208 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



proper time to prepare a hive for the 

 breeding queen, as she should be in the 

 hive several days before any eggs are 

 taken from the colony, and the bees al- 

 lowed time to get the hive in order for 

 the work of the season. After one or two 

 combs have been filled and removed, 

 the colony will be in condition to furnish 

 one comb of eggs each day during the 

 season. If the queen is what she should 

 be, every cell in the frame will have an 

 egg in it. I make it a rule to remove 

 that comb every night, and insert an- 

 other one in its place. After mark- 

 ing the date of the month on the top- 

 bar it is then placed in a queenless 

 colony specially prepared for the recep- 

 tion of such eggs. Here the eggs are 

 nursed and cared for until they are 

 wanted for cell building. It would not 

 do to place such combs in a colony hav- 

 ing a fertile queen, as she might find a 

 few cells that had no eggs in them and 

 at once deposit some. Under such cir- 

 cumstances there would be an uncer- 

 tainty as to which queen the cells when 

 built would belong. 



Advantages of using such hives. 



The advantages of using such small 

 hives from which to obtain the eggs will 

 be seen at a glance. Some of them are 

 these. I. It is not necessary to open a 

 full hive when eggs are wanted. 2. The 

 exact age of the eggs is positively known, 

 and one may know when to prepare his 

 bees for cell building and the exact time 

 when the young queens will appear. 

 This is one of the most important fea- 

 tures of my method of rearing queens. 

 Every movement connected with queen- 

 rearing should be so systematized that 

 no mistakes can occur. By my system of 

 getting eggs for cell building and rear- 

 ing queens, it is impossible for the bees 

 to build cells from anything but eggs or 

 very young larva. There is no guess- 

 work or loop-holes left open for mis- 

 takes of any nature. 



Preparing the bees for cell building. 

 At this point every preparation is com- 

 plete for queen-rearing. The colonies 



have been forced up to the swarming- 

 point and the eggs are at the right age 

 from which to start cells. The next 

 move is to select the colony for the work 

 and remove tne hive to the bee-room, 

 where everything has been made con- 

 venient and comfortable for doing the 

 work that must be done to fit a colony of 

 bees for cell building. 



Just at this point not only is there 

 needed a convenient room in which to 

 do tlie work, but several other articles 

 should be at hand ; among them a wire- 

 screen, used for fastening the bees in the 

 hive. A small broom, for brushing the 

 bees from the combs, is one of the most 

 convenient things in the apiary ; also a 

 box that will hold three pecks at least and 

 having a top and bottom of wire cloth. 

 For convenience, this box will be called 

 the swarm-box. It is used merely to 

 confine the bees, for a few hours, while 

 they are being put in condition for cell 

 building. 1 



When the bees have been removed 

 from the combs they are placed in the 

 swarm-box to remain from one to two 

 hours or until they are in a proper con- 

 dition to accept eggs from which to rear 

 queens. 



In the previous editions of the " Bee- 

 keeper's Handy Book" I gave directions 

 and advised keeping bees intended for 

 cell building in a queenless state and 

 confined in the swarm-box ten to twelve 

 hours. Experience has shown that bees 

 that have been in a queenless state but 

 a few hours will destroy eggs prepared for 

 them for rearing queens by my former 

 method. Hence the necessity for keep- 

 ing a colony queenless so long a time be- 

 fore eggs are given them ; but, after prac- 

 tising this method for several years, it 

 occurred to me that it would be an easy 

 matter to obviate the necessity of the 

 long confinement of the bees in such 

 small quarters and so long a time as ten 

 hours, and I was prompted to test the 

 following experiments. 



> All the iirticles used in my melhoils and in 

 the IJiiy St:ite apiary, will lie'iU'scvil)^'! rartlier 

 on. Also a room in wlii-.li lo li;uulle bees, as I 

 Hunk one .-ilionM be arranneii. 



To be continued. 



