204 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



progeny will never offer to swarm, your 

 fortune's made. Without knowing all 

 the- particulars, it's impossible to say 

 why your bees don't swarm. I'll tell 

 you some of the things that are gener- 

 ally supposed to help toward keeping 

 bees from swarming : Plenty of room 

 for the queen to lay in ; a cool place for 

 the hive to stand ; a young queen ; keep- 

 ing the honey closely extracted. Then 

 there's a difference in bees themselves. 

 Some are much inclined to swarm, some 

 little. If the honey harvest is poor, bees 

 are less inclined to swarm. 



2. Some are strongly in favor of leav- 

 ing a super on the hive over winter. 

 The only objection is that sections in it 

 will not stay so white and nice. 



How to Introduce Queens. 



I have 11 colonies of hybrid bees that 

 I want to Italianize. Will Dr. Miller 

 please give the best plan for introducing 

 queens? W. P. 



Choctaw City, Okla. Ter, July 30. 



Answer. — There are so 'many ways 

 that I don't believe I know what is the 

 best way, and the easiest answer would 

 be to look at the books. But it may be 

 of a little use to give something from my 

 own experience. 



There's only one way that I've tried 

 to any extent that I would feel entirely 

 safe to use if I were introducing an im- 

 ported queen costing $5 or so. Get 

 several brood-combs containing no un- 

 sealed brood, only sealed brood, and a 

 good part of it just hatching out. Put 

 these combs in an empty hive, close it 

 up bee-tight, and put in your queen. 

 Keep it closed about five days, then open 

 the entrance just enough for one or two 

 bees to pass. If the weather is not warm 

 enough to keep the sealed brood from 

 chilling, take the hive into the house, or 

 somewhere where it will keep warm. 

 Sometimes I have set such a hive over a 

 strong colony, having two surfaces of 

 wire-cloth between, so that the heat 

 could rise from below, but no bee could 

 reach its tongue or antennae from one 

 hive to ihe other. 



But that plan's too much trouble for 

 ordinary use. Here's a plan that's 

 nearly always successful, by which I've 

 introduced a great many queens: The 

 colony must be queenless, and I've 

 oftener waited until it had sealed queen- 

 cells. Then lift out a frame of brood, 

 set the queen on the brood right among 

 the bees without any ceremony, put 

 back the comb and close up the hive. I 



have an idea that it may be better that 

 the queen is a little hungry at the time. 

 Doolittle says that too often the queen 

 herself is to blame by showing fight to 

 the workers, and when she's had noth- 

 ing to eat for a quarter of an hour, she 

 hasn't so much fight in her. 



If the queen has been reared in a 

 nucleus by yourself, and you want to in- 

 troduce her to a full colony, just lift out 

 the frame on which you find the queen 

 and put it, bees and all, into the full 

 colony. That's all there is to it. 



Some virgin queens were sent me from 

 England by John Hewitt, and I intro- 

 duced them successfully by following 

 his instructions, which were as follows : 



The colony must be hopelessly queen- 

 less for at least 48 hours, during that 

 time having no queen-cells nor any un- 

 sealed brood or eggs. In the evening, 

 after bees have stopped flying, go to the 

 hive, open it as quietly as possible, and 

 drop in the queen. The reason for put- 

 ting in the queen in the evening is be- 

 cause robbers will not be flying around 

 at that time to make the bees cross and 

 suspicious of every new comer. 



In some of the supply dealers' cata- 

 logues you will find Miller's introducing- 

 cage olfered for sale. It is a simple lit- 

 tle cage of wire-cloth and wood, about 

 34 inch in thickness so it can be put be- 

 tween the frames of a hive, the queen 

 being fastened in it, and the bees liber- 

 ate her themselves. There is a passage 

 through which the queen can get out of 

 the cage, the passage being about an 

 inch long, and a quarter of an inch 

 square, and that is entirely filled with 

 Good or Scholz candy. When the bees 

 eat through this candy the queen walks 

 out. 



Perhaps it may be well in any of the 

 short methods of introduction to oper- 

 ate in the evening. 



Now go ahead, and if you lose a queen 

 in introducing, remember that cases of 

 failure will probably occur with almost 

 any plan that may be used except the 

 first one that I gave. The chances are 

 better if honey is coming in freely. 



4]ioo«1 lloMcy-Sellers will likely be 

 needed now, and the little 32-page pamph- 

 let, "Honey as Food and Medicine," bas 

 for years proven itself valuable in making 

 repeated sales of honey. Its distribution 

 will rmilu a dtrtnu/ul for the honey first, and 

 then the bee-keeper can follow it up and 

 supply that demand. Send to us for a 

 sample copy, only .5 cents; 10 copies, post- 

 paid, 3.5 cents ; .50 copies, .f 1 .25 ; or 100 copies 

 $2.00. Try .50 or 100 copies, and prove their 

 ability to aid you in disposing of your 

 honey at a good price. 



