IS!) I. 



THE . I Mi: I! n . I N BEE- KEEPER. 



69 



me take out more. Said I'd given 

 strict orders not to allow it; 24th, 

 winter came again. Big snow storm, 

 ami about l* 1 above every morning 

 up to date 30th. Glad I had a wife." 



The above is a straw from Dr. Mil- 

 ler's straw stack for April 15 — Glean- 

 ing*. 



Sunny Side, Garrett Co., Md, 



Introducing Queens. 



BY CHAS. H. THIKS. 



As the season of the year has again 

 arrived when many thousand- of 

 queens will be introduced, I thought 

 it might be of some benefit to some of 

 the beginners, to make a few remarks 

 on this subject. I have good reason 

 to believe that there are yet many 

 queens lost in introducing, in spite of 

 the directions that are .usually printed 

 on the cover of each cage. There are 

 certain seasons, and certain colonies, 

 where introducing queens is no severe 

 task, but at other seasons and with 

 other colonies it is more difficult. 

 These seasons and colonies are the 

 ones we will take a look at. If at a 

 season, you want to introduce a queen, 

 and very little or no honey is coming 

 in, it is well to feed a little at the en- 

 trance, a few days before ami after 

 introducing, but feeding should not 

 be done before about dusk, one-half 

 pint each night will suffice, when 

 your queen arrives take her to a 

 closed window, release all the bees, 

 retain only the queen, replace the 

 wire on cage, when you may take 

 her to the hive, place the cage on the 

 frames wire side down, allowing the 

 bees to liberate her, after which do 

 not open the hive for at least three or 

 four davs, after which time she will 



usually be found laying, but in the 



lirst place be sure your hive is cer- 

 tainly queenless. If yon have a very 

 valuable queen and want to be more 

 sure in introducing to full col >nies, a 

 good method is as follows, which has 

 always been sure with jjne: Take 

 from some strong^colony a frame of 

 hatching brood, one that has been just 

 hatching, and one that also has some 

 honey, on this place the queen, with a 

 wire cage over her about 3 or 4 inches 

 square, with the edges turned over 

 about § inches, pressed down on the 

 comb and held in place by two wires. 

 First however see that all the bees 

 have been brushed oil* the comb, and 

 then see that the cage takes in both 

 hatching brood and honey, this frame 

 is to be placed in a queenless colony 

 and in from 24 to 48 hours, you will 

 find eggs in some of the cells, when if 

 the bees have not yet liberated her, 

 you will find it easy to introduce her, 

 by simply opening one cover of the 

 cage a little, replace the frame with 

 cage and allow her to go out at will. 

 After a queen has once commenced 

 laying in a hive, I have never found 

 the bees to molest her, even if tne 

 bees are cross and no honey coming 

 in, there are other methods, such as 

 introducing hatching brood, etc., but 

 after trying many different methods, 

 I have found, all things considered, 

 the above to give the best success. 

 Steeleville, III. 



We must urge our readers to send 

 in some contributions for publication. 

 They are always needed. 



Tf any of our readers wish to sub- 

 scribe to any of the standard maga- 

 zines they should read the terms else- 

 where. 



