GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1919 



which the queen and brood are returned, 

 the cells being kept above a queen-excluder 

 till hatching time. I get all my cells finish- 

 ed above queen-excluders with a laying 

 queen below. I select a colony with a good 

 patch of brood in the second story, make 

 sure the queen is below, and jnit an excluder 

 between the two. I remove a side comb 

 from the super and make a space between 

 two combs of brood containing eggs or un- 

 sealed larvae. This space is for the frame 

 containing the started queen-cells, and I 

 prefer two colonies thus for each batch of 

 cells, about 16 being quite enough for one 

 colony to finish. For convenience in getting 

 at the cells, Pratt used a frame with the 

 top-bar dropped two inches, the cell-bar rest- 

 ing on the lugs and becoming a temporaiy 

 top-bar. I prefer to sacrifice a little con- 

 venience here and have the cell-bar right 

 down among the brood. I believe the cells 

 are better cared for there, and a cold spell 

 will not cause them to be deserted. For this 

 purpose I keep a number of special combs. 

 They have a two-inch strip blank at the bot- 

 tom, and grooves are cut across each end-bar 

 so that when the cell-bar is inserted there 

 is enough clearance to the bottom-bar to 

 give room for the queen-cells. Under natural 

 conditions queen-cells are practically always 

 reared in a queen-right colony, and I believe 

 that my method is as near the natural one 

 as we can get. 



The morning following the grafting, the 

 cells are put out as above, and 10 days after- 

 ward they must be attended to, as they are 

 then due to hatch. The bees in the swarm- 

 box are returned to their hive, or they may 

 be used for making nuclei or for increase. 

 It is better to use fresh bees than to use 

 them a second day for more cells. Likewise 

 it is not advisable to use bees from the 



same colony continuously, but rather at in- 

 tervals. Where the cells are being finished 

 there is a likelihood of other cells being 

 built. These must be destroyed, as stray 

 virgins upset the nicest plans. The same 

 colony can be used again later on, after al- 

 loAving the queen to put more brood above 

 or lifting up two suitable combs. 



The queen-cages supplied with the Swarth- 

 more outfit were too small, too many virgins 

 dying in them for want of room. I changed 

 to a larger size (wire both sides), 24 of 

 which fit into an ordinary Langstroth frame. 

 But I seldom cage the cells if I can avoid it, 

 as I find it is more trouble to introduce a 

 virgin, while a ripe cell can be used under 

 any conditions. It is true that the virgins 

 occupy the nuclei for a longer time; but the 

 less fussing and the smaller loss more than 

 compensate. I have used the twin'mating- 

 boxes as twins for some years, but I now 

 prefer them as singles, as too often the 

 queens change sides. I have made my own 

 frames for them with proper top-bars; and 

 to get them filled with honey or brood I 

 put them on a special super over a strong 

 colony. This super is six inches deep, and 

 is divided in two, crosswise, so that it holds 

 ten frames in each end. I draw on these 

 supers for honej^ at all times. For starting 

 the nuclei I prefer to use sealed brood, as 

 the bees will locate afresh much more readi- 

 ly. Only a ripe queen-cell can be used when 

 starting with brood. Starting with honey 

 only, bees from a swarm are best of all. I 

 allow the first queen to get a good patch 

 of brood well advanced toward sealing be- 

 fore I remove her. This gives the nuclei a 

 good start. They must at all times be kept 

 well supplied with honey, else they are in- 

 clined to swarm out, even deserting brood. 



Barrv's Bay, N. Z. W. B. Bray. 



CAGES WITH CHANTRY FEATURE 



Idea Used Long Ago by Chantry. 

 Thompson Made Further Applica- 

 tion and Improvement 



By E. F. Atwater and J. E. Thompson 



'-p HE article 

 JL on page 463 

 of Gleanings 

 for 1918, describ- 

 ing queen cages 

 in which the 

 bees of the colo- 

 ny to which the 

 queen is to be 

 introduced gain 



access to the queen a day or two before she 

 is automatically released, brings to mind 

 the old saying, ' ' There is nothing new under 

 the sun," for here is merely an old prin- 

 ciple re-discovered. 



Cage "A," page 464, is so nearly like the 

 Chantry cage, which I illustrated and de- 

 scribed, after years of previous use, on page 

 138 of the "Eeview" for 1907, that it looks 

 as tho the inventor had at least a hazy 

 memory, subconscious if you will, of seeing 

 the article in question, the idea no doubt 

 coming as a new inspiration, 



This Chantry 

 cage (and I 

 must call the 

 cages there 

 shown Chantry 

 cages) was first 

 shown to the 

 writer by Mr. 

 Chantry, then a 

 practical bee- 

 keeper of Iowa and South Dakota, in the 

 early spring of 1902 or 1903, and has been 

 extensively used in introducing many hun- 

 dreds of queens in our apiaries here. 



Mr. Chantry found this cage to introduce 

 nearly 100 per cent of the queens successful- 

 ly, but in our experience, such results have 

 not been reached. 



The idea of giving the bees access to the 

 queen thru a piece of queen-excluding metal 

 was even earlier; a^d, if I am not mistaken, 

 was described in the ' ' Review ' ' many years 

 ago, as the invention of C. W. Gostellow. In 



