498 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1919 



tion in the zinc prevents the escape of the 

 queen. 



At the opijosite end of the cage is a longer 

 passageway, the outer end being covered 

 Tfith a strip, of cardboard having a quarter- 

 inch slit thru the middle. This slit allows 

 the bees to gnaw more readily thru the 

 pasteboard to the candy and thus liberate 

 the queen. Instead of the slitted cardboard 

 it would probably answer quite as well to 

 use a piece of cardboard so narrow that the 

 bees could easily get at the candy .at either 

 side of the strip. 



When filling the cage the hole should be 

 completely filled with the candy so that the 

 candy reaches clear to the pasteboard, touch- 

 ing it, because if the candy is not in contact 

 wuth the pasteboard, the bees will not gnaw 

 thru; but if the damp candy touches, then 

 some of the sweetness soaks into the paper 

 so the bees more readily gnaw thru. 



For the bees to eat thru the candy of the 

 longer passageway requires a longer time 

 than to eat the candy of the shorter pas- 

 sageway; and therefore by the time the 

 queen is allowed to escape thru the long' 

 passageway the bees of the colony have 



been entering the cage at will thru the per- 

 forated zinc, and have thus become so well 

 acquainted with the queen that there is but 

 little danger of their balling her when she 

 finally leaves the cage. 



This same plan may be used by the bee- 

 keeper on the arrival of an ordinary cage 

 thru the mails. If he has no candy availa- 

 ble, and yet wishes to introduce in this way, 

 he should take the cage into the apiary 

 house, leave one end of the cage closed, and 

 over the other end tack a perforated strip, 

 thus allowing the escorts to escape and 

 leave the queen alone in the cage. As soon 

 as the escorts have left the cage, cover the 

 perforated strip with the U-shaped tin and 

 introduce. At the end of 24 hours remove 

 the U-shaped strip and slip between the per- 

 forated strip and the cage a piece of news- 

 paper daubed in honey, and replace the cage. 



Queens without escort are introduced 

 much easier, for then they are fed by the 

 nurse bees, and are often ready to lay when 

 released; and, if the queen mixes with the 

 bees naturally, she does not become fright- 

 ened and thus become balled. 



Medina, Ohio. J. E. Thompson. 



SAFE INTRODUCTION of QUEENS 



Good '^sults 

 Comb Method. 



THE intro- 

 duction of 

 queens has 

 been one of the 

 serious problems 

 for beekeepers 

 in all times. We 

 have become ac- 

 customed to los- 

 ing a large per- 

 centage of queens in introduction and have 

 educated ourselves to expect this and take 

 the heavy loss as a matter of course. 



Frequently we hear people say: "I in- 

 ti-oduced 50 queens with the common mail- 

 ing cage and lost only 10"; or, "I introduc- 

 ed 100 queens by the smoke method and 

 lost only 15"; or, "I introduced a large 

 number of queens by the honey-bedaub 

 method and lost only 25 per cent. ' ' We are 

 reminded of the story of the man, who said: 

 ' ' The way to teach j'our boy to swim is to 

 just catch the kid and throw him into deep 

 water, and he will swim all right. I taught 

 my seven sons just that way and I lost only 

 one out of the seven." 



Now, than, if we lose any queens in intro- 

 duction, we should search for the reason and 

 attempt a remedy, and not be satisfied un- 

 til we have the hundred-per-cent method. 



Upon sending out questionnaires and upon 

 investigating the subject, I have been as- 

 tonished at the large loss of queens thru 

 introduction. One experienced bee inspector 

 says, "The average loss with all classes of 

 beekeepers is 50 per cent. ' ' A man in Cali- 

 fornia informed me that out of twelve pur- 

 chased he successfullv introduced only three. 



with '^ush-in-the- 



Not the Average 



Fifty per cent Loss in Introduction 



By Jay Smith 



Another large 

 honey - producer, 

 who mostly rears 

 his own queens, 

 stated that he 

 lost by introduc- 

 tion fully two- 

 thirds of the 

 queens received 

 thru the mail. Is 

 look for better methods of 



it not time to 

 introduction? 



In years past when queens could be pur- 

 chased for 40 cents and upwards the loss 



Smith's 



Pushin-the-comb-cage 

 heavy tin. 



with saw teeth cf 



w^as not so heavy, but more and more \)eo- 

 ple are realizing that a good queen is a 

 valuable asset and should be introduced 

 with greatest care. Very often queens are 



