84 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



Mitij 



tragedy. Every season 1 introduce more 

 or less queens and always try the new 

 ways as they are brought out. but I have 

 yet to find a simple one that is more 

 uniformly successful tiian that of Mr. 

 Samuel Simmins of England, called by 

 liim the fasting method. I have used it 

 for many years; it fits my theory and iny 

 theory fits it, beautifully. Briefly it is: 

 Confine the queen alone and witliout 

 food for thirty minutes, meantime keep- 

 ing her warm, and then Ift her run in 

 under the mat. preceded and followed by 

 a puflf of smoke. This is done at night. 

 His instructions are to always use a fresh 

 receptacle for each queen, or use a metal 

 cage and scald it after each use. On the 

 theory that the bees detect the foreign 

 odor of an alien queen, this should not 

 be necessary; because the mixed odors 

 would form a blend approaching the 

 general odor of all colonies. I believe 

 the true reason for the necessity of de- 

 odorizing the cage is that otherwise, the 

 (jueen detecting the seeming presence or 

 nearness of a rival, is angered or at least 

 is put on the defensive so that when 

 liberated she enters the colony in a spirit 

 of hostility which is greater even tlian 

 her hunger. 



Let us analyze this system. The bees 

 where the queen is to enter and who 

 were put on the defensive by the open- 

 ing of the hive, are frightened and driven 

 back a little by the smoke. The queen, 

 who is too hungry to be much disturbed 

 by this, walks quietly and directly in 

 just as if she belonged there, puts out 

 her tongue for food, is given it. and 

 prestol she is at home. As a matter of 

 fact the queen gets very little of the 

 smoke, for only a puff is used and the 

 rapid fanning of the bees drives it out 

 (|uickly. 



You miy ask how I reconcile my 

 theory with cases of colonies that have 

 .killed many queens, no matter l)y what 

 other plan they wen; put in. ' I venture 

 to assert that by her delicati; sense 

 . organs ithe queen detects the general 

 .disturbed and hostile state of the bees 



and it causes fear on her part ; the rest 

 follows in natural sequence. In almost, ' 

 if not quite all, animal creation, hunger 

 overcomes timidity, and we know that 

 by this fasting method queens can be 

 readily introduced to the most obstinate; 

 colonies. We also know that the queen is 

 highly developed and of acute nervous 

 sensitivLMiess. Last sea-;3ii was paiticn- 

 larly unfavorable for all apicultural work 

 — heat, drought, with high winds and 

 very little honey at any time, combined 

 to produce conditions which would try 

 the merits of any system, and under 

 these conditions the '"fasting method"" 

 was uniformly succi^sful, while many of 

 the other and more commonly advised 

 plans were not. 



One clause attached to almost all rules 

 for indroducing queens is this : "Do not 

 disturb the colony for two or more days 

 after the queen is put in.'" Why ? Be- 

 cause the queen will disappear. Why ? 

 Frankly, I don't know. I believe, how- 

 ever, that it is because the queen, not 

 having got well to laying, and not feel- 

 ing at home, gets frightened — the bees 

 do the rest. When queens are intro- 

 duced by the " fasting method " I find it 

 is safe to handle the colonies sooner 

 than when they are put in by most any 

 other plan. 



To those who read my article in the 

 April Bee-kekper on "Shipping Queens" 

 it may seem that the fasting necessary i 

 under this system would prove harmful j 

 to the queens. To those which 

 have been confined to a shipping 

 cage for one or more days, it could add 

 no further injury, and to those taken 

 fresh from a colony, the period of fast- 

 ing is too short to be hurtful. 



By the way, be sure and clip all your 

 queens. It keeps them from going off 

 to enrich some other fellow, avoids the 

 necessity of hard climbing aftirr swarms; 

 but above all, it is the nicest kind of a 

 way to keep track of the age of the 

 que(;ns. A different cut for different 

 y(>ars, and at a glance you know the 

 facts; any supersedure is instantly de- 



