266 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



shall still have left a line of 3K inches 

 for each hive. Let us see how it works. 



Now, if the record of these five hives 

 were all written out it would be about 

 like this: 



67. Queen's wing clipped. In fair con- 

 dition. Eggs in queen cells. Brood in 

 queen cells. Eight days later destroyed 

 all queen cells and made colony hopeless- 

 ly queenless. Later a young virgin 

 queen given. Young queen laying. 

 Need 15 pounds of honey or sugar syrup 

 to be given for winter stores. 



73. Queen's wing clipped; two years 

 old. Strong. Eggs in queen cells. Re- 



42. Queen one year old. Wing clip- 

 ped. In fair condition. Removed brood 

 combs and gave old dry combs to check 

 warming. Later found them queen- 

 less and gave frames of young brood. 

 Found them with laying queen. Need 

 12 lbs. syrup to be fed for winter 

 supply. 



The reader will observe that these signs 

 relate mostly to queens and swarming. 

 As I run several yards of bees with only 

 one man to assist me, it is of much im- 

 portance to control swarming, so no stray 

 swarms run away; and to have young and 

 vigorous queens. I have found young 



" 73. JS d 



' H. MS 



o a 



9S /W-.O. 



10. 



ri. A^,^MAW.il 



moved queen and queen cells. Eight 

 days later gave virgin queen. Three 

 weeks later found it queenless and gave 

 frames of young brood. Next, found 

 a young laying queen. Needs five 

 pounds of sugar syrup to make enough 

 for winter stores. 



86. Queen's wing clipped. Queen three 

 years old aud poor. Needs superseding. 

 Took away queen and distroyed queen 

 cells. Later again destroyed queen cells. 

 After eight days introduced a young 

 queen. Found yoimg queen laying. 

 Have honey enough for winter. 



98. Weak. Have brood in queen cells. 

 Later have given up swarming. Needs 

 10 lbs. sugar to make enough for winter. 



queens, as a rule, much more satisfactory 

 than old ones. So, in making new 

 swarms, I use, by preference, last year's 

 queens to those that are older; and I des- 

 troy my old queens unless they are very 

 choice. 



I will now explain my signs. C, after a 

 number, stands for a year old queen with 

 wing clipped. If I find her wing clipped 

 in spring, I know .she is two years old; 

 and I mark this by crossing the C. If I 

 find a queen that lacks vigor and looks 

 old, I cross the C twice. I often wish to 

 remember the condition of hives in spring, 

 so I mark them or their number with a 

 letter. F stands for fair. S for strong, 

 and W for weak, or V W for very weak. 



