June, 1912, 



Amc^rican Hee Journal 



Mr. Dines dequeens about l! or 7 

 days before he gives the prepared comb, 

 or combs, and at the expiration of this 

 period destroys all queen-cells which 

 the bees have started. He thinks the 

 colony is then in an ideal condition to 

 go to work on the prepared combs. 

 Mr. Case dequeens only one or two 

 days previous to giving the comb of 

 eggs and larva;, then he takes away all 

 brood, giving combs with some honey 

 and pollen instead. 



The prepared comb, with the young 

 larvie, is placed flatwise on the top- 

 bars of the frames, with space enough 

 under the comb to give room for the 

 queen-cells. 



With the hanging frame having pro- 

 jecting top-bars, a specially constructed 

 arrangement to hold the prepared 

 comb, and hold it in just the right 



in the operation of cutting out the 

 queen-cells; whereas, if they do not 

 have access, the brood does not de- 

 velop, and the cutting out of the queen- 

 cells is simpler. Apparently, Mr. Dines 

 has allowed the bees to take care of 

 the brood on the upper side of his 

 prepared combs, as he places them be- 

 tween two sectional hives with sealed 

 brood in the one above and the other 

 below, as well. Therefore, it would be 

 difficult for him to shut the bees away 

 from the upper side of the prepared 

 comb. 



I hope that I have made this matter 

 plain. Mr. H. L. Case told us that he 

 had over 100 fine queen-cells built out 

 on one comb, and after the queens had 

 liatched from these cells, the amount 

 of unconsumed royal food left in them 

 would indicate that the queens did no. 



The illustration represejits Uscar Dines' device for lioldinE a brood-frame horizontally 

 and supporting it in its proper place tor the purpose of rearing aueen-cells. It does not 

 show the height of the rim. 



place, is very desirable. Mr. Dines 

 showed such an arrangement at the 

 Syracuse convention, mentioned be- 

 fore, and the same received the en- 

 dorsement of many distinguished bee- 

 keepers present. It consisted of a nar- 

 row rim, the same size as the hive he 

 uses. We might call it a very low 

 brood-chamber, '2'A inches high. 



The illustration will show how the 

 prepared comb is supported therein by 

 having a little notch cut in it to receive 

 the projections of the top-bar; the 

 other end of the comb rests upon two 

 nails driven in the proper places. 

 Without having tried such an arrange- 

 ment myself, I believe it will be a good 

 thing to use, and may be made for any 

 style of hive and any size of frame. 

 Mr. Dines uses a very shallow frame, 

 requiring two to cover the top surface 

 of his hive. 



After giving the prepared comb to 

 the cell-building colony, in a hive with 

 standard frames, the comb is covered 

 with cloth and cotton batting, or other 

 similar material. I am not sure that it 

 will make very much difference whether 

 or not the bees have access to the 

 upper surface of the prepared comb. If 

 they do, the brood therein develops, 

 and when the queen-cells are ready to 

 be cut out on the 10th day, the worker- 

 brood is sealed and will be destroyed 



lack food at any time during the titue 

 of their development. 



The honey-producer who desires to 

 rear his own queens, particularly when 

 he wishes to requeen towards the close 

 of the honey season, may rear by the 

 above method a large number of good 

 queens, rear the cells duringthe honey- 

 flow, the most favorable time to rear 

 them, and have them ready to take the 

 place of removed queens, too old, mis- 

 mated or otherwise inferior. No one 

 is better placed to select good breeding 

 stock than the honey-producer himself, 

 but it re«|uires close watching and 

 keeping a correct and careful record. 

 Herein the honey-producer often fails. 



Naples, N. Y. 



Judging Queens as to Their 

 Value as Breeders 



uy G. M. nOOI.lTTLE. 



"Will Mr. Doolittle toll the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal licnv queens are 

 indeed regarding their value as breeders? 

 .Slime of my heekceping neighbors claim 

 that they are mostly judged as to color. But 

 i can not think this is so. for the amount of 

 honey produced by the offspring of any 

 queen is the main tiling looked after by our 

 best apiarists." -SriiscKiiiKK. 



Of course, color must have some- 



thing to do with the judging of queens', 

 just the same as it does, of necessity, 

 when poultry-men purchase White Leg- 

 horn, Black Orpington, Barred Rock, 

 etc., for perpetuating the kind of fowls 

 they desire to use for egg-laying pur- 

 poses. Does any one suppose that any 

 man desiring to improve his White Leg- 

 horn flock would be satisfied in using 

 ing any bird which ga\e anything but 

 white feathers ? I hear you all saying, 

 "That is a fool question." Yes, but is 

 it any more so than to receive a queen 

 for pure Italian when, with a magnify- 

 ing glass, she shows nothing but black 

 on her abdomen .'' Any customer of a 

 queen - breeder advertising Italian 

 queens e.xpects to receive one having 

 some (or more) yellow about her body. 

 Otherwise he or she will be a " dissatis- 

 fied customer." So color, of necessity, 

 must play a certain part in judging 

 queens of any race or variety. But this 

 need be only a part. 



Probably the point looking toward 

 the best results from any given queen, 

 is the way or manner in which she de- 

 posits her eggs in the cells. A really 

 good queen attaches her eggs very 

 nearly in the center of the bottom of 

 all cells in which she lays. I would 

 hardly be willing to use as a breeder 

 any queen that did not do this. I have 

 had queens which attached their eggs 

 at any place in the bottoms of the cells, 

 but all such proved of little value. Then 

 I have had queens which deposited 

 their eggs, fully one-fourth of them, on 

 the sides of the cells, such proving 

 themselves the least valuable of any. 

 Again, a good queen, when putting her 

 first brood of the season in the combs, 

 should place an egg in nearly, if not 

 quite, every cell in the circle in which 

 these eggs are deposited. A queen 

 which "scatters" may not be as poor 

 as those spoken of above, but unless 

 " hard pressed," I should hesitate to 

 use such a one for the improvement 

 of stock. 



Now, in all of the above I have been 

 speakin.g of selecting a queen reared 

 in my own apiary. Many things tend 

 to complicate matters where a queen is 

 purchased from abroad. Queens sent 

 from one part of the world to another 

 are, by this sending, thrown into an 

 abnormal condition which has a ten- 

 dency to destroy the regularity of their 

 laying, and often their individual use- 

 fulness ; but this may not have any 

 effect on the usefulness of their prog- 

 eny. If there has been anything in the 

 past that has puzzled queen-breeders, 

 and given many of them no end of 

 worry, it has been to send out a fine 

 tested breeder, and then have the pur- 

 chaser condemn her in unmeasured 

 terms. And, while there may have 

 been a lack of proper judging with 

 some, it is more likely than otherwise 

 that the most of such complainers had 

 the truth on their side, an(i that it was 

 the journey, the method of introduc- 

 tion, or something of that sort, that 

 made the difference in the behavior of 

 the queen, in the hands of the pur- 

 chaser, from what it was in the hands 

 of the breeder who sent her o\it. I 

 have my doubts about any queen 

 taken from her colony when she is in 

 the height of her egg-laying, and kept 

 from the same in a cage with a few 

 bees from (I to 21 hours, ever doing 



