1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



23 



QUEEN=REARINQ. 



Another Method Described -The Present Con- 

 troversy as Seen by One of Oui- Staff. 



(C. S. Harris.) 



THE queen-rearing subject has 

 occupied considerable space of 

 late in many of the bee periodicals 

 but has not been so generally discussed 

 bj' the actual main body of queen- 

 bieeders as might have been expected. 

 Possibly some have been deterred from 

 writing by a distaste for the appearance 

 of free advertising; and others by the 

 opinion that the subject was one of lit- 

 tle interest or benefit to the ordinary 

 bee-keeper and, besides, had assumed 

 the very unpleasant aspect of personal 

 attack. No doubt many have been so 

 busy rearing what Dr. Gallup styles 

 worthless queens, that they have not 

 found time to enter the arena. 



Mr. Doolittle says these controver- 

 sies are productive of much less good 

 than plain statements of facts and ex- 

 periences, and I have no doubt he is 

 correct, and yet. if the bitter, personal 

 feeling could be excluded, much might 

 be learned by a comparison of several 

 prevailing methods. It is impossible, 

 and unnecessary, for all to work alike 

 to arrive at one and the same high 

 point. After trying the various plans, 

 my preference is for the Doolittle, 

 with some variations of my own. 



I believe that good and bad queens 

 may be reared by any or all the meth- 

 ods in use, depending partly upon con- 

 ditions over which we have little or no 

 control and largely upon the care ex- 

 ercised by the queen-breeder himself. 

 The Doolittle plan of transferring the 

 larvae may, possibly, admit in careless 

 hands^ of more latitude for error than 

 the Alley plan of using eggs, but there 

 is no place in queen-rearing for the 

 careless man and he cannot long re- 

 main there. 



My manner of work diflfers mainly 

 in the use of two queens in cell colon- 

 ies, and while this, perhaps, has been 

 tried and rejected by many, there may 

 be some who, like myself, will find an 

 advantage in it, and for the benefit of 

 those I will describe it. 



I use the ten-frame simplicity and 

 dove-tailed hives, which admit of a 



tight-fitting, half-inch division board, 

 with four frames and a Doolittle feeder 

 on either side. I place a super, or 

 hive-body, so arranged over a strong 

 colony, using two queen excluders be- 

 tween it and the brood nest below, 

 which, while allowing the bees to 

 mingle, prevents the queens of the 

 colony and the queen above (for I 

 have a queen in one side of this super) 

 from coming in contact. As con' 

 ditions warrant it, additional supers 

 of empty combs can be placed 

 under the super prepared for cells 

 and the queen-excluders shifted, if 

 thought best, to give the lower queen 

 more room. 



A flight hole is provided at the rear 

 of each compartment of the divided 

 super, and these holes may be closed 

 by a cork, a wooden button, or a piece 

 of queen-excluding metal, as desired. 

 The bees are allowed to fly from the 

 side containing the queen, the other 

 hole being closed with queen-excluder 

 while in use for cells. If closed, it is 

 necessary to see that some of the 

 combs within contain pollen at all times 

 when cells are being built. 



This plan gives me very strong col- 

 onies and brood is always at hand for 

 the cell compartment, as all that is nec- 

 essary is to exchange combs of honey, 

 or empty combs, for brood from the 

 compartment having the queen, making 

 sure, of course, that she is left at 

 home. 



I use two combs of brood and two 

 frames prepared for cell sticks which, 

 with the feeder, fills the compartment. 

 If honey is not coming in freely, I feed 

 syrup enough to keep them at the comb 

 building point. It is not necessary to 

 feed where the queen is, as the bees are 

 stimulated by the feed from the other 

 side, and I use here either a plain di- 

 vision board, or "dummy" frame, or a 

 fifth comb. This is a good place to re- 

 tain choice drones in a poor season, or 

 they may be placed in the full colony 

 below. If you wish, the queen can be 

 transferred, on a comb of brood, to the 

 cell compartment and cells started on 

 the side from which she was removed, 

 and these bees, with the strength of a 

 full colony, will accept and build cells 

 as if completely queenless. Although 

 the plan as ordinarily used is that o*' 

 snpercedure, and it is my belief that 



