THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



185 



Mr. Alley: 



I wish you would tell me if 

 there are any good reasons for not 

 returning a swarm that has issued 

 back whence it came and setting 

 them to work in old hives, thus 

 preventing increase. Am willing 

 to pay for having my questions 

 answered if you will set your price. 

 W. W. F. 



[The objection is this : if a swarm 

 is returned without first destroying the 

 queen cells, the bees would come off 

 again the next day, or would kill the 

 queen and swarm again when the first 

 young queen emerges from a cell. Try 

 our method given in the June "Api." 

 It is a part of our business to answer 

 questions, consequently no charge is 

 made for so doing.] 



Telford, Pa. 



Mr. Henry Alley : 



If I am not asking too much will 

 you please tell me how wood sep- 

 arators are made that are used to 

 keep the comb separate in the sec- 

 tion boxes ? ]My object is to get 

 as much surplus as possible in one- 

 pound sections. Would it be de- 

 sirable to give the bees twenty 

 bi'ood-frames or only ten? 



A. Paul Gerhart. 



[Wood separators are thin pieces 

 sawed from thiclv lumber. They can 

 be made for one section or for more. 

 These separators are placed between 

 each two rows of sections to mal^e the 

 bees build the comb within each sec- 

 tion. The separators are made nar- 

 rower at the middle than at the ends, 

 so that the bees can get into the sec- 

 tion. 



If you want to get all the section 

 honey possible, don't use over eight 

 frames (seven will do much better) ^^ in 

 the brood-chamber. The larger the 

 brood-chamber the less bees will enter 

 the sections. Keep the brood nest con- 

 tracted by using few frames and that 

 will compel the bees to enter the sec- 

 tions and wliile they are in them, if 

 forage is plenty, they will build comb; 

 and the field bees, or honey gatherers, 

 will fill the new comb with honey. J 



Yardly, Pa., 1887. 



Friend Alley : 



Received your Oct. Apicultu- 

 RiST ; in it saw advertisement of 

 Alley's Nursery for Queen-rearing. 

 You say virgin queens can remain 

 in it for weeks. Now, friend A., I 

 have some questions to be an- 

 swered by 3'ou. 



1. How long may a virgin queen 

 remain unmated and after being 

 mated become a fair queen? 2. Do 

 those cells in your nursery cages 

 answer for the second brood of 

 queens or do new cells have to be 

 put in ever}' time? Will the old 

 queen deposit eggs in the cells in 

 the nursery cages or not ; or do you 

 have to let her lay eggs in brood 

 frames and then cut them out? 

 How many queens can be hatched 

 at once in one nursery? 



Elmer E. Grey. 



[1. A virgin queen may remain in 

 the cage from twelve to twenty-flve 

 days, and as soon as given a cliance 

 to fly after being introduced to a nu- 

 cleus colony, will become fertile. 



2. Certainly not; you do not seem 

 to understand the workings of the 

 Queen-nursery. A Queen-nursery is 

 merely a set, more orless, of small cages 

 in which are placed queen cells to 

 hatch. The cells must be built by the 

 bees, in full colonies, and when they 

 liave been capped seven days trans- 

 ferred from the combs to the Queen 

 nursery. The cages are provided with 

 food for the bal^y queen. When all is 

 ready, a frame of brood is taken from a 

 full colony of bees and the frame, in 

 which the cages containing the queen 

 cells have been placed, is inserted in its 

 place. The honey-board or cushion is 

 tlien placed over the frames or brood- 

 nest, and in a few days the queens will 

 have emerged from the cells; but as 

 the cages are well supplied with food, 

 the queens need no attention until the 

 nuclei are ready for the reception of 

 the.queens, which will be when the bees 

 have been queenless three or more 

 days. Old queens will not deposit eggs 

 in cells from which a young queeu has 

 just emerged. 



Our nursery contains 21 cages, and 

 21 queens may be " hatched" at one 

 time. We removed several nurseries 

 to-day from full colonies, and found 21 



