152 



TEE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



June 



ed and save the five days, and some 

 times something will happen to cells 

 and your hives are queenless ; that 

 makes trouble. Queens hatched in 

 small cages, to depend on candy for a 

 living, or honey that you may fix in 

 the cage for them always look sickly 

 to me. They don't like the candy 

 while they are young, and some of 

 them will starve before they will eat 

 it, but if they can get to the comb 

 they will stick their heads in every 

 cell till they find one that has honey 

 in it, then they will stay there and 

 eat till you would think it will surely 

 make her sick, but don't be afraid, 

 for that is what they want. They 

 must be nearly starved when they are 

 hatched, for if they can't get honey 

 right at once they soon die, so be 

 careful to hiive unsealed honey in 

 cage. Don't throw away virgin 

 queens that are under ten days old, 

 but keep as near in line with nature 

 as you can, both in raising (jueens and 

 feeding them. Here is a quick way 1 

 have piacticed some with good results, 

 for introducing virgin queens. Take 

 queen and all combs from them, but 

 give them honey in some way, old 

 combs from the honey house are good, 

 but be sure they have been from the 

 bees two or three weeks, so there is 

 no chance for them to have eggs that 

 will hatch, place wire cloth over the 

 hive and tack it down so no bees can 

 get out. When the bees all get in 

 the hive clo.se the entrance and put 

 the hive in the shade, if the weather 

 is warm; do this in the morning early, 

 and that night just about dark, or a 

 little before, take virgin queen in a 

 cage by herself to -the hive, have a 

 cup of honey with you, thin it a little 

 with water, drop the queen in honey 



and stir her around a little, be careful 

 not to hurt her, have the hive back on 

 its stand, with cover on over wire 

 cloth, so not to disturb them, now 

 open the entrance on inch, take the 

 queen out of the honey on a fork, put 

 her right in the entrance, the bees 

 will clean her and then treat her as 

 their own. Don't touch the hive 

 after you put her with the bees for a 

 day or two. 

 Click, Texas. 



(From Progres-ive Bee-Keeper. i 



SOME COMMOI;^ MLSTAKES OF BEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



E. W. MOORE. 



Beginners in bee-keeping are bound 

 to make many mistakes in their man- 

 agement of bees. I have before me a 

 letter from one of the beginners of 

 1895, stating that in May, last spring, 

 he bought ten colonies of bees and 

 that after they built up strong, he 

 divided them, letting them rear new 

 queens, and that this winter they have 

 all but four gone to that sleep that 

 knows no waking. 



This is one mistake very often 

 made by beginners, trying to increase 

 their bees too fast, and thereby get- 

 ting their bees so weak in numbers 

 and so short of stores that they either 

 freeze or starve out before spring. 

 And here let me say to anyone buy- 

 ing bees this spring : Don't do as the 

 one above did, and divide your bees, 

 but let them build up and store you a 

 surplus, and if the season and honey 

 flow are right, your bees will give you 

 natural swarms and stow away honey 

 for winter use. 



Another mistake often made by ex- 

 perienced bee-keepers as well as by 

 beginners, it is to neglect feedin_ 



