DEVOTED TO DEE!-* A.1ND HONEY, ATYD HOME INTERESTS. 



Vol. VIII. 



APRIL 1, 1880. 



No. 4. 



A. I. ROOT, 



Publisher and Proprietor, 



l 



Medina, O. 



Published Monthly. 



Established in 187 S 



TKKIfIS: 81-00 Per Annum, in 



I Advance; 2 Copies for 9*1.90: 3 

 for $2.75; 5 for S4.00; 10 or 



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I Additions to chilis may be made at 

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NOTES FBOM THE BANNER APIARY. 



No. 5. 



RAISING QCEENS AND EXTRACTED HONEY. 



dP>| E VERAL correspondents have written somo- 

 jjJl)) thing as follows: "I read your report in Jan. 

 ' Gleanings, and if it is not too much trouble I 

 wish you would write and let me know how you 

 manage to raise both queens and extracted honey; 

 tell me just how you manage it, giving details as 

 much as possible." 



As it would take too much time to write to each 

 correspondent, and as the subject is one of general 

 interest, I take this method of replying. 



Although I have had only two years experience in 

 queen rearing, I have discovered that nothing is 

 gained by trying to rear queens too early iu the 

 season; it is better to wait until the warm weather 

 has really come to stay, and the bees are storing 

 honey, which, in this locality, is about the last of 

 May or first of Jnne. 



>l y (i'St step is to place a frame tilled with fdn , or 

 W nice worker comb that has never contained 

 brood,"near the center of the colony that has my 

 imported queen. Each day I make an examination, 

 and. usually, in a day or two, I find the queen laying 

 in the comb or fdn. that was inserted. On the top 

 of the frame T mark the date when the queens from 

 these eggs will hatch. In about three days, these 

 eggs will hatch into "minute larvas, when they will 

 be ready to be given to a queenless colony. 



A colony that is to build queen cells is deprived 

 not only of its queen but of all of its brood. This 

 not only insures plenty of nurse bees, but it pre- 

 vents the bees from rearing queens from any other 

 brood except that which is furnished them. You 

 can sell the queen that you remove, and give the 

 frames of brood to other colonies, or you can form a 

 new colony by removing a strong swarm to a new 

 location, putting the queen, with a few of her own 

 bees, and the frames of brood in a hive, tilling it up 

 with empty combs, and then placing It on the stand 

 of the removed colony; or— well, there are a great 

 many different ways of using them; you must do it 

 • as you think best. 



As soon as the queen cells andworker brood are 

 sealed over, the frame of comb upon which the cells 

 are built is hung in the lamp nursery About every 



third day, a new lot of queen cells is started. A col- 

 ony is not allowed to build more than one or two 

 lots of cells, unless a fresh supply of nurse bees is 

 given it from some other colony. 



Two or three days before I expect the first lot of 

 queens to hatch. I start as many two frame nuclei 

 as there are cells in the lot. For nucleus hives, I 

 use full sized Simplicities, putting a nucleus in each 

 end of the hive, using chaff cushions for division 

 boards, and having the entrances at diagonally op- 

 posite corners. To obtain bees and combs with 

 which to stock the nuclei, I usually go to a full 

 swarm and find the queen; the comb upon which 

 she is found, with the adhering bees, is placed in the 

 center of the hire filled with empty combs, and left 

 upon the old stand; the old hive is set one side, 

 while I look over its "contents," and divide them up 

 into five nuclei, giving a frame of brood and a 

 frame of honey to each nucleus. Most of the old 

 bees return to the old stand, and as they have but 

 little brood to care for at first, they will soon fill 

 their combs with honey. 



When nuclei are first formed, or when they havo 

 been queenless a day or two, or when the yield of 

 honey is good, they are more apt to accept a virgin 

 queen; but, taking the whole season through, I 

 have found it the safest to give them a queen cell 

 just ready to hatch. 



When a queen is about ten days old, she begins to 

 lay. I usually allow a queen to fill the combs pretty 

 full of eggs before shipping her; it helps to keep 

 up the strength of the nucleus. 



One correspondent wishes to know how I keep 

 queens until they are wanted. Queens are usually 

 wanted just about as soon as— yes, a little sooner 

 than— they begin to lay. I have never had to keep a 

 queen more than a week, after she began to lay; if 

 I did have to keep one, I should keep her in a nu- 

 cleus. . 



The lamp nursery is a great "institution;" I 

 couldn't raise queens for a dollar without it. Queen 

 registering cards are a necessity. 



Head "Queen Rearing" in the "A B C of Uee Cul- 

 ture;" it explains the whole subject much better 

 than I can. 



I leave some full colonies that I do not divide up 

 into nuclei; later in the season, these colonies are 

 employed in building queen cells. I sometimes take 

 one or two frames from each of these colonies and 



