10 



^HB AMEEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Queen Raising in Winter. 



[For tbeAmerican Bee Journal.] 



Dividing Bees, or Making Artiflciai 

 Swarms. 



Mr. Editor: — Rather an unusual occurrence 

 came under my notice a few weeks since, of a 

 colony of bees raising a queen in mid-water. 

 I will give the facts of the case, throw out a 

 few suggestions, and leave it ojjen to the readers 

 of the Journal. 



In October last, I furnished a neighbor an 

 Italian queen— a young one, which had just 

 commenced to lay. After destroying the old 

 queen in a good strong si:)ring swarm, he intro- 

 duced the Italian queen. They received her all 

 right. The first of December he closed the 

 entrance of the hive, gave them upward venti- 

 lation, and removed them from their summer 

 stand to a dry cellar under his dwelling house. 

 About the middle of January, when visiting 

 his bees, to see if they were all right, he dis- j 

 tincily heard the i^iping of a young queen. He 

 immediately removed the hive to a convenient j 

 l^lace, and commenced an examination. He | 

 found a good fair quantify of bees and honey, 

 and on the three central cards considerable j 

 brood in all stages, and on one of the cards a i 

 good-sized queen cell guarded by a cluster of 1 

 bees. On opening this cell he found a fine, I 

 young, full-grown Italian queen ; and on one | 

 of the other cards he found the old queen, j 

 apparently all right. He destroyed the young | 

 one, and removed the hive to the cellar again, i 



Now I would like to know if any of the read- 

 ers of the Bee Journal has ever had a case of 

 the kind come under liis notice. Does it not at 

 once settle the point, that the royal jelly, a food 

 given to young queens, is nothing more or 

 less than honey, i^ollen, and water? For, in 

 the above case, there could not possibly have 

 been anything more obtained by the bees. Does 

 it not also account for so many colonies having 

 drone-laying queens in the spring, when return- 

 ed to their summer stands ? Last spring I my- 

 self, had, out of thirty stocks all right in the 

 fall, three drone-laying queens ; and those were 

 in hives that had in them, in the fall, young 

 prolific queens of that season's raising. Possi- 

 bly they raised another queen, for some cause 

 unknown (to me at least), like the colony above 

 referred to ; and when the queens were allowed, 

 by the bees, to come together, the prolific one 

 happened to be slain. This of course would 

 leave the hive with a young queen, without a 

 possibility of her becoming fertilized. 



I have now given the facts of the case, and 

 hope to hear from some of the readers of the 

 Journal, who have had more experience than 

 myself. 



H. M. Thomas. 

 Brooklin, Ontario, Canada. 



The goodness and flavor of honey depend on 

 the fragrance of the plants from which the bees 

 collect it. 



The honey gathered by the bees early in the 

 spring is finer and preferred to that gathered in 

 the fall. 



There are several Avays in which bees may be 

 divided and artificial swarms made, with com- 

 parative success. The object should be, how- 

 ever, to make artificial swarms, that are in 

 every respect equal to natural swarm?, leaving 

 the parent stock in equally good condition also. 

 To do this, we require to keep as close to nature 

 as possible. In other words, we must act in 

 perfect harmony with the nature and habits of 

 the bee. It would then be well to inquire, 

 what is the true condition of the parent stock, 

 after a first swarm has been cast ; and of the 

 first swarm after it has been hived ? 



It is well understood that the old queen goes 

 with the first swarm, and a very large portion 

 of the bees — that is, worker bees, as the drones 

 always remain in the parent hive until the 

 second swarm issues, which always contains a 

 young queen. It is well understood, also, that 

 the first swarm seldom issues until queen cells 

 are commenced and young queens are being 

 developed. It will be seen then that after a first 

 swarm has gone off, the jiarent stock has but 

 few bees, and no queen. It is, however, full of 

 combs filled with young bees in all stages, from 

 the larvae to the full grown bee issuing from the 

 cells, and young queens Avhich will be matured 

 in about nine days. Such then is the natural 

 condition of the parent stock, after a first swarm 

 has issued in a natural way. The first swarm 

 after being hived is in the following condition. 

 It has an empty hive — a hive without comb or 

 honey ; but it has a laying queen and a large 

 number of bees. 



Now how shall we divide a colony so as to 

 secure the same conditions to both stocks ? If 

 we could do this, and make our 8vvarr.:s a few 

 days earlier than they would swarm if left to 

 themselves, and save the trouble of watching 

 for swarms to come off, and the loss of bees 

 going to the bees it would be very desirable. 



I will now give my method of making swarms, 

 and the reader may see how near I keep to na- 

 ture. I wait uniil I see some signs of swarm- 

 ing, or near to swarming time, generally to about 

 the time queen cells are being started. I then 

 go to the hive I wish to divide and search for 

 the queen by looking over each card of comb 

 carefully. As soon as I discover her, I ]iut 

 the card of co»nb on which I find her in a 

 new empty hive from which I have removed 

 one frame. I then put the frame in the old 

 stock, in place of the card of comb I removed. 

 I now remove the old stock away some distance 

 to one side, putting it on a new stand ; and set 

 the new hive, in which I put the queen, on the 

 stand were the old hive stood. The result is, 

 the bees will rush out of the old hive, return in 

 large numbers to the old stand and enter the 

 new hive, where they find their queen, but 

 an empty hive. 



It will now bs seen that the old stock or hive 

 will lose a large proportion of bees and the old 

 queen, the same as in the case of a first swarm go- 



