April 24, 1902 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



265 



THE HOME ATIART OF MRS. \V. J. I'lCKAKI), HICULAN'D CO., WIS. 



vious to the honey harvest than would keep up the spring 

 strength of the colony ; and when the flow was at its best, 

 there would not be '+ of the number of workers there should 

 be. No doubt these were good, prolific queens one day. but 

 at this time they were old, worn-out queens, proving them- 

 selves worthless. Those colonies made a failure for that 

 season, all on account of the queens. The more queens of 

 this kind the apiarist has the worse he is off. 



So much is being said about implements, apparatus and 

 improved methods, one would naturally think that success 

 depended upon a certain kind of a hive, frame, section, sec- 

 tion-case, or some other aparatus or a certain method of 

 manipulation. New apparatus, fixtures, and methods are all 

 right, but it is not wise to lose sight of the one important 

 fact, that the queen is the mother of the colony and it is 

 upon /;<■>■ that the strength of the colony depends. Truly, 

 the key-note of success is struck only when the bee keeper 

 sees to it that each colony has a good, young, prolific queen. 

 It is upon the queen that the greatest success is hinged, and 

 until the apiarist awakes to the true value of the queen, just 

 so long will it be until he becomes the most successful. To 

 me it is a plain fact that in no one thing in bee-keeping 

 does quality count for so much as it does with the queen or 

 mother-bee. Of course, if we only desire to count our colo- 

 nies, then a poor queen is better than none ; and then there 

 are other times when she may hold a colony together until 

 we can get a better one ; but let me repeat, that an apiary 

 with all poor queens is worse than no bees at all. When we 

 come to the full realization of the great achievements which 

 can be obtained with a really good queen, we, as apiarists, 

 will put forth more energy along this tine of our pursuit 

 than we ever have done before. 



Some may ask why the best colonies did so well. Be- 

 cause they had a large working-force of the right age. at 

 the right time, to take advantage of the honey-flow. This 

 is simply due to a good queen — one doing her part at the 

 right time, and at no other time. The poor colonies failed 

 to do so well because they did not have a full working- 

 force — due to a poor queen or because the bee-keeper failed 

 to have the queen do her duty when she should have done 

 it. Some may ask, " Can I get all colonies to do as well 

 each year as my best colonies do ?" I will answer the ques- 

 tion by asking. Why not? If all of the colonies are of the 

 same strength, having a full working-force, why will not all 

 do as well as the best colonies ? This being true, the trouble 

 lies in not having all the colonies of equal strength, and 

 this condition devolves primarily upon the queen. We may 

 not have all exactly alike, but we may have them aproxi- 

 mately alike — if we work for that object. 



Many queens are bred for beaut3' rather than quality. 

 If we want superior stock we must breed from the superior 

 workers, and by careful selection and breeding one can 

 greatly improve the stock of bees. Pardon for referring to 

 our own apiaries, but we take pride, if I may say so, in giv- 

 ing special attention to the careful selection and breeding 

 of our queens for quality, and for this alone we are well 

 paid in our honey-yield. 



Then, too, the wintering problem may be greatly recti- 

 fied by keeping close account of the age of the queens. We 

 find that we have much better success in wintering with 

 young queens than with old ones. Here is a value of queens 

 that many have overlooked. But a great deal of the success 



for the coming season depends upon the queena 

 we have put into winter <iuarter». 



INTKODI'CINO yUEKNS. 



Perhaps no other one subject connected with 

 bee-keeping has received so much attention in 

 our bee-papers and manuals as has the subject 

 of introduction of queens. Yet, after reading 

 the methods and discussions given, it is plainly 

 to be seen that success does not always attend 

 the efforts. On the contrary, many losses arise 

 from the fact that bee-keepers in general da 

 not discriminate between ([ucens taken from 

 one hive and placed in another, and those which 

 have come long distances by mail. In intro- 

 ducing queens from one hive to another in the 

 same apiary, it does not require one-half the care 

 that must be given to a queen coming from a 

 distance. 



In introducing a queen from our own apiary 

 we very frequently use the following methods : 



We go to a nucleus from which we wish to- 

 get a queen, and, when she is found, we take 

 the frame of brood she is on — bees and all — to- 

 gether with another frame from the same hive, carry- 

 ing them to the hive from which we are to take the 

 superannuated queen, placing the combs so the queen 

 will be between the two combs; then we secure the 

 poor queen and dispose of her : then we take out two frames 

 brought from the nucleus in their place, puff a little smoke 

 over the top of the frames and close the hive. The object 

 in taking two frames with the queen is so that while wait- 

 ing outside of the hive she and most of the bees may cluster 

 between them, thus becoming quiet. When placed in the 

 hive both are put in together, thus leaving the queen quite 

 among her own bees. This is a very easy and safe method. 

 To introduce a queen that has come to me from abroad,, 

 or one which I consider of more than ordinary value from 

 our own apiary, we proceed as follows : 



First catch the undesirable queen and let the bees re- 

 main queenless from 24 to 48 hours. In the meantirne pre- 

 pare a cage as follows : Cut a piece of wire-cloth 4x6 inches, 

 bend up sides (after cutting out a piece one inch square in 

 each corner), forming a tray-like cage ; ravel down the edgea 

 one-half inch. Then we take the shipping-cage containing 

 the queen and escort bees and release all the escort bees — 

 we do not allow any of the escort bees to go with the queen. 

 Select a comb of hatching brood with some unsealed honey 

 above the brood ; place the cage, previously made, on the 

 comb over some unsealed honey and hatching brood, and 

 let the queen to be introduced run under the cage. Press, 

 the cage into the comb until firmly imbedded into it. and in 

 48 hours more, if the bees have not released the queen, she 

 may be released. 



I will not mention any other ways of introducing 

 queens. There are probably as many different methods as 

 there are bee-keepers, and with precaution almost any 

 method may be used with success. I will simply start the 

 ball rolling, that we may gather ideas from others. 



Richland Co., Wis. 



Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BY 



ni. 



DTt. O. O. JillLLER, Mareaeo, 



;The Qnestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Millet 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers bv mail. — Editor.1 



Management of a Queenless Colony. 



In looking over my small out-apiary I found a very 

 strong colony with only drone-brood in worker-comb, and 

 some drones already out ; also one queen-cell containing a 

 young larva. I moved it away a little distance and put a 

 weak colony from a stand close by in its place. I then put 

 a frame containing brood and eggs into the queenless col- 

 ony by way of experiment, to see if they would get a queen 

 fertilized with those drones, as there were no signs of any 



