The Rearing of Queens 



423 



and honey and it is best to have one an empty comb into 

 which water is poured. The top of the box is removable 

 and has two slots cut in it into which are fitted two cell bars 

 which allow the queen cells to hang over the spaces between 

 the frames. When the box is prepared with the frames 

 fastened in place and the slots filled with the empty cell bars 

 (or plain strips of wood), bees are shaken into the box suffi- 

 cient to fill it more completely than bees are usually 

 found in a hive, care 

 being taken that a 

 queen is not put into 

 the swarm box. This 

 should usually be done 

 about ten o'clock in 

 the morning when the 

 field bees are mostly 

 away from the hive, 

 thus providing a sur- 

 plus of young bees. 

 In about six hours the 

 empty artificial cell 

 bases are removed one 

 at a time and a worker 

 larva transferred to 

 each one, the hole 

 meanwhile being closed 

 by an extra cup. When this is completed the top of 

 the box is covered snugly to keep the cells warm and 

 the swarm box is put away in a dark cool place. Usually 

 by the next morning most of the cell cups will have 

 been built down and queen development will have be- 

 gun. Considerable variation in the success of this method 

 has been reported and there are numerous phases of this 

 question on which more light is needed. Some strains 

 of bees seem to be poor for this purpose. On the whole, 

 however, when directions are carefully followed, a good 

 number of fine queen cells will usually be obtained. The 



FIG. 186. Swarm box for starting queen 

 cells, showing position of frames and inner 

 side of lid, with wooden cells in place, ready 

 for bees. 



