1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



917 



QUEENS BY THE PECK. 



Swarthmore's New Queen-cell Hatcherj-; a New 



and Simple Method of Making Oueen-cups; 



How 10 Keep a Plurality of Queens in 



One Hive over VVinter. 



BY SWARTHMORE. 



Mr. Root: — I am seuding you by post a 

 queen-nursery cage that I have used with won- 

 derful success the past season. You will no- 

 tice that it is of peculiar construction, almost 

 entirely separable ; that is, the tins are easily 

 slid in or out of the saw cuts, and the top-bar 

 is removable and divisible. I have charged 

 this sample cage with wax ready for cell- 

 starting, thus : Each hole in the top-bar is 

 filled with melted wax, and allowed to cool 

 hard. The surplus wax is then shaved flush 

 with the wire, and the top-bars are then laid 

 aside, ready for use. When wanted for cell- 

 starting, simply place a top-bar in the sun for 

 a few minutes, until the wax becomes pliable ; 

 then press the cup-forming stick into the cen- 

 ter of each plug of wax, and you have very 

 quickly prepared 25 cups for cell-starting — no 

 iire, no machinery, all simple and rapid hand- 

 work. By first putting the forming-Ftick into 



swarthmore; quken-cei^Iv hatchery. 



A — Strips. 1. View of zinc side. 



B — Wire screen, 2. View of wire side. 



C — Perforated zinc. 3. Enlarged view. 



D — Division tins. 



E— Holes. 



F — Holes with solid wax. 



G — Wax-plugs pre-ssed in cup form. 



H — Queen-cell built from wax-pressed cup. 



I — Sponges saturated with sweet. 



J — .Staples on zinc side to fasten strips A. 



K — Saw grooves to hold division tins. 



the mouth, and then pressing it into the plia- 

 ble wax, and giving it a rapid twist between the 

 thumb and fore finger, you will secure that 

 smooth surface so important. The Doolittle- 

 ites may now transfer larvae, or the Pridgen- 

 ites ma}' push in a cradle and all, or the 

 AUeyites may attach strips of comb to the top- 

 bar of this nursery. It seems to me that it 

 fills the bill for all hands. When the top-bars 

 are prepared, by whatever method one likes, 

 they are fitted into a frame and given to the 

 bees until worked out. 



Just before capping, or as soon as the cells 

 are pinched, or as one prefers, remove the 

 top bars to the honey-house or queen-house, 

 and slip them into the cage part ; then slide 

 the dividing tins into their places ; then put 

 on the zincs if the cells are to hatch with 

 queenless bees, or the screens if they are to be 

 put into an upper story. If given to queenless 

 bees no food will be necessary, as the bees 

 will enter each compartment and care for the 

 young queens just as well as though they were 

 upon the combs. If put into an upper story 

 to hatch out, simply saturate the sponges with 

 honey. These sponges also act as plugs, w hich 

 are easily removed to allow queens to run up 

 into cages for introduction or shipping. By 

 removing the wax plugs, hatching cells may 

 be pushed into each hole in the old way if the 

 apiarist prefers that plan. 



The numerous possibilities of this cage can 

 not all be covered in one letter at one sitting, 

 for the reason that I can not think of them all 

 in so short a time. I have tried all methods 

 of cell-starting with these cages. They all 

 work ; but I prefer to cut bits of one cell each, 

 and peg them into holes made by pressing the 

 pointed end of a leadpencil into wax plugs. 



Two years ago I succeeded in wintering four 

 laying queens to the colony in a crude con- 

 struction of this cage, and last year I wintered 

 six to the hive. Now I shall undertake to 

 winter 7o to the colony. Three of these nurs- 

 ery-cages fit nicely into an empty frame, and 

 each nursery will hold 25 queens ; and by 

 placing the frameful of queens in the center of 

 a powerful colony I have every reason to be- 

 lieve that 95 per cent of them will come 

 through alive and well. This brings the North- 

 ern queen-breeder on an equal footing with 

 the Southern craft, you see. When used as a 

 queen-magazine in this way, each part of the 

 cage is thoroughly waxed to make more com- 

 fortable quarters for the queens, and zinc is 

 placed on both sides, also waxed. At the 

 present moment I have one colony caring for 

 150 laying queens, 75 virgins, and 200 hatch- 

 ing cells. To keep up the strength of this 

 colony I augment the force by occasionally 

 giving hatching brood taken from upper 

 stories, above zinc ; and so long as this is 

 done there will be no desire on the part of 

 the bees to kill the queens, yet they can not 

 rear a cell. 



I have one hive arranged with zinc division- 

 boards which, at the present time, contains 40 

 caged laying queens, and one at large on the 

 cocnbs, which I consider a much better plan, 

 but did not think of it in time to be of any 

 use to me the past summer. I have also 

 a colony with 40 queens at work on small 

 combs, in compartments. This is for testing 

 purposes. 



There are many points about the introduc- 

 tion and handling of queens in this shape to 

 prevent the balling or killing of a single one, 

 which I will not undertake to cover now. 



I am full of new points on bees, amorg 

 them being eggs for queen-rearing, by mail. 

 I have successfully reared and mated larj;e 

 numbers of queens from eggs sent to me from 

 all parts of the country by post. You will at 



