1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



83 



[For the Americivu Bee Jouniitl.] 



Introduction of Unimpregnated Queens. 



Tliat the introduction of unfecundated queens 

 slioulil be so often spoken of, and that too by 

 some of our experienced bee-keepers, as a matter 

 of much d tficully, is a question to me ahiiost in- 

 comprehensible. In tiie hands of the inexperi- 

 enced, or of those ignorant of tlie first principles 

 of success, a few failures ought not to be won- 

 dered at. But for those having a knowledge of 

 the prereciuisites for the acceptance of a stranger 

 queen by a colony of bees, to talk of the safe in- 

 troduction of unimpregnated queens, as an act of 

 uncertainty, induces me to believe that they have 

 either not experimented at all on this part ot- 

 practical bee-culture, or else did so to little 

 profit. 



If it be true, as has been asserted time and 

 again in the Bee Journal, that the only means 

 the bees have of recognizing strangers, is by the 

 sense of smell, it stands to reason that, if a stran- 

 ger queen be confined in a hive long enough to 

 acquire the scent of the hive, the bees will imme- 

 diately accept her as their own, especially if they 

 have no young queens in process of rearing. 



Acting upon tiiis princii>le the past summer, I 

 confined my young queens in small wire cages, 

 and inserted them as near as I could in the centre 

 of the hive ; at the same time taking the jirecau- 

 tion to provide them with food during their con- 

 finement. The result was that out of a goodly 

 number of unimpregnated queens, introduced in 

 swarming time, not one \vas lost. We have also 

 succeeded ail miral/ly in introducing them, by scent- 

 ing both queen and bees witii some liquid having 

 a peculiar scent. By either method, we regard 

 the safe introduction of a queen bee, whether 

 fertile or not, as a matter of certainty : where tiie 

 queens themselves are kept from starving by 

 proper feeding. 



We permitted natural swarming to some extent 

 this summer, in order to get hardy and prolific 

 queens. As we will break up a number of after- 

 swarms this fall, which were unfortunate in com- 

 ing late, we shall be able to furnish some who 

 prefer tested queens to all others, with a number 

 of finely colored queeus raised in natural swarms, 

 cheap for cash. 



J. L. McLean. 



Buhmond, Jeff. Co., Ohio. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



Introducing Queens. 



As an introducer of queens I have not been 

 a' ways successful. In several cases, after two 

 or three days caging, tiie queen has been ac- 

 cepted all right, and within twenty-four h' urs 

 rejected. I watched one of these cases, in which 

 the queen, when liberated from tlie cage, was 

 caressed bj'^ the bees, until by and by one ol a 

 difi'erent mind (and of a diff'erent body, too ; for 

 I have noticed the first to attack a queen are the 

 small-bodied feUows) assailed her, and very 

 shortly was joined by others, until a mass im- 

 prisoned her. 



With Mrs. Tupper's favorite method I have 

 sometimes succeeded, and sometimes failed ; but 

 then the fault may have been all my own. I 

 have half drowned bees, queen and all, with di- 

 luted honey strongly scented witli peiipermint, 

 and had the pleasure of seeing the drunken fools 

 fondle her as if they had always known her; 

 and then some one of the number, not fully sat- 

 urated, would attack her. 



Latterly, I have taken a difi"erent plan, and 

 one which, according to all the authorities ought 

 uniformly to fail ; but which, so far, has uni- 

 formly succeeded here. It is simply this: 



Wait until the bees have started queen cells. 

 Then, wiihout any preparation whatever, put 

 any queen, fertile or unfertile, directly on the 

 comb, among the bees. That is all. 



It may be that I shall fail the very next time ; 

 1 ut, until I do fail, I shall continue to practice 

 this plan. I give it to the Journal, in hopes that 

 some one else, having a queen or queens of no 

 value, w 11 give it a trial. I have not tried it long 

 enough to consider it a settled thing; but shall 

 report to the Journal the first case of failure. Let 

 me relate a case of success : 



August 1st, I put into an empty hive. No. 15, 

 one frame containing some honey and a very 

 few cells of sealed brood. I put into this hive a 

 young queen that had just commenced laying, 

 and set the hive in place of one containing a 

 strong colony. Of course the empty hive re- 

 ceived all the flying force of the strong colony. 

 On the next day they had destroyed the queen. 

 I then took a queen two or three years old, cov- 

 ered her with honey completely, and dropped 

 her on the frames. She was received all right. 

 Next day, August 3d, I killed this queen and 

 introduced a young one in exactly the same 

 manner. She was promptly imprisoned, and I 

 released and caged her. August 5th, this queen 

 having 1 een caged two days, is still refused. 

 August Gth, she is caressed by some of the bees, 

 but others imprison her. I then gave her to a 

 full colony. No. 1, which was quecnlessand had 

 queen cells started, some of which were sealed. 

 Placing her directly on the comb, without cag- 

 ing, she was kindly received and soon com- 

 menced laying. I then took from No. 1, the 

 frame with queeu cells, and gave it to No. 15. 

 Three days later, August 9lh, I gave to No. 15, 

 an unfertile queen three days old, placing her 

 directly on the comb. On the same day I gave 

 anotheV full colony, having queen cells only a 

 day or two old, an unfertile queen three days 

 old. Being out of the State I did not see them 

 again tiil August 23d, when I found both queens 



hiyillg. C. 0. MlI>LER. 



Marengo, III., Aug. 30, 1870. 



The smell of their own poison produces a 

 very irritating effect upon bees. A small por- 

 tion ofjfercd to them on a stick, will excite their 

 anger. 



After a swarm of bees is once lodged in their 

 new hive, they ought by all means be allowed to 

 carry on their operations, for some time, with- 

 out interruption. 



