124 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



populous one, for it would be -wasting time and 

 money to give a fertile queen to a mere handful 

 of workers at so advanced a season. Better 

 drive out the bees and unite them with some 

 other colony, and give the hive and its contents 

 as a super to some thriving stock, or reserve it 

 for the use of some swarm next spring. If Ave 

 have a supply of reserve queens in June, and 

 desire to increase the number of our stocks, it 

 will be better to use them in forming artificial 

 colonies than to introduce them into weak 

 stocks in which, moreover, they run the risk 

 oi being destroyed, unless carefully supervised. 

 In poor honey districts, therefore, it must be 

 regarded as a settled rule to drive out the bees 

 of queenless stocks, and unite them with those 

 of other thriving colonies, and to decline all 

 attempts at re-queening, except when, per- 

 chance, a populous stock loses its queen in 

 April or .Via3\ ^^ such case, the young bees 

 reared might render service in June, if the 

 effort at c|ueen-raisiug prove not a failure, as it 

 is apt to do in inexperienced hands. It is 

 surest and best always to unite the bees of a 

 queenless stock with some other colony, and 

 reserve the combs for supers or new swarms. 



If a stock be found queenless in the winter 

 months, the best that can be done is to let it 

 alone. Knauff, indeed, advises in such case 

 that the hive be inverted, and another contain- 

 ing a queen set over it, letting it remain thus 

 superposed till the first mild day. If it be then 

 found that the queenless bees have ascended 

 into the upper hive, replace the latter on its 

 stand; but if the bees are still hanging down in 

 a cluster into the lower hive, interpose an 

 empty eke or ring between the two hives, and 

 the bees will soon withdraw into the upper. 

 This plan will succeed, if the queeulessness of 

 the stock be discovered earlj^ in the winter; 

 otherwise both colonies will be apt to become 

 excited and unruly, as disturbance at such time 

 induces increased consumption of honey. The 

 bees then uncluster, spread through the hive, 

 soil the interior, and perish from cold. Thus, 

 instead of succeeding in saving one colony, we 

 run the risk of losing two. It is therefore best 

 to defer operations till a fair day or the return 

 of mild Aveather enables the bees to fly and 

 evacuate their faeces, andthereupon to unite the 

 queenless bees with some other colon}^ 



Various processes for uniting have been pro- 

 posed and adopted. Some simply expel the 

 queenless bees from their hive by means of 

 smoke from rags, wormwood, or tobacco, and 

 let them seek for quarters b}^ dispersing among 

 the other stocks in the apiarj'. That they may 

 be kindly received and accepted in those, all 

 the stocks are fed a day or two previous Avith 

 diluted liouey, strongly scented with pepper- 

 mint, anniseed, or lavender. A Avarm, clear 

 day should be chosen for expelling the bees, 

 ■diid such as obstinately adhere to the hive 

 should be brushed olf and carried to the stock 

 Avith Avhich they are to be united. If it be pre- 

 ferred to effect the union by stupifying the 

 queenless bees by means of ether, chloroform, 

 or fungus, they should not be previously fed, 

 or many of them Avill suffer from the operation, 

 ine laiier process is the more expeditious and 



efiectual, if properly managed. The stupified 

 bees should be gently brushed from the combs 

 and out of the hive upon a sheet of paste-board 

 or st^out paper, and laying thereon some stri]!s 

 of inch stuff, place on them the hive to which 

 they are to be joined before the bees have 

 recoA'cred from their stupor. Thej' will then' 

 ascend as they revive, and unite Avith the other 

 inmates, without endangering the ciueen. The 

 fume of the fungus, or the A'apor of ether or 

 chloroform, must be introduced suddenly and 

 plentifully, so that the bees come under its in- 

 fluence quickly and thoroughly, or many of 

 them Avill take refuge in the cells of the combs, 

 from Avhich it will be difficult to dislodge 

 them. 



Mr. Hubcr recommends as a safe mode of in- 

 troducing a queen that the bees of a colony be 

 stupified late in the CA'cning, and to place upon 

 the fallen mass, before its revival, the queen 

 designed to be given to them. He says it is 

 not necessary that their old queen should be 

 previously remoA'ed. Mr. Kaden, however, 

 thinks that prudence requiresthat the old queen 

 be first taken aAvaj", and from our own observ- 

 ations, we think the precaution entirely proper. 

 "We prefer also to undertake the operation in 

 the forenoon, prcA'iously remoA'ing the hive to 

 a ncAV location, to Avhich all the bees tliat are 

 stupified Avill tlienceforAvard adhere. Those 

 Avhich were absent at the time, (by which alone 

 the new queen Avould be endangered,) Avill 

 join some other stock in the neighborhood; 

 and conscious that they are strangers thery, 

 they Avill not be disposed to molest the queen 

 of such stock, should they encounter her. 



Knauff suggested, half a century ago, and Ave 

 haA^e frequentlj" employed, always Avith good 

 results, a somcAvhat similar process for intro- 

 ducing a queen. The bees are to be stupified 

 and then confined in any empty hive, provided 

 with adequate ventilation. After the lapse of 

 three or four hours, Ave introduce a queen 

 through an opening in the top, and let them 

 remain undisturbed tAvelve hours longer. Wn 

 then return them to their old hive by setting 

 this, on the one containing the bees, and opening 

 the communication betAveeu them. The queen 

 Avill be readily accepted Avhether fecundated or 

 not; but if the bees Avere not queenless before 

 their queeu must be sought for and removed 

 Avhile they are in a state of stupor. 



If a colony be found queenless at any time 

 from the beginning of March to the mitldle of 

 May, and Ave desire to preserve it as an inde- 

 pendent stock, we* adopt the following plan: 

 We stupify the bees after placing' the hive on 

 eke five or six inches high. AVhen they have 

 all fallen, avc remove the hive and set on the eke 

 another similar one, in Avhich a brood comb con- 

 taining eggs and larYte,and another with honey, 

 haA^e been placed, and on Avhich a top-boartl 

 has been adjusted. Setting them in a dark 

 chamber for tAventy-four hours, avc, meantime, 

 remove any drone brood and drone comb Avhich 

 the hive may contain, and removing the top- 

 board from the ekes at dark in the evening, avc 

 set the hive thereon. The bees Avill immedi- 

 ately resume possession Avithout deserting the 

 brood-comb beloAV, and, if undisturbed, Avill 



