Aug. 3, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



549 



when I pulle'd the plug out and in three or four days the 

 queen was all right. 



Dr. Miller — There is just one part that might be added 

 to what Mr. Whitney has said. He says that he introduced 

 that queen the second time in the morning. 



Mr. Whitney — No; I introduced her immediately. 



Dr. Miller — About what time was it? 



Mr. Whitney — About the middle of the day it was that 

 we looked, and I introduced her again, but plugged up tlie 

 cage so tliat she couldn't get out, and left her there over the 

 frame till the ne.xt morning, and then carefully removed the 

 frame and didn't disturb the bees at all. 



Dr. Miller — That is the point — if you free her at a time 

 when the bees are likely to be troublesome, in the morning. 

 Any other time in the day you will not be quite so safe as 

 if you free her just at night when there will be no chance 

 for robbers or foreign bees to get in. In this case it is the 

 queen with which you have had trouble, and you want to take 

 more than ordinary care. So take the additional precaution 

 to liberate her at night and you will be safe. 



Mr. Wilcox — I thought perhaps there might be a word 

 more said in regard to the manner of picking up that queen 

 in the ball. He said he picked it up with his fingers and put 

 it in the cage. 



Mr. Whitney — No ; I scooped the whole ball of bees up 

 from the bottom of the hive with my hand and shook them 

 out and the bees were very much surprised. 



Mr. Wilcox — Sometimes a bee-keeper is, too ! I could 

 recommend those that are very timid to use a little table 

 spoon and pick up the ball and throw it into some water. 



Mr. McCain — In regard to the ball of bees, I would like 

 to ask if it is a dangerous or unwise thing to smoke the 

 ball. 



Dr. Miller — Yes, and no. I take the smoke and I will 

 warrant that one way I use it they will kill the queen, and 

 another way I use it they will not hurt the queen. Hold the 

 smoker off far enough so that the cold smoke comes upon 

 them, and they will leave it about the same as they will when 

 you throw them into the water. Get some bees in your 

 fingers and hold the smoker up so that the smoke will be 

 hot and see if you don't get stung. You will be sure to kill 

 the queen if you blow hot smoke on it. 



Mr Kimmey — I don't know anything about these matters, 

 but I have had just a little experience. I got a queen, and 

 found after she was liberated the bees had balled the queen 

 in the bottom of the hive, and I picked it up and laid it on 

 top of the frames and moved it a little, and it never occurred 

 to me that tliey would sting me ; and the queen flew away 

 and I thought, "Well, surely she has gone." But I waited 

 about an hour, or something like that, and I looked again 

 and I found the queen back, balled in the bottom of the hive. 

 I simply picked it up, from my previous experience, and 

 carried it into a little building in my hands and then caged 

 it there. I had a caged queen and the colony without any 

 queen which I wanted to get that queen into. I didn't know 

 what to do. I went back and hunted up all the old bee- 

 papers I could ^find to get some information on the que=tion 

 I don't know just what paper it was in, but it said to smear 

 the bee with a honey and water mixture and throw it in the 

 hive and it would be all right. I thought, "Here is a des- 

 perate case and I don't know what to do." I tried it and it 

 succeeded, and that is all I know about it. I simply smeared 

 the queen with that mixture and poured a teacupful right 

 down between two frames and let the bees in, and it went on 

 and made a good colony. 



Dr. Miller — It may succeed next time, but maybe it 

 won't. 



Mr. Dadant — I thiiik there is a great deal less dan.yer 

 than some people would think of bees stinging when they have 

 balled a queen. I have never had patience to go after a pail 

 of water to throw the bees into. We have found the bees 

 ball and I was in too much of a hurry to release her to do 

 anything like that and I never got stung. They are rubbing 

 against one another and expect to be rubbed, and their stings 

 will not hurt one another; they will hardly hurt your fingers. 

 Our way to do it is to do it promptly. 



Mr. Abbott — I would like to ask these gentlemen what 

 they have queens balled for? I wouldn't think anything more 

 about putting a queen into a hive and not having her balled 

 than I would about picking a frame out. I think a bee- 

 keeper hasn't learned his business that has them balled. 

 Mr. Whitney — If she were balled what would you do? 

 Mr. Abbott— She won't be. You might just as well ask 

 me if my wife left me what would I do. She won't leave. 



Mr. Kimmey — I would like to know what I did wrong. 

