THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



231 



[For tho Ainoricau Bee Journal.] 



Experience in Italianizing. No. 3. 

 By Anotheu Novice. 



In my last I promised to give my experience 

 in raisinc: qneens, but nn attack of porc eyes 

 compelled me to be too lute for tho May num- 

 ber. 



In the early part of last spring, finding my 

 bees had Avintcred well, I commenced feeding 

 two Italian stocks, in order to stimulate early 

 breeding, that I might have drones early. But 

 in this I failed, for the black drones ajjpcared 

 the same day as the Italians. My object was to 

 raise early queens ; and in order to do that, I 

 endeavored to ascertain the easiest mode for a 

 beginner. I found so many modes ])roposcd in 

 the books and the .Iouhnat,, that I was greatly 

 puz-zled how and when to begin. 



On the loth of April I transferred a weak 

 colony to a frame hive, and as I went to remove 

 the splints on the fourth day, I discovered that 

 three or four queen cells had been started I 

 Avas surprised that I had lost th(> (pieen in the 

 operation, for I had hardly lost a dozen bees 

 besides. Experience has since taught me that 

 the l)laek queens will hide in any place they 

 can f^nd. When transferring a colony ten days 

 ago, I found the (|uecn hid in a crack in the old 

 bottom board, after all the bees ha<l gone in and 

 the hive was set on its stand. It was by mere 

 accident that I chanced to see her, as I supposed 

 she was in with tlie bees. 



But to return to the c;lls. I noticed them al- 

 most every day, and on the twellth saw where 

 the fir>t had conn; out and dcslroyed the others. 

 Thus I had raised my lirst ([ueen accidentally 

 The spiing being very damp, cold and back- 

 ward, and there being no hope that drones 

 would appear soon, I destroyed her in about a 

 week or ten days, and gave them a frame of 

 brood and eggs from one of the Italian colonies, 

 hoping the bees would buikl queen cells; but 

 they faik'd to do so. In about a week I gave 

 them another fianie of brood, and they then 

 started a few cells ; but by the time they v.'cre 

 ready to be cut out, the la t week in May had 

 come and the earliest drones made their appear- 

 ance. 



I now swarmed the two stocks of Italians, 

 each of waich had from ten to fifteen cells, a 

 few being sealed over. This was on the 28th 

 of May. Two i f the strongest black stocks 

 swarmed en the same day. Tiie rest being in 

 box hives, which I had not yet learned by ex- 

 perience how to swarm, I concluded I would 

 let them alone and see whether they would not 

 swarm naturally, which they did. I now felt 

 at a loss what to do with the great number of 

 (|Uren cells that had appeared all at the same 

 time, say about forty in three hives. I removed 

 the black queens from the new swarms, and put 

 a cell on the top of each between the frames, 

 all of wliic'h did well. I formed a few nuclei 

 in small boxes and gave them (;e!ls, all of which 

 hatched; but only one queen remained to become 

 fertile — the bees of all the others leaving with 

 the queens on their excursions to meet drones. 

 On opeuing one of these nuclei about noon, I 



observed where the queen had just emerged 

 from her cell, and destroyed the next cell that 

 joined it too closely to be separated. About 

 two inches from it was anotlier cell with a 

 queen just working out. The third queen had 

 just left, sccompanied by all the bees in the nu- 

 cleus. How are we to account for her not de- 

 stroying the other cell on the srme c )mb, within 

 two inches of her own V "Was she unaware of 

 its existence, or did the bees defend it, int(!nd- 

 ing to swarm when tlierc was not a particle of 

 brood in the box ? I removed this cell and in- 

 serted it in a hole in the top of a box hive that 

 had swarmed a few days previous, and poured 

 in a little honey around the sides, to prevent 

 the bees from killing the queen, knowing th;t 

 she would get out of her C(!il in a few minutes. 

 I did this merely as an experiment, not know- 

 ing any other way to save her, as there were 

 not bees enough left in the nucleus to nurse her. 

 Three days after, about one o'clock in the af- 

 ternoon, I observed a beautiful Italian queen 

 enter the hive. Tims my experiment had 

 proved successful. I put cells in the holes of 

 all the box hives in from two to four days after 

 the first swarms issued, and the next evening 

 after the second left — all exceiit one of whicli 

 hatched ; and some of them met Italian drones. 

 Thus I had succeeded in Italianizing my box 

 hives in a way little expected. I had calculated 

 on b.aving to drum out the bees, hunt up the 

 queens, and introduce some reared in nuclei, 

 and keep them caged for twenty-four hours. 

 The use I made of the numerous queen cells 

 that came just at the right time saved me a great 

 deal of trouble. But had I taken bees enough 

 from the two natural swa'ins that came ofT the 

 same day on which I divided the two Italians, 

 and formed a few more nuclei, giving each a 

 queen cell and a piece of brood comb, I might 

 have saved more of the cells and all the young 

 queens. As it was, I saved only about tea of 

 them. 



I dislike the practice of cutting out brood or 

 eggs from large hives, to rear queens n small nu- 

 clei. I prefer having the queen I intend to rear 

 from a nucleus hive about twice or thrice as large 

 as the common nuclei, with frames of the ordi- 

 nary size, so as to be able to give each nucleus 

 a frame of brood. This has tlie additional ad- 

 vantage of preventing the bees from leaving 

 with the queen on her exit to meet with drones. 

 I consider this method much less trouble. I 

 tried it from July until September, with a young 

 fertile queen, and reared in all that season tliir- 

 tj'-five queens. Four of these were unable to 

 lly, and eight of them were lost on their excur- 

 sions. 



In the fall I removed all the hybrid queens, and 

 attempted to introduce pure queens that had 

 mated with Italian drones. In this attempt, 

 however, I had my first trouble, as the bees 

 killed s' veral of them. I was compelled to give 

 them back their own queens, which I Jiad saved 

 in cages, to be prepared for the emergency. 

 Having no more (jueens to give them, I tried 

 this on tiie twenty-four hours system. But this 

 too is not always safe in the fall ; though I am 

 willing t ) risk it at all times in the spring. 



I said four of the queens could not fly, from 



