 queen. She was sent by mail, and, considering' 

 the distance traveled, she arrived in good con- 

 dition. I have had some experience in attempting 

 to introduce queens that are weary and jaded with 

 travel, but I never found it quite so difficult to suc- 

 ceed as I did with this queen; it took a whole week 

 together safely introduced, and there were many 

 times during the week when the prospects of my 

 ever receiving any benefit from my $6.50 seemed 

 poor indeed. I tried giving her to young bees and 

 to old bees; to full swarms from which the queen 

 had been removed, and to swarms just made up by 

 taking frames of brood and the- adhering bees from 

 different hives; I tried keeping her caged 24 and 48 

 hours; and I tried letting her loose without caging; 

 but it seemed to make no difference, as, upon open- 

 ing the hive 15 or 20 minutes after releasing her, I 

 always found her "balled." The poor queen seemed 

 tired out and "home sick." As a last resort I re- 

 leased her upon half a dozen frames of hatching 

 brood; all openings to the hive were securely closed 

 for a few days, and at last I succeeded. 



From this queen were reared over 100 queens. 

 They were all sold near here, and a good share of 

 them were introduced by myself. 



Of all the queens that I introduced during the 

 season, I lost only one; and that was caused by my 

 fastening the queen in the cage in such a manner 

 that the bees soon liberated and killed her. At the 

 same time, they liberated and accepted three others. 



The manner in which the queens were introduced 

 is as follows: The Mack queen was removed, and at 

 the same time the cage containing the Italian queen 

 was placed in the hive. In two days, the queen was 

 released, and then the hive was not again opened 

 until four or five days had elapsed; at which time 

 the queen was always found laying. 



A writer in the Jan. No. of the Magazine, after 

 describing a plan for introducing queens, says : "You 

 need have no doubt about it, and need not stir up 

 your colony in half an hour to see if she is killed, as 

 the editor of GLEANINGS advises his readers to do. 

 * * * Leave them alone for 



a week." 



A brother-in-law of mine examined a colony in 

 which he had released an imported queen the pre- 

 ceding day, and found the queen all right; but that 

 was the last time he ever saw her. He closed the 



hive very carefully, and is certain that he did not 

 injure her. 



By reading, anil by talking with bee-keepers, 1 

 find that many apiarists think it is better not to 

 disturb the bees for several days after the queen is 

 released. "They say," that, upon the least disturb- 

 ance before the queen has fully recovered from her 

 captivity, which usually takes several days, she is 

 very apt to become frightened and take "leg bail 

 for security," which attracts the attention of the 

 workers and causes them to "ball" her. My own 

 experience, during the season of "18, would lead me 

 to the above conclusion, were it not for the fact 

 that all the queens that I introduced were "fresh" 

 from the hive; none of them being out of the hive 

 more than 24 hours. This, in my opinion, was of as 

 much importance as the manner in which they were 

 introduced. In my own apiary, I change and intro- 

 duce queens in "any way that comes handy," and 

 never lose a queen. 



Ought not we queen breeders— and queen buyers 

 too— to take a hint from this ? The hint that I shall 

 take is, to make large cages (now that queens are 

 sent by express, there is but little excuse for using 

 small cages), have them well provisioned with plenty 

 of candy and water, and then put in a good gener- 

 c >us supply of bees. The hint that purchasers ought 

 to take is, to buy as near home as possible, in order 

 that the queen, not having been obliged to take a 

 long journey, may arrive in ^ie best possible condi- 

 tion. 



One more point; several queens can be sent by 

 express as cheaply as one. Now if you happen to 

 want only one or two queens, why not step over to 

 neighbor A's, this evening, and see if he would not 

 like to send along with you ? And if it should hap- 

 pen that he "couldn't afford to send for more than 

 two," why, then go over to neighbor B's to-morrow 

 evening; and perhaps all three of you could send 

 together for half a dozen, and, in this way, the 

 charges on a single queen would be very light. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



The friends who have advised letting 

 queens out, and then leaving them without 

 any further looking after, are a little thought- 

 less, it seems to me. In buying and selling 

 queens as we do by the thousands, we have 

 had an experience in introducing, that has 

 fallen to the lot of few individuals. More 

 than this, reports from new hands in regard 

 to their success in introducing are coming 