 I simply put the cage in the hive and left it there, I believe, 

 about 43 hours and found her balled in the bottom of the 

 hive. 



Dr. Miller — May I be allowed to interrupt and cut this 

 matter short by asking that Mr. Abbott shall tell us what he 

 can do so that there are- never any balled queens or queens 

 balled. 



Mr. Whitney — Perhaps I can answer the question for 



Mr. Abbott. I don't believe he keeps any bees! [Laughter.] 



Mr. Abbott — I used to have about 200 colonies when I 



was handling queens, but the question with me was. How 



your colony came to be queenless? 



Dr. Miller — That is not the question. The question is, 

 How does he do that he never has any queens balled? 



Mr. Abbott — In the first place I don't have queenless 

 colonies to begin with, when I want to introduce a aueen. 



Mr. Kannenberg — I had a colony of bees I wanted to 

 Italianize. I got the queen out about two days before, and 

 I left it queenless for two or three days. Then I looked to 

 see when I put the queen in if there was — 



Mr. Abbott — You followed the instructions of the bee- 

 books and journals; you shouldn't have-done anything of the 

 kind. The way to introduce a queen ih not to kill the old 

 queen to start with. The way to do is to leave the old 

 queen in the hive ; don't interfere with her at all. When 

 you get your cage with the new queen, uncover the wire so 

 that the bees in the cage can get at the bees inside of it, 

 and get at the queen if they want to. Leave it there at least 

 48 hours, then catch the old queen and kill it, and uncover 

 the candy and cover up your hive as quick as you can. Just 

 as soon as you find the queen and kill it don't spend another 

 moment's time but get the frames back in as quickly as pos- 

 sible ; uncover the candy, cover up the hive and go about 

 your business, and pay no attention to them for two or three 

 days ; and when you go back you will find the queen laying 

 every time, and never have one balled. If j'ou kill the old 

 Queen according to the instructions in all the books, in nine 

 cases out of ten you will have trouble and have them balled. 



Dr. Miller — I have had queens balled a good many times 

 when there was but one queen in the hive and none other 

 had ever been in : they balled their own queen. 



Mr. Dadant — There are many cases in which we have 

 balled queens. I have seen hundreds of instances. I have 

 had two swarms come out and each of the two queens balled 

 because some of the bees of the other swarm were with that 

 queen. I have had queens that I was about to introduce, 

 balled before I had any time to do anything with them. I 

 have seen young queens balled in the hive. Those things are 

 accidents that happen in the bee-business, and the best of us 

 cannot avoid them. 



Mr. Root — I would like to agree with both gentlemen, 

 but I think Mr. Dadant is exactly right. I also agree with 

 Mr. Abbott on his method of introducing queens. We have 

 been trying that all the past summer and the plan is all right. 

 Leave the old queen in the hive until you are ready to 

 release the new queen. We have been doing it with our 

 virgin and laying queens and it works better than it worked 

 the other way. But the "A B C of Bee Culture" has been 

 changed, Mr. Abbott, and our directions are changed to cover 

 that. We introduce our virgins ; we have three or four in a 

 hive at a time, and we also have a laying queen. As those 

 virgin queens begin to lay we take out the laying queen and 

 leave the other in the hive, and when the other begins to lay 

 we take her out. I think there is one point that has been 

 dropped, and that is this question of scent of the bees. At 

 the University of Pennsylvania I spent some three months 

 a year ago last summer, and after working a long time at 

 this problem the intention was to consider some problem of 

 introducing. I remember Mr. Abbott had been trying to 

 pound that thing into us, and we didn't believe it — 

 Mr. Abbott — For twenty years. [Laughter.] 

 Mr. Root— And Dr. Phillips takes the ground — and he 

 has been studying this question very carefully — that this 

 question of introduction depends almost entirely on the scent 

 of the bees. If the bees are balled, and you handle that ball 

 in your hand and get that queen in your fingers, the chances 

 are that they will ball up again '.ecause that scent has been 

 changed. The bee's sense of snu-U is very acute. If the scent 

 is changed a little bit the conditions are different. They rec- 

 ognize her somewhat as a stranger. I have had queens balled 

 in our yard. By picking up the queen and showing her to 

 visitors and dropping her back, tiK-y will ball her. Sometimes 

 a disturbance in the hive will eause them to ball her. But 



