RAISING QUEEN BEES 



you will find a large ball of angry bees, try- 

 ing to kill her; but this can be broken up at 

 once by filling the smoker with tobacco and 

 sending clouds of tobacco smoke through the 

 hive and at the cluster, and this seems to have 

 the effect of making them all smell alike, thus 

 averting all further trouble. 



Every colony has its distinctive odor, and 

 it is by this the bees recognize each other, as 

 well as their queen, and the reason we cannot 

 liberate a strange queen at once is that she has 

 an odor from the hive or mating box from 

 which she was taken; for this reason we are 

 compelled to let her hang in the colony to 

 which she is introduced for a few days until 

 she has the odor of her new home. It may 

 seem strange, but you can take a laying queen 

 from her bees and hold her in your hand for 

 a few minutes, and, when you will put her 

 back in her regular hive the bees will ball her 

 at once, thinking she is a strange queen simply 

 because of her contact with your hand, and 

 the odor she derives from it. 



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