Vol. XI 



Published Monthly by The W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co. 

 APRIL, 1901 



No. 4 



CLIPPING QUEENS' WINGS. 



BY G. 51. DOOLITTLE. 



WHEN the spring has fairly open- 

 ed, so that settled, warm 

 weather appears, one of the 

 things to be done is to see that all queens 

 iiave their wings clipped ; and queens 

 are much more readily found before the 

 hives become very populous with bees 

 than they are later on when the swarm- 

 ing season arrives. This clipping of 

 queens' wings has been under discussion 

 in our bee-papers for years; but as 

 there are always new readers entering 

 our ranks, it is well to talk occa- 

 sionally about what some of tlie older 

 ones are already familiar with. 



The majority of our practical apiarists 

 agree that to reap the best results, the 

 wings of all laying queens should be 

 clipped : but there are a few who are 

 opposed, who claim that swarming is 

 conducted with more labor, and also 

 that such a practice will tend toward 

 the weakening of the wing-powers of our 

 bees in years to come. Without stop- 

 ping to discuss this part of the matter, 

 except to say that I believe both points 

 raised are fallacious, I will tell the read- 

 er why I clip the wings of my (lueens. 



In the first place I will give an item 

 rarely spoken of regarding this matter, 

 and one which I consider of first im- 

 portance, which is, that a (lueeu having 

 her wings clipped short is much more 

 readily found when looked for than one 



which has her wings ; and as in our 

 manipulations with the bees it is often 

 necessary to see the queen, so as to keep 

 her where we desire, this finding of a 

 queen is quite an important item. 



Second. In the swarming season we 

 have complete control of the bees, so 

 that we can compel them to do as we 

 like. The prime idea of the clipping of 

 queens" wings was to keep the swarm 

 from going into the woods ; but valuable 

 as this idea is, there are still other points 

 according to my way of thinking, of 

 more importance than merely the saving 

 of all swarms which issue. By having 

 the wings of the queens clipped, swarms 

 are hived without the climbing of large 

 timber or mutilating valuable trees by 

 cutting off limbs etc., the old hive being 

 carried to a new stand while the swarm 

 is out, and a new hive placed on the old 

 stand into which the bees will run on 

 their return after they miss their queen, 

 thus practically hiving themselves, the 

 queen being allowed to run in with the 

 bees on their return. Then you are sure 

 of getting the queen in the hive where 

 you wish her, and if you wish to hold the 

 swarm out on a limb or pole, while you 

 are making a new hive or getting the 

 cows out of the corn, you can do so. 

 keeping them there as long as you 

 please, even up to a week's time. Then 

 in case of two or more swarms cluster- 

 ing together they can be separated as 

 easily as any stock mixed together 

 could be. 



