OCTOBER 1, 1913 



Chicken colony house cunu 



Monday 1 opened the hive, and almost at 

 once fonnd her. She was barely able to 

 cling- to the comb, and within a few seconds 

 the bees snrrounded her rather roughly, 

 though a little smoke dispersed them. A 

 further search disclosed about a dozen 

 queen-cells, each well extended aid contain- 

 ing a larva. I destroyed every cell, and 

 closed the hive. Then I sat down to think 

 it over about as follows. The smoke intro- 

 duction was very evidently a success ; the 

 bees must have recognized at once the con- 

 dition of the new queen, and gone to work 

 actively and vei'y promptly to avoid prob- 

 able queenlessness. The original queen must 

 liave begun laying between my second and 

 third examinations, whereby the colony had 

 eggs for the queen-cells. The new queen is 

 a " goner." The original cjueen looks fine, 

 ami is tliis season's hatching. Tliere is only 

 one thing to do — put the old lady back on 

 her job. Upon lifting the cover there was 

 the new cjueen on top of the frames, with- 

 out an attendant, just able to crawl. She 

 was caged with four or five bees which 

 appeared to attack her in the cage. The 

 original queen was then smoked in at once. 

 That was on Monday. Another examina- 

 tion on Friday showed the queen perfectly 

 at home, and with a very good start at 

 brood-rearing. Every vestige of the dozen 

 queen-cells had been removed and all the 

 breaks repaired. 



This little experience presents two points 

 for consideration, viz. : Two successful in- 



tioductions with smoke under trying condi- 

 tions, and the risk in mailing queens right 

 oft the combs while distended and heavy 

 with eggs. A rest of at least 24 hours might 

 prevent much dissatisfaction and loss. 



My regret at losing the queen (represent- 

 ing a good dollar) is considerably tempered 

 by my success with the introduction. Tliis 

 method (which should be named the Miller) 

 is such a saving in time, and appears so 

 logically safe and correct, that I shall prac- 

 tice it until I get a jolt or until something 

 better comes along, which doesn't seem like- 

 ly. 



New Jersey. 



WINTERING TWELVE COLONIES IN A CHICK- 

 EN COLONY HOUSE 



BY J. NIELSOX 



The illustration shows a cheap way of 

 packing bees. The colony house is used in 

 summer for chickens, and makes a fine place 

 for bees in winter. This one house holds 

 12 eight-frame hives, six facing east and 

 six west, with four inches of kiln-dried 

 planer-shavings packed around them. Tlie 

 cover of each hive is taken off, and a tray 

 Avith a burlap bottom over a two-inch bridge 

 across the frames put on instead. The tray 

 is filled with shavings, and then a tar-felt 

 cap put over; so if the weather should prove 

 bad when I take the hives out they will still 

 be well protected against cold spring rains. 



