THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



127 



observable in queens raised from cells as 

 above nourislied, and tliose raised in 

 weak and half starved colonies or nuclei. 

 Wliilu the former produce large and well 

 developed queens, the hitter produce cor- 

 respondingly small and weakly ones. In 

 addition to the above, it is necessar}"^ to 

 have plenty of Italian drones in the apia- 

 ry, that the young cjuetin's cliauces for 

 purely mating in her bridal trip, may be 

 increased. Preliminaries having been 

 g(me through, some practical instruction 

 becomes necessary. Several ways are 

 practiced by different queen raisers to ar- 

 rive at the same result, and success crowns 

 the efforts, more or less, of the different 

 methods practiced. Every queen breeder 

 must have queen cells, raistd either in a 

 full colony or nucleus, and tliis is attained 

 by rendering the bees destitute of a queen. 

 Those raised in a full colony are thought 

 by most queen raisers, to be tiie best. To 

 secure the benefit of a queenless colony, 

 and yet preserve the queen you breed 

 from against the risk of being introduced 

 to a strange colon}- of bees, for each batch 

 of queen cells raised, is certainly the best 

 econoiu}'. To do tliis, select another 

 strong colony with plenty of young bees 

 for nurses, remove the queen and shake 

 the bees from the brood combs, being 

 careful not to leave a comb containing any 

 eggs or brood. Then from tiie colony 

 you have selected to breed from, take as 

 many combs containing eggs and larvae 

 as was removed trom the first, and after 

 having sliaken the bees from them, give 

 these last named combs to the queenless 

 colony, and place tlie combs taken from 

 the queenless colony in place of tliose re- 

 moved from the colony you bred from. 

 This is simply an exchange of the combs 

 of the two colonies. In like manner, 

 there maj' be an exchange of combs with 

 the colon}' containingyuur fine queen and 

 another of the lapse of eight or ten days, 

 for the black brood placed in your breed- 

 ing colony in the first exchange will be 

 so far advanced in that time that it would 

 be impossible to raise a queen therefrom. 

 About ten or twelve days after the ex- 

 change is made, there will be from three 

 to a dozen, and sometimes many more, 

 cells capped and ready to be disposed of. 

 If removed sooner they are liable to be 

 injured or destroyed, as they are very ten- 

 der — the least jar often causing death to 

 the embryo queen. The disposition made 

 of these cells for the purpose of raising 

 queens for market or Italianizing black 

 bees vary, as stated above, with different 

 breeders. Simply for the purpose of Ital- 

 ianizing, an easy method is to insert one 

 of these cells in each of your black colo- 

 nies, the black queen liaving been re- 

 moved the day previous.. This method, 

 though often practicec^, is. objectionable, 

 as the colony is too long wijthout a fertile 

 queen, which ^ells heavily p^n the colony. 



Another method practiced is to insert 

 these cells in frame of nursery cages, a 

 cell in each cage, and stispend the frame 

 in the midst of a strong colony of bees 

 until the young queens are hatched, and 

 then divide the colony into as many nuclei ■* 

 as there are young (jueens in the cages, 

 and give one of the queens to each of the 

 nuclei. After the queens are fertilized, 

 the nuclei may be built up into strong 

 colonies, or the queens removed and in- 

 troduced to black bees the usual way. 

 Still another method practiced, is to re- 

 move these cells entirely from the bi^es, 

 and hatch them by means of artificial 

 heat, and so soon as hatched they are given 

 without any precaution whatever, to 

 queenless nuclei or colonies. The reason 

 for introducing such younir queens with- 

 out the necessary precaution, is from the 

 fact that they are destitute of tiiat peculiar 

 scent acquired by contact with other bees, 

 (their only apparent guide in detecting 

 strangers) and consequently they are not 

 regarded as intruders. But the method 

 most generally practiced, and most conve- 

 nient for the mass of the queen raisers, is 

 to form nuclei of two or three full sized 

 combs, with plenty of bees to protect 

 each nucleus and generate the requisite 

 amount of heat for the full development 

 of the queen, and insert a cell in each. 

 When the young queens hatch and become 

 fertile, they may be removed and intro- 

 duced to black bees in the usual way. The 

 nuclei are then ready for the insertion of 

 other cells. This may be kept up so long 

 as there are drones in the apiary. To 

 form these nuclei, take from a strong colo- 

 ny a frame of hatching brood, together 

 with adhering bees, also another or so 

 with bees, and a sufllcient quantity of 

 honey to last the nuclei a few days, until 

 the bees begin to work. Supply the place 

 of those removed from the hive with 

 empty frames or combs. Care must be 

 taken in removing the combs from the 

 hive that the queen is not removed also. 

 The best time to form nuclei, is late in 

 the evening. By morning the bees are 

 more composed than if allowed to fly out 

 immediately. Many of the old bees will 

 return to the parent hive, but the young 

 ones, having never flown from the hive, 

 will remain not knowing where to go. 

 There are two methods of rearing queens 

 from select eggs or larva?, one called graft- 

 ing, the other inoculating, which are gain- 

 ing some favor with apicistsof late. Tiiey 

 each want more evidence of practicabil i ty, 

 before recommending to the tyro in api- 

 culture. In the first method a black colony 

 of bees is deprived of its queen, and 

 in five or six days there will be queen cells 

 built with royal jelly and larv;e in each. 

 Remove the larva;, and select a larvae just 

 hatched from the egg of a fine Italian 

 queen. With some s livable instrument, 

 as the point of a toothpick, carefully re^ 



