THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



69 



was then read. An article prepared for 

 this Association, by Dr. W. B. Rush, and 

 published in the December number of the 

 American Bee Jouunai,, was read. 



INTRODUCING (QUEENS. 



The Secretary then read a paper upon 

 this topic, by Charles Dadaut, of Hamil- 

 ton, 111 His paper was as follows: 



Since it is now proved that bees, liJce the otlicr 

 animals of the farm, can >)e improved l).v import- 

 ing foreiijn breeds, the question, " how to intro- 

 duce queens safely," arises, and becomes an indis- 

 pcnsable knowledge to bee-keepers. Many a good 

 and costly queen has been lost or impaired, by 

 lack of experience, in introducing. It is to guard 

 some novice bee-keepdrs against such losses, that 

 I will try to give my cxiiericnce on this to|iic. 

 The introducing of queens when they arrive from 

 Italy, presents more difficulty than in all other cir- 

 cunistances. The queens, "at their arrival, have 

 been for three to live weeks confined in their 

 small boxes, with bodies of worker bees that died 

 with dysentery. Some of these bodies arc rotten ; 

 often some are mouldy ; the honey sometimes be- 

 gins to sour, or it is of inferior grade, gathered 

 from heath or chestnut, or from some other plant 

 giving honey of bad smell. The queens become 

 thoroughly "impregnated with these unpleasant 

 odors. No wonder if the bees, which are so clean 

 in their habits, whose hives smell so good, are ill- 

 disposed to accept these foreigners, in place of 

 their beloved mothers. Yet, by complying with 

 the instincts of the bees, we have succeeded in in- 

 troducing our imported queens, with nearly as 

 much sucess as with our home-bred queens, our 

 losses not having exceeded five or six, on about 

 150 imported queens, introduced in our apiary last 

 season. No doubt a loss amounting to four per 

 cent, will seem to the experienced bee-keeper, 

 heavier than the regular percentage of the losses 

 in introducing home-bred queens. But we have to 

 remember that some of these queens died from di- 

 sease caused by the fatigue of their long journey. 

 An indispensable precaution is to introduce the 

 queen, as soon as the queen to be replaced has 

 been taken from among the bees. If the bees 

 hunt, during a few hours, for their queen, without 

 finding her, it often happens that some worker- 

 bees are so anxious to have the queen replaced, as 

 to raise queen-cells. In such cases the safe intro- 

 duction of the queen is doubtful . Sometimes the 

 queen will be tolerated at first; but the bees will 

 raise a queen of their own, and afterwards a few 

 bees will swarm with the foreign queen, if the 

 weather is conrenient, or the queen will be ill- 

 used by the bees, maimed, even killed, if the col- 

 ony is too feeble to swarm, or if the weather is un- 

 favorable for swarming. To cage in her hive for 

 some hours, the queen to be replaced, can give the 

 same bad results. But if you take the queen out 

 of the hive, putting the foreign queen in the hive 

 before the bees have remarked their absence, they 

 will be uoable to know the change, and your 

 queen will have best chances of being well re- 

 ceived. 



It is sometimes possible to let the queen go di- 

 rectly among the bees without any precaution, 

 but as in so doing, the most experienced can meet 

 with no success, it is more prudent to use some 

 precautions, especially for costly queens. For 

 years we have introduced queens with water scent- 

 ed with peppermint. A few losses have deterred 

 us from this modus operandi. This method is al- 

 ways sHCcessful with us iu the honey season, if 

 bees, combs, and hives have been well soaked 

 with scented water: but in- times of scarcity of 

 honey in the fields, it results, sometimes, in losses, 

 and according to my experience, it is to the pres- 

 ence of robbers in the hive that such losses ought 

 to be attributed. It is impossible, in time of scar- 

 city, to have a hive open for a few minutes, with- 

 out being surrounded with robl)ers, especially if 

 there are some sweets to be leathered. To scent 

 all the bees, the combs, and the inside of the 

 hive, it is necessary to put all out of the hive. The 

 robbers are few at tirst, but they have all the time 

 necessary to return to their hives, and to brine 

 with them their comrades before the hive is closed 



and the tranquility restored. As soon as the 

 scented bees recover from their trouble, they fight 

 the robbers, and, too often they mistake the new 

 queen for a robber, and kill her. 



Whatever b(! the mi^lliod ui-(!d to introduce 

 queens, the greatest care should be taken to pre- 

 vent robbers from entering the hive at the time 

 the queen is liberated. The necessary precautions 

 are, therefore: First, to avoid letting the bees 

 know that their queen is gone; Second, to use 

 some stratagi'in to let the bees believe that the 

 queen introduced, is their own queen; Third, to 

 avoid the invasion of the hive by robbers when 

 the queen is liberated. To fulfill these conditions, 

 we search for the queen to be replaced, and as 

 soon as she is removed, we put the queen to be in- 

 troduced, in a cage, between two combs, directly 

 above the brood, taking care to put her cage 

 against some sealed honey so as to give her a 

 chanceof eating, in case that the bees would forget 

 to nurse her. Then we close the hive, taking care 

 to diminish the entrance, so as to help the bees 

 against robbers. From 3() to 48 hours after, ' 

 we open the hive, and, without removing the cage, 

 we take out one of its stoppers and put in its 

 place a small piece of comb-honey ; then we close 

 the hive. Our cages are made with a small piece 

 of wire cloth, eight meshes to the inch, rolled on a 

 bit of broom handle, with two bits of corn-cobs for 

 stoppers. When liberating the queens, we act as 

 quietly and as quickly as possible, so as to disturb 

 the bees the least jiossible. and to give the rob- 

 bers the least opportunity for entering the hive. 

 While the bees gnaw the combs, the tranquility is 

 restored in the hive, and the queen walks quietly 

 among the bees. As the queen, after such a trial, 

 can be easily frightened, it is prudent to leave her 

 undisturbed for several days. Usually, we do not 

 look at our introduced queens before six or seven 

 days after they are liberated. We can then ascer- 

 tain whether they are laying, and see if the bees 

 have built queen-cells. I know of a good many 

 valuable queens being killed by the bees by the 

 fault of their owners, who were too earnest to see 

 If their queens had been accepted by the bees. 



A general and untechnical paper by 

 Herbert A. Burch, of South Haven, Mich., 

 was then read by the secretary. 



(This paper will be forwarded in a short 

 time.) Votes of thanks were tendered the 

 authors of these papers by the convention, 

 and they were ordered enrolled as hon- 

 orary members. 



Various questions were presented, and 

 a " Question Drawer" was proposed. 



The following gentlemen were chosen 

 to answer the questions presented, with 

 the understanding that upon diflerence of 

 opinion existing among members of the 

 Association, the question might be dis- 

 cussed : 



The committee were P. H. Elwood, T. 

 L. Scofield, G. M. Doolittle. 



A committee to draft resolutions upon 

 the death of Mr. Quinby was appointed, 

 consisting of E. W. Alexander, J. H. Nel- 

 lis, P. H. Elwood. 



The Association then adjourned to 

 Thursday morning at 9 o'clock. 



During the evening an informal social 

 session was held. Mr. Scotield, Vice- 

 President, occupied the chair in the even- 

 ing, when a free and easy conversation all 

 around followed. The question of 

 whether it is profitable to insert extra un- 

 capped comb-honey in the center of the 

 hive to incite breeding, was raised. 

 There was a difference of opinion. Some 

 favored the insertion of clean, empty 

 comb, as this might be useful to the 



