THE AMERICAN HEK .TOUENAL. 



23 



to these latter an already hatched queen, 

 or a queen-cell. It is not to be feared 

 that these latter will destroy the cells, es- 

 pecially if they are young and were given 

 to the hive with the bees on them. 



The swarm will at once protect the cells 

 and commence to complete them, and will 

 thereby be favorably inclined on the follow- 

 ing day to accept an older queen-cell or 

 perhaps a recently hatched queen, and the 

 comb containing the cells may be given to 

 another recently unqueened swarm. 



By mixing the bees of two swarms, ei- 

 ther by interchanging combs, or by shak- 

 ing the bees from them, a swarm may be 

 prepared for accepting a young queen. Al- 

 so a stupefying of the bees, with the smoke 

 of a puff-ball, perfumery, etc., serves well. 



When one has not a surplus of young 

 queens, it is well to confine them in a cage 

 until the bees become acquainted with her. 



This introduction, however, is only com- 

 plete when the young queen becomes fertile, 

 which is sometimes very slow. The impreg- 

 nating of young queens depends much on 

 the weather, since it requires bright, pleas- 

 ant weather with a temperature of upwards 

 77° F. in the shade. Here the bee-keeper 

 can aid somewhat, that the young queen 

 may become earlier capable of being im- 

 pregnated, earlier capable of making her 

 wedding flight, and, consequently, earlier 

 capable of laying. That young queens will 

 make their wedding flight at a certain specific 

 time, as Herr Collen claims to have discov- 

 ered, is opposed by theory and practice. 

 Fourteen days in March will not advance a 

 queen as far as seven days in May. 



The queen of an after swarm will b'e lay- 

 ing before the queen of another stock, of 

 like age, will hardly be thinking of making 

 her wedding trip, perhaps not yet ruler of 

 the hive. There is very good ground for 

 this. To attain the capability of being im- 

 pregnated the internal organs must be more 

 developed, which require the building up of 

 the muscles and nitrogenous nourishment. 

 Such food the bees alone prepare when in 

 full, active life, when building and brooding 

 is going on. It is true that in after swarms 

 there is no breeding going on, but there is 

 great activity in building, and for this pur- 

 pose a higher temperature is maintained; 

 this stimulates in the young queen an earlier 

 development, earlier flight and earlier lay- 

 ing. In the mother stock, however, there is 

 neither breeding nor building going on, no 



full active life rules the hive, hence the 

 young (jueen remaining behind, in general, 

 developes herself much more slowly. Many 

 keepers of movable comb hives, or basket 

 hives, cut away some portion of the comb 

 near the entrance, in order by the filling 

 of the vacancy, to test whether the hive 

 was queenless or not. And by so doing 

 they obtain, without thinking of it, an ear- 

 lier impregnation of their queen, the- in- 

 creased activity in building bringing this 

 about. In movable comb hives the activity 

 of the bees is aroused and the development 

 of the queen is hastened by placing in the 

 hive a comb of young unsealed brood, or, 

 if he does not wish to destroy fine empty 

 combs, let him separate the combs and in- 

 sert between them, near the fly hole, empty 

 frames with simply foundations. Again, by 

 feeding in the evening, and from time to 

 time sprinkling with thinned honey, will the 

 early and full development of the queen be 

 not a little hastened. Yesterday, August 8, 

 a hot, oppressive day, I entered my Apiary 

 about three P. M. Hardly any bees were 

 flying, since this one week of oppressive 

 heat had parched all vegetation. Only the 

 drones, where any were yet present, were 

 hotly pursued. Their number becoming 

 daily less, I sprinkled all my nuclei, con- 

 taining young queens, with diluted honey. 

 It was hardly a minute before I saw a young 

 queen with her cluster of bees leave the 

 hive; on opening the hive a quarter of an 

 hour later, I found the plain signs of her 

 copulation. Without the aid given by this 

 sprinkling of thinned honey the queen would 

 not have come out; and had the weather 

 changed, days, yes weeks, might have 

 elapsed before another favorable opportunity 

 would have presented itself. 



Moreover, the periods at which the im- 

 pregnated queens begin to lay differ widely. 

 Often in two days after copulation she has 

 full laying powers, but with as thin a body 

 as an unimpregnated queen. And then noth- 

 ing is so stimulating as comb of young 

 brood. The bees having then to prepare 

 food for the brood, the queen will also be 

 abundantly furnished with it, and thus be- 

 gins to lay so much earlier. In this is also 

 the advantage that in looking for the queen 

 you will find her on the brood comb, and 

 then one can readily see whether she is 

 wanting in any particular. 



DZIERZON. 



Carlsiiiark, Aug. g, iSyj. 



