Vol. XI 



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

 AUGUST, 1901 



No. 8 



REARING QUEENS. 



The Alley Method Recommended for 

 General Use; and Why. 



BV ARTHUR C. MILI.EU. 



THIS article is intended more partic- 

 ularly for those bee-keepers who 

 raise queens solely for their own 

 use: and yet those who make a business 

 of raising them for sale may find some- 

 thing of interest in it. 



The first and foremost consideration is 

 the selection of two queens for breeding 

 stock, a matter by no means ea?y. To 

 be able to form a fair estimate of queens 

 for such purposes, they should have been 

 under observation for at least one winter 

 and one summer; and it is better if two 

 such periods have elapsed, or even three, 

 if we are seekinpj for longevity as we 

 should.. The other qualities to be look- 

 ed for are vigor, nectar gathering, comb 

 building and temper. • Vigor embraces 

 strong constitution, good wintering and 

 general activity. Nectar gathering is 

 qualified by the kind of nectar gathered, 

 as well as by the q lanti-ty. I have often 

 noticed that some one or more colonies 

 will fill up with white honey, while the 

 rest of them are storing mostly a darker 

 grade. Comb-building is not of much 

 consequence to the person producing 

 extracted honey other than that a dis- 

 inclination to build comb would perhaps 

 be an advantage, for I do not believe 

 that wax secretion is involuntary except 

 in a very limited sense. But to the per- 



son producing comb-honey, the speed in 

 building, the evenness, the capping etc., 

 all should be observed. 



After two queens are found whose 

 bees possess the above described quali- 

 ties in a reasonable degree, let the factor 

 of temper alone. If the bees are gentle, 

 well and good: if not, then make the 

 best of it. but don't go and spoil 

 future honey crops for the sake of having 

 gentle bees. The breeders having been 

 found, set one apart for a drone mother 

 and supply the colony she is in with an 

 abundance of drone-comb. 



The next consideration is the selection 

 of the system by which the queens shall 

 be reared. The factors in that are, first, 

 quality of queens it will produce; second, 

 labor; third, expense in bees. I believe 

 the Alley system is by far the best one 

 yet devised for producing the highest 

 grade of queens: also that by it this re- 

 sult is attained with a minimum amount 

 of labor. The expense in bees is the 

 least item, and there is but little differ- 

 ence as regards it between the different 

 systems now in vogue. 



Mr. Alley's procedure is as follows: 

 Deprive a colony of its combs and queen 

 and confine the bees for several hours in 

 a well-ventilated hive or box placed in- 

 doors. Then a piece of comb contain- 

 ing eggs is cut into strips of one row of 

 cells each, the egg in each alternate cell 

 on one side of the strip is destroyed, 

 and the strip is affixed by its opposite 

 side with melted wax to the lower edge 



