1897 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



489 



hour tho bot'S miss tluMr qiiocii and come back 

 to hpr or their supposed old home, which was 

 there when they wiiit out. On changing hives 

 tlie Quoen was placed near the entrance, so 

 that, as soon as the bees returned, they might 

 find her. and not scatter about tho apiary to 

 other hives, as they sometimes will if they do 

 do not have ready access to their queen. As 

 they return they will commence to run into 

 the new hive with fanning wings, when the 

 queen is liberated and goes in with them. I 

 have followed this plan for more than a quarter 

 of a ceutury, and know it to be a good one, as 

 good yields of honey will testify— no climbing 

 of trees, cutting off limbs, or lugging a cumber- 

 some basket or swarming- box about. It is 

 straightforward— remove the old hive to a new 

 stand, put the new hive in its place, and the 

 returning swarms hive themselves with little 

 or no trouble, save the releasing of the queen. 



Again, I clip the larger part of the queen's 

 wing off. so that she may be the more readily 

 found. In making nuclei, changing frames of 

 brood and bees, extracting, making swarms 

 artificially, if we wish, etc., if you find the 

 queen you can always know that she is just 

 where she belongs, and not in some place where 

 she ought not to be. By having her wings cut 

 short you can see her golden abdomen as soon 

 as your eyes strike the side of the comb she 

 is on. 



Once more: There is no loss of bees by going 

 to the woods when the queen's wings are clip- 

 ped. That bees do go to the woods, all can 

 assure themselves by reading the reports given 

 in our various bee-papers, if they do not know 

 of the same by actual experience. The bees 

 may try for the woods, and they often do; but 

 as soon as they miss their queen, back they 

 come, for they realize that swarming is of no 

 purpose to them unless they have a queen with 

 them to repopulate their home after they die of 

 old age. Many a time have I had swarms start 

 for the woods and be gone from sight and hear- 

 ing for some little time; but as soon as they 

 missed their mother, back they would come, 

 setting up a joyful hum when they found her. 



But how to find the queen, and how clip her 

 wing, is something we must know about if we 

 practice this:method.zThe time of the year in 

 which wecundertake'.:this matter has much to 

 do'^with.-the pleasure of this work. ':;If we wait 

 till just as swarming is upon us, and attempt to 

 hunt up a queen 'in a hive that is overflowing 

 with' bees, and especially one which will prob- 

 ably swarm 'in a day or two, when the queen 

 has'?ceased her Haying pretty much, so that a 

 burdenfof eggs need not hinder her from flying 

 with the swarm, and thus cause her to become 

 no larger than she'wasiwhen unfertile, we shall 

 well speak of thermatter as " a bother;" for to 

 find.'a queen' under'tsuch' circumstances often 

 bafifies'lthe'most experienced apiarist. But if 



we do this work in fruit-bloom, when there are 

 comparatively few bees for the brood they are 

 covering, and the queen very largo from her 

 prolific egg-laying, using the time from 9 A. m. 

 to 3 i>. M. to look for queens, it will be a rare 

 thing that one will evade the efforts of even the 

 novice. Take along an empty hive and set It 

 where you can easily place the combs, as han- 

 dled, into it, when you will proceed to open the 

 hive, using just as little smoke as possible- 

 only just enough (or none at all) so that the 

 bees are kept from stinging. Do the work 

 carefully, so as not to jar the hive or frighten 

 the bees. Carefully lift the first frame; and as 

 it comes from the hive, glance at It to see if 

 there is brood in it, for It is useless to look on 

 combs having no brood in them if you have not 

 stampeded the queen by careless operations. 



As soon as you find brood, look closely for the 

 queen, glancing first down the side of the comb 

 next to you in the hive, and then on the oppo- 

 site side of the one you hold in your hand, hold- 

 ing the comb a little obliquely as you look, for 

 the side of the queen gives a better view than 

 straight on her back. As the combs are taken 

 from their hive, set them in the one you 

 brought, so that, should you not find her the 

 first time over, you will be likely to do so in 

 setting them back. In this way, after a little 

 practice, you will have little or no trouble in 

 finding any queen, even should it be a black or 

 German queen. Having foun'd her I take her 

 by the wings with the thumb and forefinger of 

 my left hand, when, with my right, I place the 

 sharp blade of my jack-knife on the part of the 

 wings I hold in my left, lowering both hands to 

 within an inch or so of the tops of the frames, 

 when I draw the blade just a little, thus sever- 

 ing the wings, when the queen runs down into 

 the hive the same as if nothing had happened. 

 There is no danger of cutting fingers if you stop 

 drawing the knife as soon as the queen falls. 

 Some use scissors; but after clipping off a leg 

 or two with them I took to the plan here given. 



J. R. PP., JIL— Drones from pure Italian 

 queens vary all the way from black to quite 

 yellow, while the bees should be uniformly 

 marked, having three distinct yellow bands. 

 The fact that drones from a yellow queen do 

 not show any bands whatever is no evidence 

 that the queen is not pure. It is also true that 

 queens vary just as much as the drones in color. 

 See paragraph on this subject on page 29 of our 

 catalog. 



CONVENTION NOTICE. 



The Texas Bee-keepers' .Association wiU meet at Cameron, 

 .Tulvie, 17. All parties will purchase one-way ticket, paying 

 full fare, take receipt at time ticket is sold, and these receipts, 

 aifter having been siomed by the secretary at Cameron, and 

 stamped by agent, will authorize return tickets at one-third 

 fare, provided there are fifty certificates presented. 



