THE j^vawmicKM mmm jqurnsi,. 



439 



when she was seven clays okl, and iin- 

 mated, I succeeded in introducing her 

 to a full colony, covering 30 frames 

 and filling three brood-chambers. This 

 colony lost its queen with clipped 

 wings, by trying to swarm. Three 

 frames were removed from the top 

 story, and at the side, and the three 

 frames of the nucleus substituted, 

 leaving space as before. There were 

 about fifty bees with the queen in the 

 nucleus. In two days after, I found 

 her in the bottom story mated, but 

 not laying. This young queen was 

 very dark, so that there was no ques- 

 tion as to identity. 



I am aware that to make these in- 

 troductions beyond question, the wiugs 

 of the queens should have been clip- 

 ped, so that they would have remained 

 uumated ; but some one else can try 

 that. I am satisfied. 



Of course, hatching queens can be 

 run in at the entrance, or under the 

 quilt, with an average loss of about 

 one-third. 



Kalamazoo, Mich. 



QUEENS. 



Re8ult§ of Experinient§ and 

 Observations. 



Written for the American Rural Home 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



In this article I wish to give a bit of 

 my experiences as regards introducing 

 queens, rather than to point out any 

 particular method for so doing. 



In a practice of nearly twenty years, 

 many things have come under my ob- 

 servation which have been interesting, 

 and have thrown light on an operation 

 which has many times proven, not only 

 to myself, but to multitudes of others, 

 to be not always a successful one. 



Heretofore the loss of the queen has 

 been charged mainly to the bees rather 

 than to the queen, parties even being 

 so rash and provoked as to crush a ball 

 of bees enclosing a queen, under their 

 feet, when in reality the queen was the 

 one to blame. Many queens would 

 never be molested in the least by the 

 bees if they would behave themselves 

 as they did in the hive they were 

 formerly in ; and I venture the predic- 

 tion, that when we arrive at a plan 

 that will always place the queen with 

 strange bees in the same quiet condi- 

 tion she was in while in the hive in 

 which she was reared, we shall Ije suc- 

 cessful every time. To substantiate 

 this position, I will give some of my 

 experience in the matter. 



Some years ago I had a queen which 

 began failing during the forepart of 

 the season. Wishing to replace her, I 

 went to a nucleus and took out their 



queen, which had lieen laying about a 

 week ; then going to the colony having 

 the failing queen, I removed her and 

 placed this young queen on the combs 

 instead of the oM one. She imme- 

 diately commenced to " peep," just as 

 a virgin queen does when there are 

 rivals in the cells in a hive calculating 

 to send out an after-swarm. To this 

 the bees paid no attention, but came 

 to her, with the intention of feeding 

 her, to all appearances ; but instead of 

 taking food ofl'ered by them, she put 

 out her foot and struck at them, or 

 laid hold of their heads with her feet, 

 and continued " ])eeping." She passed 

 around among the bees, " peeping " at 

 intervals for about five minutes, I 

 should judge (I watching all the while), 

 when she came to a young bee just 

 hatched, all white and fuzzy. She 

 immediately uttered a short "peep" 

 and then clinched the little thing, and 

 stung it so it curled up and died in an 

 instant. At this the bees became ex- 

 asperated, and showed signs of hos- 

 tility for the first time, they now be- 

 ginning to lay hold of the queen for 

 the first time, as far as I had noticed. 



With a little smoke I dispersed them 

 and still continued to watch. In about 

 15 minutes she stung and killed at 

 least a half dozen of these young bees, 

 and was seized each time by the bees, 

 but I as often dispersed them with 

 smoke ; at all other times they were 

 ready to feed her and treat her as they 

 did their old queen. Once or twice 

 she took food of them, but as a rule, 

 struck at them with her feet when they 

 offered her food. I closed the hive and 

 left them then. 



Upon looking the next day, I found 

 queen-cells started, and supposed her 

 dead ; but in about two weeks, or such 

 a matter, they cast a swarm, and, lo ! 

 there was my queen running around 

 in front of the hive, for her wings were 

 clipped. I opened the hive, but found 

 no eggs or brood (except sealed brood), 

 cut off the queen-cells, and returned 

 the bees, upon which she commenced 

 laying, and made a fine queen. I have 

 had several such cases since, yet none 

 quite as persistent as was this queen. 



Again I have had queens which the 

 bees treated as they would their own 

 queen, but they would not staj- in the 

 hive at all. They would run out at 

 the entrance, often followed by a few 

 anxious bees which would feed them 

 and keep them alive. I had one out 

 thus till I had put in another queen, 

 and she had begun to lay when I found 

 the first under the bottom-board of the 

 hive with a few bees with her. 



Thus many facts in my experience 

 go to pro\ e that tlie queen has more to 

 do with the lo.'s sustained in introduc- 

 ing than the bees. Well, .says one, 

 ■' If this is so, how can I remedv it ?"" 



The plan I have lately adopted is 

 this : Make a cage out of wire-cloth, 

 having about 16 meshes to the inch, 

 large enough so that it will cover some 

 honey and (juite a little hatching brood, 

 by cutting little squares out of each 

 corner, and then bending the sides up 

 at right angles, so as to form a bottom- 

 less box, as it were. 



Remove the queen you wish to super- 

 sede, shake the bees from the comb, 

 and place your queen on it where there 

 is some honey and hatching bees, and 

 then place the cage over it, pressing 

 the edges of the wire-cloth into the 

 comb till the cage does not project be- 

 yond the surface of the comb more 

 than half of an inch. 



Hang the comb in the hive, leaving 

 three-fourths of an inch between it and 

 its fellows, so that the bees can go all 

 around the cage. 



In a few hours, or the next day, 

 open the hive, and if the queen is 

 reconciled to the strange colony, she 

 will be quiet, and the bees quiet on 

 the cage. When you find it thus, it is 

 generally safe to lift the cage, when 

 she will go quietly among the bees the 

 same as she would have done in her 

 own hive. 



The presence of the young bees with 

 her, which have hatched from the brood 

 enclosed within the cage, has much to 

 do in expediting matters and reconcil- 

 ing the bees and queens. 



If on the contrary the queen is found 

 running around, and the bees are bit^ 

 ing at the cage, do not let the queen 

 out, till such conditions cease to exist. 

 The above are the conclusions which 

 I have arrived at, which may not be 

 entirely correct, still I believe them to 

 be nearly so, in the main. I have in- 

 troduced hundreds of queens as above, 

 and rarely if ever lose one. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



SEPARATORS. 



Their Proper Width for Use in 

 One-Pound Sections. 



Wrttitn tor IheAtnerican Bet Journal 

 BY JAMES HEDDON. 



The 41x41 sections to hold a single 

 pound of honey usually measure just 

 4 inches in the clear, inside. If the 

 separator is less than 'i\ inches in 

 width, the apiarist will not use it long 

 before he will sincerely wish it was 

 not. 



A quarter of an inch is ample pas- 

 sao'e w.ay for bees when passing one at 

 a time, there being no wood directly 

 above the edge of this separator, but a 

 bee-space ; if you will measure from 

 the upper edge of the tin on an angle 

 of about 45- to the nearest edge of the 

 wood to the section, j-ou will find you 



