1894. 



77/ A" . ! ME UK '. I X BEE- KEEPER. 



115 



In the spring as soon as the bees 

 commence to build up good, I go 

 through the apiary and clip all the 

 young queens of the previous year's 

 rearing and see that they are all in 

 shape to build up in good condition 

 for the honey harvest. 



now TO CLIP THE Ql EEN. 



There are verious ways of proceed- 

 ing to clip a queen, my method is this. 



Open the hive up very careful and 

 give the bees a few puffs of smoke, 

 shove the middle frames aside so as to 

 give room to lift one of them out, if 

 the queen is not on that one set it in 

 the comb rack and look at the next 

 and proceed in this way until you find 

 her. When she is found set the comb 

 which she is on against the hive in 

 such a manner as not to kill any bees. 

 (Then supposing you have the scissors 

 which should be sharp and blunt ou 

 the end in readiness.) Pick the 

 queen np by the wings between the 

 right forefinger and thumb, then 

 grasp her gently by the shoulders be- 

 tween the right forefiger and thumb 

 in such a manner as to keep her legs 

 away from the scissors. I usually cut 

 the two right wings off on a slant so 

 as to not cut the vein on the outside 

 rim of the wing any more than I can 

 help. The queen is then liberated 

 again on the comb, the hive closed up 

 and the work is done. Perhaps there 

 are better ways but this is the best way 

 I know of. 



When a .-warm issues with a clipped 

 queen if you are not present the bees 

 will return to the old hive and issue a 

 few hours later or the next day, but if 

 you are there simply cage the queen 

 and remove the old hive to a new 

 stand and place the new hive on the 



old stand where the bees will return 

 and enter, let the queen run in with 

 the first of the bees and the new swarm 

 is hived all ready for business. 



Removing the old hive to a new 

 stand throws the working force into 

 the new hive and also prevents after 

 swarms to a certain extent. 



If any beginner who reads this will 

 try clipping the queen in one hive at 

 first, I am sure the next season they 

 would have all the queens clipped. 

 Anyone can practice clipping the 

 drone's wings at first until they get so 

 they can hold them solid without in- 

 juring the bee any. 



It takes a very few minutes to hive 

 them and there is no danger of their 

 going to the woods and being lost and 

 there is no use for saws, ladders, ropes, 

 baskets, sheets, and all those things 

 which are used in hiving swarms 

 which have undipped queens. 



Bees are in fair condition consider- 

 ing the wet weather we have had for 

 the last four weeks, although they 

 were in fine shape last season and 

 everything looked promising at this 

 time. Yet we hope for better results 

 this season. 



Delhi, N. Y. 



— - — ■ - ■■■ ^ 



Do Bees Transport Eggs ? — 

 Why Queens are not Suc- 

 cessfully Introduced. 



BY CIIAS. H. THIES. 



Do bees transport eggs, is a ques- 

 tion which is now having its rounds, 

 through the different bee journals of 

 our land. Very good proofs are given 

 that they do not. On the other hand, 

 we have good proof that bees do carry 

 eggs from one cell to another and 

 even from one hive to another, when 



