1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



701 



be sure that it faces the opposite 

 direction from the entrance of the 

 lower body. 



Under the conditions named 

 above, all the old and flying bees 

 will come out and go back to the 

 lower hive, leaving only young 

 bees on the two frames with the 

 queen above. As a rule, these 

 young bees will accept any thing 

 in four or five days, and in this 



Fig. 4.— The .super-cover is made of three- 

 eitrhths lumber, tin-bound at the ends. 

 Tills shou'd be sealed down by the bees 

 to insure trood winterintr at Medina, and 

 covered with the tray shown in Fig. 3. 



to the space allowed by the slot on 

 one side of the contracting cleat. 

 This contraction we regard as very 

 important. If the entrance is left 

 like the one shown in Fig. 6 all win- 

 ter, one is likely to find considera- 

 ble loss of bees before spring. 

 While it is absolutely essential that 

 the bees have an entrance, it must 

 be adapted to the size of the colony, 

 eighths by six inches is ample for an eight- 

 frame colony of good size. If it occupies 

 only about four or five frames we reduce the 

 width of the opening to about four inches; 

 but it is our rule to have all our colonies 

 strong before they go into winter quarters. 

 All nuclei and weak colonies are put in the 

 cellar, or doubled up to make one good 

 strong colony if they are to be wintered out- 

 doors. 



Fitr. 5. — Manner of pouring in feed from a common watering-pot 

 into a Doolittle division-board feeder. 



Three- 



SURE 



WAY OF INTRODUCING 

 QUEENS. 



Why Queens are Often Balled Soon Aft- 

 er they Emerge from the Cages. 



BY B. F. DOBBS. 



When the new queen arrives, go to the 

 hive to which you wish to introduce her and 

 take out two combs of sealed or hatching 

 brood, being sure not to get the old queen. 

 In their places put full sheets of foundation, 

 then over the brood-chamber put a sheet of 

 wire cloth, and set an empty hive-body on 

 top. In this empty hive-body over the brood- 

 chamber put the two combs of sealed brood 

 with the live bees on them, and between the 

 two combs put the caged queen. Make the 

 entrance of the upper oody just large enough 

 so that one bee can come out at a time, and 



time the queen will have been released. 

 She should be left in the upper hive until 

 she is laying, which will probably be by the 

 end of the four or five days. 



When the queen is laying in the upper 

 body, set this hive aside temporarilv, remov- 

 ing the old queen from the lower hive; then, 

 without putting the wire cloth back, set the 

 upper hive on the lower one again. In 24 

 hours the queen will be found laying in the 

 lower hive, or at least the two frames in the 

 upper one will be covered with bees, so that 

 the two frames of foundation can be remov- 

 ed from the lower hive and these two upper 

 frames put back. If the queen is found in 

 this upper hive on the two frames, do not 

 touch her, but slip the two combs out and 

 put in the lower hive as quietly as possible, 

 and leave the colony alone for a few days. 



The reason that so many queens are killed 

 is that there are so many old bees in the hive 

 at the time; and the queen, when she comes 

 out from the cage, needs exercise, and goes 

 over the c^mbs so fast that these old bees 

 catch her and ball her until they smother her 

 to death. By the plan above outlined, the 

 queen has a chance to get her exercise on 

 the upper combs where there are but few 

 bees; and when the bees of the hive below 

 find the queen in the upper hive laying they 

 never ball her, for she is heavy with eggs, 

 and is conducting herself as a queen should. 

 By this plan, moreover, the new queen is 

 introduced before the old one is removed. 



Flora, 111. 



