122 INCREASE 



to artificial conditions to rear queens for the purpose of increas- 

 ing his stock or replacing inferior queens, he must make con- 

 ditions as favorable as possible. The ideal condition is a populous 

 colony with large numlwrs of emerging bees, plenty of honey 

 and pollen in the hive and more coming from the field. 



The weather should not be cold or unfavorable when queen 

 rearing is undertaken, the best queens only should be used as 

 mothers, and the cells should be built in strong colonies. One 

 would hardly expect to get best results unless the bees were 

 storing some honey also. 



Miller Plan. — What is known as the Miller plan, or some 

 modification of it, is perhaps the best method for ordinary non- 

 commercial purposes. The best time for requeening is perhaps 

 about ten days before the close of a honey flow. Checking the 

 egg laying of the queen at this time will have no influence on the 

 size of the crop, as the young bees hatched from eggs laid after 

 this time would appear after the close of the harvest. The bee- 

 keeper will begin to make plans for requeening then about three 

 weeks before the expected close of the flow. 



From the center of the brood nest of the colony containing 

 the best queen the bee-keeper removes a frame of brood and 

 replaces it with a partly drawn comb or a half sheet of foundation 

 or even a frame with starters. This will quickly be utilized, and 

 if foundation is used the bees will draw it out and the queen will 

 fill the cells with eggs. Old combs should never be used for this 

 purpose, as they do not furnish suitable conditions for building 

 good cells. The author prefers a partly drawn comb and, lacking 

 that, uses foundation. In a few days this comb will be filled 

 with eggs and hatching larva^. The next move is to remove 

 the queen from some strong colony and take away a frame of 

 brood from the center of the brood nest and replace it with this 

 partly drawn comb filled with eggs from the best queen. The 

 colony finding itself queenless will at once start queen cells 

 along the edges of this new and tender comb which furnishes ideal 

 conditions for cell building. At the end of ten days the cells will 

 be nearly ready to hatch and should be removed to avoid the 



