98 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov., 



An Ill-treated Queen. 



TE.A>' SLATED FOR THE AMEPaCAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I divided a colony, making an artificial swa,rm, 

 aiid using the old queen for tliat purpose. Eight 

 days afterwards I examined the parent stock, to 

 see bow many queen cells had been built. I 

 found twelve,"^ of which I removed ten, leaving 

 two, that a queen might certainly be reared. 

 Eight days later, in the evening, I heard a young 

 queen teeting in this hive, and on opening it, 

 found a fine large yellow queen on one of the 

 combs ; when, almost at the same instant, 

 another young queen, handsomer still, than the 

 first, issued from the second cell, on another 

 comb, and was evidently preparing to fly. I 

 caught her,— beauty of color and shape inducing 

 me to preserve her. I formed a small nucleus, 

 using three combs with sealed brood and the ad- 

 hering bees, starting thus what should soon be a 

 pretty strong colony. I kept it in my cellar four 

 days, and then set it on its destined stand. The 

 bees immediately began to fly, and I soon saw 

 the queen issue and take wing. In about five 

 minutes she returned, evidently not fertilized, 

 and entered the hive. In a few moments the 

 bees became agitated. I opened the hive, and 

 was astonished to see a dense cluster of bees, 

 about as large as my fist, lying on the bottom. 

 Surmising that the queen was imprisoned therein, 

 I blew smoke on it freely, but without eflect. 

 I then separated the cluster by means of two 

 small sticks (and some force was required to do 

 so). I found the queen among them, but still 

 uninjured, and having caged lier, placed the 

 cage among the bees, which instantly covered it, 

 enraged and furious. I so left matters till next 

 morning, when harmony and peace being 're- 

 stored, I released the queen, and she passed 

 among the bees without renewed annoyance. 

 Ou the first and second days after this, I saw no 

 change, but on the third day the bees showed as 

 much agitation as on the former occasion. On 

 opening the hive, I found another cluster on the 

 bottom, from which I again released the queen, 

 finding her this time very weak ami with one 

 wing and a hind leg injured. She appeared as 

 though fertilized, and I inferred that she had 

 been attacked on her return from her bridal trip. 

 I put her in a cage, and left her among the bees 

 till morning, when, finding all peaceable, I 

 liberated her, and she was kindly received. On 

 the fourth day I was not a little surprised to 

 find her laying. Some of the cells contained 

 eggs, and others larvas, though none of the 

 latter were yet sealed. The young bees, when 

 mature, were very pretty. I wintered her as a 

 reserve queen, and gave her to a queenless colony 

 next spring, but found her-dead in front of her 

 hive in May following. Her successor, reared 

 from her brood, was a handsome queen. 



Possibly the bees of this nucleus, having been 

 taken from another hive, may not have missed 

 the young queen while she was absent, and on 

 her return mistook her for a stranger and an 

 intruder. 



VOGEL. 



Introducing Queen Bees. 



We translate from the German the following iu- 

 Btructions for solving this prinie puzzle in bee-cuiture 

 — giving both the process and the reasons foi" each 

 operation. The writer says that, in hundreds of cases, 

 he has never known it to fail, when the directions 

 were strictly adhered to. If it is s?we, it need not be 

 an objection that it is slow; as -it involves less waste 

 of tiuie than the loss of a valuable queen — [Ed. 



If your bees are in a common box or straw 

 hive, drive them out in the iisual manner into an 

 empty box or hive, then shake them out on a 

 sheet, seek for and remove the queen, and re- 

 turn the bees to the empty hive or box. Let 

 them remain in it undisturbed, till by their rest- 

 lessness they show that they have become aware 

 of their queenless condition. Then fumigate 

 them with tobacco, sprinkle them with sugar 

 water, and introduce your new queen among 

 them, gently and uncaged, having previously be- 

 smeared her with honey taken from the hive 

 from which they were driven. She will be 

 readily and gladly accepted. Let the bees and 

 queen remain together thus confined in the un- 

 furnished hive twenty-four hours. Then shake 

 them out on a sheet and run them into a mova- 

 ble comb hive, into which the combs have been 

 transferred from their original hive ; set them on 

 their stand, and matters will proceed peaceably 

 and prosperously. 



If your bees are in a movable comb hive, 

 then after catching and removing tlie queen, 

 take out the combs in rotation and shake the 

 bees down on a sheet, carefully brushing all of 

 them from the combs, and set these in an empty 

 hive. Now run the bees into an empty hive or 

 box, and let them remain in it till they show 

 signs of queenlessuess. Then fumigate them 

 with tobacco, sprinkle them with sugar water, 

 and introduce among them your new queen, un- 

 caged, but besmeared with honey, as directed in 

 the former case. Let them remain thus con- 

 fined twenty-four hours, and then run them into 

 a hive in which their original frames and combs 

 have been inserted. They will be content to 

 feed themselves after their forced and prolonged 

 abstinence, and so rejoiced in the possession of a 

 fertile queen as to refrain from doing her bodily 

 injury. 



In this process the following are the points es- 

 sential to success : 



1. The bees to which a queen is to be intro- 

 duced, must be altogether removed from their 

 old hive into an empty one or a box, that nothing 

 — not even the odor of their late dwelling — may 

 remind them of their former queen. 



3. The hive or box into which they are trans- 

 ferred, must contain neither brood nor combs, 

 so that the bees may be completely uon-plussed, 

 and made more thoroughly aware than other- 

 wise of their destitute and helpless condition. 

 They will thus be completely dispirited, little 

 disposed to make ho.stile demonstrations, and 

 ready to receive and cherish a fertile queen 

 when properly presented. 



3. The introduction of a new queen should 

 not be unduly delayed, but made as soon as the 



