70 



BEES FOR PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 



width, to allow good ventilation and free passage-way for the 

 bees. During the summer nuclei can be formed and young 

 queens reared, to supersede old ones at the end of the season, if 

 necessary. 



Introducing Queens. 



There are many different ways of introducing a new queen 

 to a stock, but they may all be classed under two heads — viz., 

 " Caging " and " Direct Introduction." Whichever method we 

 adopt, one thing is necessary : we must remove the old queen 

 before we attempt to introduce the new one. The two most 

 popular cages in this country are probably the " P'pe cover 

 cage" and the "Uaynor cage." The pipe cover cage (tig. 37, a) 



Fig. 37.— A, ATnerican Pipe Cover Cage ; b, Raynor Queen Cage. 



is used in the following way : — Having placed the queen in it, 

 we put a piece of cardboard underneath, and carry it to the 

 hive, from the centre of which we take a frame, and placing 

 the cage over some cells containing unsealed honey, we with- 

 draw the card, and press the cage firmly down into the comb 

 as far as the mid-rib. A few newly hatched woikei'S fiom tlie 

 hive may be put in the cage with the queen. 



After forty-eight hours we may again go to the hive, and 

 if the bees show no hostility to the queen, we may release her ; 

 but if they are thickly clustered round the cage, bending np 

 their bodies in their attempts to sting her through the wires, 

 she must remain caged for twenty-four hours more, or until 

 the bees become reconciled to her. If, just after the queen is 

 released, the bees should " ball " her — i.e., form in a thick 

 cluster, about the size of a walnut, around her — doing their 

 utmost to get at and sting her, they mur^t immediately be 



