THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



157 



#ue0tlon0 anlr replies. 



Hearing queens. 



Otioell, IiuL, Sept. 10, 1890. 



Mr. Alley: — The two queens ordered 

 came to lumd in good condition and are 

 satisfactory in everj' respect. I liave Ijeen 

 trying my hand at rearing queens this sea- 

 son, but not witli very great success. I 

 have reared several fine queens, but liave 

 trouble to get the cells started; live cells 

 were the most I could get from one lot of 

 bees, and one lot of bet-s flatly refused to 

 start any cells, so I flually gave them a ma- 

 ture cell which hatched and the queen is 

 pure and proves to be a good one. 



I used your system as given in the 

 Handy Book and Api, using eggs and also 

 larvae just hatched in both old and new 

 comb, but it made no difference in the re- 

 sult. 



Another thing that puzzles me is that 

 the pure Italians seem no better natured 

 with me than the blacks, and the hybrids 

 of which I have several stocks seem no 

 more irritable than the others. If you can 

 give me some advice, either by letter or in 

 the Api by which I may succeed in getting 

 cells started, you will oblige me very much. 



J. E. HOSTETTEU. 



I hardly know how I can say more 

 about queen-rearing and starting queen 

 cells than I have said in my book and 

 in these columns. 



When you try queen-rearing again, you 

 better proceed thus : Let the bees that 

 are to start the cells remain queenless 

 from eight o'clock in the morning till 

 six o'clock at night, then give them 

 eggs that are forty-eight hours old, and 

 those that are in as new comb as you 

 have. But never use comb that one 

 batch of young bees have not been reared 

 in. When the bees are about all in the 

 queen-rearing hive, place a caged fertile 

 queen at the entrance, and let her re- 

 main there till nine o'clock the next 

 morning. 



If you follow these directions I do not 

 see how you can fail to get all the cells 

 you need. I never have the least troub- 

 le in getting all the cells started that 

 one good colony should start. Once in 

 a great while, a batch of bees will not 

 start quite as many cells as they ought, 

 but usually there is little or no trouble 

 about it. If the bees you use for queen 



rearing have been idle for several 

 weeks, you will find that they will be 

 better prepared for cell building and 

 start cells more readily and a larger num- 

 ber, if you feed the colony liberally sev- 

 eral days before they are put to work 

 cell building. Try that, my friend, and 

 you will be well pleased with the result. 



This question is out of order. 



Lynchhurg, Pa. 

 Queens received O. K. Please say if 

 these queens are mated. 



Yes, sir, the queens are mated. And 

 here let me say that we do not send out 

 queens till they have been laying a week, 

 at least. 



I rather think our friend found the 

 queens were all right in one or two days 

 after they were introduced, as we have 

 heard no complaint to the contrary. 



A few days ago, a customer ordered 

 several queens and said he did not want 

 ohl queens such as some dealers send 

 out. Where do you suppose we can get 

 I200 old queens to mail our patrons, 

 when we keep less than loo colonies of 

 bees in our apiary ? When we have old 

 queens for sale, we get ^5 each for them. 



One more queer case. " I don't want 

 the wings of the queens you send me 

 clipped." All right, my friend, you can- 

 not get such queens here. Though we 

 have been requested to clip the wings of 

 queens, we have never done so, in any 

 case. We are not one of thos6 fellows 

 who have an idea that clippling queens' 

 wings is practical. 



Still another. "1 don't want any 

 queens that hatch out the cells before 

 the thirteenth day from the appearance 

 of the larvae," writes another customer. 

 A good idea, my friend. I think you 

 must have read the Api with considera- 

 ble care. You are a beekeeper that will 

 succeed. You know what you want and 

 just where to apply for it, too. Queens 

 started from eggs will not hatch in less 

 than sixteen days from the time the egg 

 was laid. Some dealers hatch them out 

 in nine and ten days. Those fellows 

 can afford to sell for fifty cents each, or 

 to give such queens away, but no bee- 

 keeper can afford to introduce them in 

 his apiary. 



