506 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



QUEEN-CAGES AND CAGED QUEENS. 



I spoke of West cages. They cost too 

 much. I use, instead, a cage made of wire 

 cloth. The lower end can be closed simply 

 by pressing and slightly twisting the wire 

 cloth. The upper end is closed by a wood- 

 en stopper. The queen-cells are cut with 

 a piece of comb attached, and of a triangu- 

 lar shape, a sort of tail. The cell is push- 

 ed into the cage, and the aforesaid "tail" 

 is pressed against the wire cloth with the 

 finger. That will hold it secure. 



Oueenless bees will always feed the cag- 

 ed queens provided they are in the cluster. 

 If outside of the cluster they may be neg- 

 lected. 



CAUTIONS. 



In using queen-traps, two peculiarities 

 must be taken into account. The first is 

 that, very often after a queen has been some 

 time in a trap, she succeeds in getting back 

 to the brood-nest through the cones. The 

 apiarist can not, therefore, depend exclu- 

 si\ely on finding a queen in the trap, to 

 know which colonies have swarmed during 

 his absence. 



The second is that a virgin queen may 

 starve if left over night in the trap. The 

 escort bees always remain with a laying 

 queen, even if out of the hive. But, ac- 

 cording to nature, a virgin is supposed to 

 be able to help herself from the honey-cells, 

 and therefore the bees will not care partic- 

 ularly for her. In day time enough bees 

 pass through the trap to take care of her; 

 but when the night comes, or a shower of 

 rain, she stands the best kind of chance to 

 be left by herself and found dead the next 

 morning. 



FINDING THE OLD QUEEN. 



I am always trying to improve my meth- 

 ods and ways of doing; and if you find me 

 advocating one way of finding queens this 

 3-ear and another next, don't be astonished 

 or surprised. I now proceed as follows: 



Smoke a little at the entrance to keep the 

 sentinels from getting "sassy." Then re- 

 move the cover (and super if any) and 

 smoke over the top enough to quiet the bees, 

 but not enough to drive the queen out of the 

 hive and hide in the queen-trap, which 

 should have been placed first. Smoke down 

 the frames at the ends, not in the center, 

 and also between the walls of the hive and 

 the end combs; then again at the entrance, 

 so as to drive the queen up the combs if she 

 happens to be on the bottom of the hive. 

 This is rather long to read, but takes but 

 little time to do. The object is, to have the 

 queen in the center of the brood-nest, or 

 thereabouts. Now take out one or two combs 

 at one end and put them in the comb-basket. 

 Then begin at the other end and take the 

 remainder out, putting them also in the 

 basket. Do this as rapidly as possible, so 

 as not to give the queen any chance to leave 

 the combs while you are taking them out. 



Very few bees will be left in the hive; and 

 should the queen be there, she could easily 

 be seen. But she will not be there if the 



smoking and taking out of the combs have 

 been properl}- done. The above applies to 

 either laying or virgin queens. 



Now, if the queen to be found is a laying 

 queen, all you have to do is to shake the 

 bees from the combs in front of the queen- 

 trap, and replace the combs in the hive. 

 Look over each comb after the bees are 

 shaken off, and before putting it in the hive. 

 Sometimes the queen does not fall, but re- 

 mains on the comb. If not, she will be 

 found before the trap, trying to get in. If 

 the queen is a virgin, a difterent process is 

 to be used. Before shaking the combs, cov- 

 er the hive. As you shake the combs, place 

 them back in another basket. Do not un- 

 cover the hive and return the combs until 

 the queen is found, either on the combs or 

 in front of the trap. 



The reason for this is that a virgin queen 

 will often take wing and come back ten or 

 fifteen minutes later without being seen by 

 the apiarist. In such cases she might get 

 back into the hive unbeknown to him. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



[If one is not going to practice modern 

 methods of queen-rearing, and expects to 

 rear his queens in the old-fashioned way, 

 after the honej'-flow, he will rear inferior 

 queens as a rule. If this has been your 

 practice I am not surprised that you find 

 it advisable to requeen every season. I 

 agree with you that purchased queens are 

 subject to injury through the mails, and in 

 our A B C of Bee Culture I advise every one 

 to rear his own queens as far as possible, 

 notwithstanding we are extensive breeders 

 of queens for the market ; and as to the 

 method, it takes reallj' no more time to do 

 the work right than to do it wrong. Na- 

 ture, under normal conditions, designs that 

 queens should be reared either during the 

 swarming season or during the time that 

 the old queen is being superseded; and by 

 your plan of using West queen -cell cages 

 or wire-cloth cell-cages, the average honey- 

 producer could rear nearly all his queens, 

 and the very best of them, during the 

 swarming season. As you go through the 

 apiary select out the best of the swarming- 

 cells. Cut these all out and put them into 

 cell-cages; then if you requeen every two 

 jrears or every j'ear put one of these select- 

 ed swarming-cells ( always from some choice 

 queen ) on to the combs of the colony made 

 queenless, fastening the cage in about the 

 center of the cluster. So far 3^ou would be 

 following Nature's way, and at the same 

 time be in accordance with the teachings 

 of modern practice. But if the queen-rear- 

 ing 7fi!(st be done after the swarming sea- 

 son, then the colony raising new cells should 

 be stimulated up to the swarming-pitch by 

 feeding; but obviously the average honey- 

 producer could not afford to go to this trou- 

 ble; and I would, therefore, urge him to re- 

 queen and raise his new blood just at the 

 very time Nature will smile on his efforts; 

 viz., the swarming season. 



You say that you requeen every year. It 



