1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



31 



There has been no disposition to swarm at all 

 in any of the other hives, over 60 in all, yet 

 they are full of bees, and the queen lays in the 

 upper combs as well as below, as they do every 

 season ; nor do we remember that they ever ob- 

 jected to so doing. We doubt if our locality 

 could furnish 100 pounds of box honey from one 

 colony, but it ha* given over 300 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey. With the hope that some little 

 item in tliis long article may benefit somebody, 

 we remain as ever, yours, Novice. 



[Translated from Kleiue's Central Blatt.] 



Queenlessness in Box-hives. 



If a parent-stock is found to be queenless in 

 the spring, having worker brood already, and 

 also drone brood, it will be able to help itself, 

 because it can rear a queen out of the worker 

 egg. The bees will transform a worker cell, con- 

 taining a worker egg or larvae, into a queen cell, 

 by widening and lengthening the worker cell. 

 Such cells are usually placed upon the centre of 

 the comb, and have the appearance of a com- 

 pressed acorn. 



If the stock at the time it happens to become 

 queenless is full of bees, it may in from 10 to 16 

 days after the young queen has emerged from 

 her cell, send forth a swarm, very often an after 

 swarm. But should 3 or 4 weeks elapse before 

 the young queen is hatched and fertilized, dur- 

 ing which time the production of brood in the 

 hive has entirely ceased, then will the stock fall 

 much behind the others in the apiary, and the 

 need of aid will be very great. This is also the 

 misfortune, when the young queen is lost on her 

 bridal trip, and the stock is not in a condition to 

 save itself, having no worker brood of the proper 

 age from which to rear a queen. Such a stock 

 is in a fair way to destruction, unless the bee- 

 keeper is in a position to aid it. And he is only 

 in position to do this, should he have any re- 

 serve queens. The breeding and retention of 

 reserve queens is not alone necessary to guard 

 against queenless stocks, but also as a guard 

 against many other mischances in the apiary, 

 hence the breeder is advised to have on hand a 

 certain number of young queens, corresponding 

 to the number of his stocks. Here it may be 

 well to make some remarks for the benefit of 

 those who have not been engaged in the rearing 

 of reserve queens. 



Small basket hives can be used in queen breed- 

 ing just as readily as box hives. As these hives 

 are used alone for small stocks, their size should 

 be about 7 inches, or 17 centimeter high, 4^ in- 

 ches, or 11 centimeter wide on the outside, and 

 of the same depth, so that they may contain 

 three or four combs and an inner wood or glass 

 door. 



The time to begin queen rearing is as soon in 

 the spring as the parent stock begins building 

 drone comb and filling them up with eggs. You 

 proceed in the following way : You choose from 

 among your stocks one very well stocked with 

 bees, especially young bees, and containing a 

 large number of eggs, drive out a portion of the 

 bees and place them upon the old stand, these 



bees being mostly old ones and of no use in 

 queen raising. Now drive out a second time, 

 when you will obtain mostly young bees, among 

 which search for the queen. If you find the 

 queen among these bees, remove her and place 

 her with the bees first driven out ; however, cut 

 out first some comb containing eggs and brood, 

 the parent stock now must be placed on its old 

 stand. 



The small box must now be quickly disposed 

 of. Before the bees were driven out, one of the 

 frames of the nucleus box should have placed in 

 it a comb of sealed honey, another should be 

 filled with empty comb, while the third should 

 be retained for the brood cut from the parent 

 stock, securing the combs with twine, in such a 

 manner that they may neither wabble nor fall 

 out. After the bees have secured the combs, 

 these strings can be removed. These three 

 frames are carefully placed in the box contain- 

 ing the driven out bees. The entrance is now 

 closed with a piece of wire cloth or linen. When 

 a sufficient number of bees have taken possession 

 of the brood comb, it is carefully removed and 

 placed in the box between the two other frames. 



In case the bees refuse to take possession of 

 the brood comb, fill the box with them, close it 

 and place it in the dark for 2 or 3 days. In the 

 same manner the second and third, &c, queen 

 rearing hive is formed until all the bees driven 

 from the parent stock are utilized. What re- 

 main over are returned to the parent hive. After 

 two or three days the nuclei are stood out or 

 hung out and the entrance opened. Should more 

 than one queen cell be started, when they have 

 been sealed shut, cut out the supernumerary 

 ones and start new queen rearing hives, in which 

 instead of brood, one queen cell is placed. 



These nuclei require frequent attention, to see 

 whether the queen deserted, whether it is heal- 

 thy, whether, when on its bridal tour it was lost, 

 whether it is fertile and has began to lay eggs. 

 In the latter case, the queen is ready to be 

 placed in a strong colony and this should be 

 speedily done. 



The breeding of reserve queens is very trouble- 

 some and requires a great deal of time, but its 

 very great utility outbalances by far all these 

 disadvantages. 



Should it happen that a strong stock, capable 

 of being divided should become queenless at a 

 time when fertile queens were in the possession 

 of the apiarian, the best advantage is to be taken 

 of it in this manner : 



So soon as you are convinced that the parent 

 stock is queenless, you drum out a small swarm, 

 say one pound of bees, place them in an empty 

 box or basket, and give them a fertile queen 

 from the reserve queens, secured in a queen cage, 

 and place them on the stand of the parent stock, 

 removing the latter to another place. Does the 

 swarm accept the queen, which is soon discov- 

 ered after the elapse of one, two or three days, if 

 it does not appear sooner, the bees should be 

 allowed to free the queen themselves, the bee 

 keeper having placed over the entrance of the 

 queen cage a thin piece of wax, which the bees 

 will eat away and thus release the queen. If 

 the queen is free, the swarm is allowed to re- 



