INTRODUCING QUEENS 113 



voiding nuclei with queens, but several days' valuable time will be 

 lost which might be saved to advantage by the use of laying 

 queens if they are to be had. 



It will be understood, of course, that the colony must be 

 queenless or the introduced queen will quickly be killed. Appar- 

 ently the bees recognize their queen by the odor common to all 

 inhabitants of the same hive. A new queen lacking this odor 

 will not be accepted. All methods of introduction depend for 

 their success upon either leaving the queen with the colony 

 long enough to acquire this odor before she is released, or creat- 

 ing some abnormal condition that will for the time being prevent 

 the bees from recognizing the hive odor. The smoke method, 

 water method, and several others come under this latter plan. 



If an old queen is to be replaced, it is generally advised that 

 she must be removed from the hive at least twelve hours before 

 the new queen is introduced to give the bees time to miss her. 

 Usually not less than twenty-four hours is allowed to elapse before 

 requeening. Better results are likely to be obtained by requeen- 

 ing at once. If a queen cell is used the wait is desirable. 



The novice will find it quite a task to locate the queen to be 

 removed, but after a little practice it soon becomes an easy matter 

 to find her. Gentle Italians usually remain quiet when the hive 

 is opened and one can readily find her by looking first on one 

 side and then on the other of the combs as they are removed 

 from the hive. She will usually be found on a frame containing 

 eggs and very young larvse. 



Black and hybrid bees that begin running from one side of 

 the hive to the other as soon as it is opened, or boiling over the 

 top as it is commonly expressed, will offer greater difficulties. 

 It will sometimes be necessary to look the hive over from side to 

 side several times before finding the queen. Professor Francis 

 Jager recommends that the hive be opened very carefully and a 

 little smoke driven in at the entrance. The bees will at once 

 begm to boil over the tops of the frames and by looking there 

 for the queen she can often be found without removing a single 



