1911 



(ILEAXlXaS IN BEE CULTURE 



241 



A PLEA FOR HOME-BRED QUEENS. 



Do Queens that Go through the Mails Equal in 



Egg-laying those Reared at Home 



if One Knows how? 



BY ALFKED L,. HABTL. 



Some very good and up-to-date bee-keep- 

 ers are advocating the purchase of queens; 

 but I have never been an advocate of the 

 practice, because I am sure that I can rear 

 my own queens cheaper, and have my colo- 

 nies headed by a vigorous queen the follow- 

 ing season, and not by a half-dead one — at 

 least she looks half dead in her egg-laying 

 after she has gone through the mail. Home- 

 bred stock certainly puts a different look in 

 our supers the following season, and a dif- 

 ferent feel in our pockets. I have bought 

 queens from different breeders for years, but 

 haven't received a queen that has come up 

 to the average of my own. 



I don't intend to boast about my queen- 

 rearing at all. I only want to give my rea- 

 sons. I do not rear queens for sale, so have 

 no ax to grind. I rear them only for my 

 own use. I don't want queen-breeders to 

 get the impression that I think they are 

 sending out nothing but half-dead queens, 

 because I know that the queen-breeders are 

 just as honest and honorable as the men 

 who depend on honey-production. It is the 

 confinement and rough handling in the 

 mails that hurt the royal mother. By rear- 

 ing queens from such a purchased breeder 

 her daughters will always be ahead of her — 

 that is, in i^rolificness at least. 



Now, isn't that enough evidence to show 

 that the queen we buy is of good quality? 

 But she is incapable of laying as many eggs 

 as she might, simply because she has been 

 injured in some way. 



It is very profitable to rear one's own 

 queens — that is, for the experienced bee- 

 keepers, not for the novice. 



I make it a rule to requeen all colonies 

 every fall that do not come up to the aver- 

 age. Seventy cents or a dollar for each 

 queen amounts to something worth consid- 

 ering. To have our surplus- honey crop cut 

 in two on account of poor queens amounts 

 to still more; so, do you blame me for breed- 

 ing my own queen-bees, thus saving and 

 gaining all this? 



After the flow the apiarist's work is not so 

 much in a rush, and that's the time to get 

 busy rearing queens for the next season. 



As the queen is the foundation of our hon- 

 ey crop we surely must keep an eye on that 

 most important matter to determine the 

 quality of our queens, so we may be ready 

 to requeen all weak colonies at the earliest 

 opportunity. 



We leave the requeening till fall unless 

 we find a colony headed by a played-out 

 queen in early spring. 



Some might say they would not have 

 queens reared after the honey-flow; but I 

 have reared queens during the flow and also 



during a drouth by feeding them daily, and 

 never could determine any difference. On 

 the contrary, it occurs to me that the queens 

 reared during the feeding period are superior. 



Is there any excuse for not rearing our 

 own queens? Surely all bee-keepers who 

 keep bees in an up-to-date way can at least 

 find enough time in the fall to employ in 

 queen-rearing, which is always a profitable 

 and sure income. By all means buy some 

 queens if you have no good stock. 



Before we establish our queen-rearing yard 

 we must test our strain of bees. It is pen- 

 ny wise and pound foolish to rear queens 

 from a poor home-grown strain of bees. So 

 in that way we can not do better than to 

 buy some queens from different breeders to 

 test the different strains, and then select 

 the best from them for our own breeders. 



Elmendorf, Texas. 



NO SWARMS IN FIVE YEARS. 



A Triple-walled Hive and Plenty of Empty 

 Combs in the Brood-nest Stopped all Swarming. 



BY C. D. BENTON. 



By trade I am a mason, and therefore am 

 away from home a great deal through the 

 day. When I was considering keeping bees 

 I was told that the colonies would swarm, 

 and that I would lose them, as I could not 

 be at home; but during my five years' ex- 

 perience I have had absolutely no swarms 

 thus far. 



My first two colonies were in single- walled 

 hives, and every hot day the bees seemed to 

 suffer from the heat. By leaning some 

 boards against the hive for shade they seem- 

 ed to be relieved; and when I put on more 

 boards the results were still better. In 

 building my own home, few years ago, I 

 gave considerable attention to the problem 

 of making it warm in winter and cool in 

 summer, with the result that I built two 

 air-chambers in the outside wall. The con- 

 trast between this house and houses built 

 on the ordinary plan is very marked. As 

 the house was a frame structure I felt that 

 the same plan might be carried out in a bee- 

 hive; so I built two hives with triple walls 

 and packed the inner space with cork chips, 

 leaving the outer one empty. As soon as I 

 could I placed my two colonies in these 

 hives, which were of the eight-frame size, 

 and one of these colonies was watched very 

 closely in order that all the movements of 

 the queen might be noted. After filling 

 the first clustering space on each side with 

 eggs she moved over to the other side of the 

 comb. I was afraid that all the eggs on the 

 outside of the brood would be chilled if a 

 change of weather came, so I proceeded to 

 put an empty comb in the center, which 

 the queen occupied immediately. This plan 

 I kept up all summer; and, although one of 

 the colonies was very large, neither one 

 swarmed at all. 



The next season I bought three more col- 



