AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AT TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. VII. 



OCTOBER, IS'M. 



No. 4. 



[From the German. Translated for the American Bee Journal.] 



Practical Bee-culture. 

 Raising Large Reserve Queens. 



In the '■'■ Honifihiene von Briln,''^ the Rev. 

 L. Morbitzei", of Raubanien, gives his method of 

 raising reserve queens, in nucleus hives. It is 

 an article prepared with care, showing that its 

 author, besides being a skilful manii^ulator, is 

 guided in his operations by a clear judgment and 

 sound reason. The importance of having reserve 

 fertile queens constantly at hand for any emer- 

 gency, is so obvious, that it need not here be 

 enforced, and we proceed at once to the descrip- 

 tion given of his queen-raising nucleus hives. 

 These are small, being five inches wide, seven 

 inches deep — adaj^ted for four small combs, and 

 ten inches and a quarter high, arranged for two 

 tiers of frames. The dimensions of these 

 nucleus hives may be modified, to correspond 

 with the requirements of the frames in use in 

 any apiary where the system of keeping on hand 

 a supply of reserve queens is adopted. 



When and how are these nucleus hives to be 

 used ? Mr. Morbitzer advises that queen-raising 

 in nuclei should not be engaged in prematurely 

 iu spring, but that it be deferred till drones are 

 hatched and the weather permits them to fly. 

 Beginners are usually too impatient in this 

 matter, unable to brook delay, and thus commit- 

 ting a gross error at the outset : — better wait till 

 the season and circumstances conspire to favor 

 the design. For every ten strong populous 

 colonies in his apiary, he prepares two, three, or 

 four nuclei, but in no case more than four. To 

 this end he removes the queen of a populous 

 stock, usually selecting an old ooe that should 

 be superseded in the course of the ensuing 

 summer. With the aid of this queen he forms 

 an artificial colony in one of the nucleus hives, 

 placing it in his cellar over night, and setting it 

 next day in some convenient place in his garden, 

 keeping the queen caged temporarily. In the 

 unqueened colony he inserts combs with eggs 

 and brood from such of his colonies as he desires 

 to raise queens from, trimming oflf the lower 

 edges of the combs, and setting them in the 

 middle of the brood chamber. The colony is 

 then regularly fed every day, with lukewarm 

 honey, that the brood may be ijroperly attended 



to and become fully developed ; and that the 

 embryo queens also be fully developed, the bees 

 must be allowed to fly, to procui'u the needed 

 supplies of pollen and water. 



Eight or ten days later, the additional nucleus 

 colonies are to be formed. With this view 

 small sectional frames containing worker combs 

 had been inserted iu the brood chamber of popu- 

 lous stocks, and are now taken out to supply the 

 frames of the small nucleus hives, into which 

 empty combs and combs containing sealed honey 

 are likewise introduced. To procure a supply 

 of young workers for these nuclei, the bees clus- 

 tered on the bi'ood combs of full colonies are 

 brushed off into a transferring hive or any 

 empty box, which is left ojien. The older bees 

 will speedily return to the colonies from which 

 they were taken, while the young ones will 

 remain and are used to sujiply the nuclei, which 

 are then placed in a cellar over night, to settle 

 and become reconciled to their changed condi- 

 tion. Next day a sealed queen cell, taken from 

 the unqueened colony, is inserted in each nucleus, 

 and these are replaced in the cellar, where they 

 ).-emain four or live days longer, or until the 

 young queens are hatched. They are then taken 

 out and set apart from other hives in the apiary, 

 if possible on the south or southeast side. 

 When the young queens have been fertilized 

 and dispo.sed of, it is advantageous to replace 

 them with sealed queen cells built for second 

 swarms, instead of using post-constructed tcells, 

 for the latter do not produce as vigorous and 

 perfect queens as the former. 



In addition to the above, the Rev. Mr. 

 Stahala, of Dolein, has the following remarks, 

 in the same journal, on the i^rocess for rearing 

 large queen bees: "All experienced beekeepers 

 concur in the conviction that large queens are 

 preferable to small ones. Though occasionally 

 even quite diminutive queens prove to be re- 

 markably prolific, this is nevertheless the excep- 

 tion and does not invalidate the rule. Every 

 breeder should, therefore, constantly endeavor to 

 raise large queens — the larger the better. Such 

 are not only more prolific, but become fertilized 

 earlier, and are less liable to be lost on their 

 excursions.'' 



Mr. Morbitzer cautions breeders against using 

 post-constructed queen cells for queen raising. 

 Mr. Stahala, however, dissents from this, and 



