APRIL 1, 1914 



Irame hive 1 crowd the bees down to five or 

 six combs, and follow up with a two-inch 

 chatt' dummy. Wc now liave the bees crowd- 

 ed; and, in addition to being cjueenless, 

 tiieir eggs and larva? will also have been 

 taken away. So we close the hi\e, and 

 leave them five days to their uni-leasant 

 meditation. 



Unless honey is coming in steadily from 

 natural sources we nmst feed every morning 

 and night. For this i)urpose I prefer an 

 entrance feeder, consisting of a quart Mason 

 jar, having a perforated cap or cover. 1 

 close all the holes, but two, with wax. It 

 takes the bees about twenty-four liouis to 

 empty this jar of thin honey, and this means 

 tliat it comes to them slowly like a natural 

 ivoney-flow, and thus prevents robbing. On 

 this account it is much better than feeding 

 the whole amount at once. This feeding 

 should be kept up until the queen-cells are 

 sealed. 



We now proceed to our breeding colo'iy. 

 and place a good clean worker comb in the 

 very center of the brood-nest, where the 

 breeding queen will be most likely to find it 

 fiist. When she has laid a few hundred 

 eggs this comb is taken out and placed in 

 the center of our prepared queenless colony 

 mentioned above. In three days they will 

 liatch, and be abundantly fed. In twelve 

 hours after they hatch they are ready to be 

 transferred to the cell-cups. 



In this queenless colony the little larvae 

 will be fairly swimming in jelly. If the 

 directions have been followed closely, no 

 extra royal jelly will be needed in the proc- 

 ess of grafting. Lift from the cell the little 

 larva, jelly and all, on the point of a 

 flexible quill, and place in the prepared 

 cell-cup. Graft fifteen of these cups in like 

 manner, and take them back to the queen- 

 less colony. Make sure that the bees have 

 started no other cells in the meantime. If 

 so, cut out every one. Arrange the combs so 

 that the frame containing the prepared cell- 

 cups be placed between two combs of hatch- 

 ing brood. Close the hive, and do not dis- 

 turb it for forty-eight hours. Every cell 

 should be accepted, owing to the small num- 

 ber grafted. 



The cells may be left till the twelfth day; 

 then take them out and place them in a 

 tiu'ee-frame nucleus to hatcii. Be very care- 

 ful that the cells be not chilled, for a chilled 

 cell will make a dark queen. 



Several things must be kept in mind. 

 First, that the queen-rearing colony is free 

 from unsealed brood, and that the bees are 

 crowded down to fewer combs. Contract 

 the entrance according to the temperatuie. 

 and feed daily. Create in this way a pros- 



perous condition, and do not disturb t!ie 

 bees unnecessarily. 



Queens reared in this manner are started 

 from the egg. We do not guess at the age 

 of the larva, for we ti'ansfer larva, jelly, 

 and all at one time, so that tiie delicate 

 larva itself is not touched. From the very 

 stait the larva is fed as for a queen in jusi 

 the way the bees do it wlien left to their 

 own lesources. Under natural conditions 

 bees do not feed a larva three days for a 

 wdrkei', then change their minds and feed 

 royal jelly for a queen. They feed royal 

 jelly flora the rery start; so, in order to 

 rear good queens, we must do the same. Let 

 the bees work as near to nature as possible, 

 and thus avoid many mistakes. 



Mr. George B. Howe, also of Black River, 

 said he generally uses a strong colony for 

 queen-rearing, and that he likes to find a 

 colony supeiseding their queen, but that 

 ex]iert beekeepers can rear good queens 

 without colonies that are superseding. 



Mr. F. D. House, President of The New 

 York State Beekeepers' Association, said 

 that he prefers to crowd the bees even more 

 than the amount mentioned by Mr. Keet 

 above. That is, he crowds a ten-frame 

 colony down on to three frames, taking 

 away all brood, but leaving pollen, honey, 

 and water. He said further that fifteen 

 cells is a rather small number, but that such 

 number is all right nevertheless. Mr. House 

 feeds ten to fifteen days before queen-rear- 

 ing time unless there is a natural honey- 

 flow. This brings about swarming condi- 

 tions. 



Mr. Howe said that in his locality he 

 wants the capped brood, because the nights 

 are cooler than they are in Mr. House's 

 locality. Mr. Keet said he wants the cap- 

 ped brood not only for warmth, but for 

 providing plenty of nurse bees. 



A further statement was made to the effect 

 that the reason these bees cut out the sides 

 of the queen-cells and consume the royal 

 jelly, even in July, is the condition of the 

 honey-flow or absence of the flow being ad- 

 verse to queen-rearing; also dead larvae, 

 excitement, too much smoke, and black bees. 



Brantford, Ont. 



[An interesting point is raised above in 

 the plan given by Mr. Keet — that is, wheth- 

 er it would be better to have the larvae in- 

 tended for queens to be transferred into the 

 queen-cell cups with royal jelly at the very 

 first. The whole question hinges upon this: 

 Whether worker larvae are fed royal jelly 

 the first three days or not. Some of our 

 authorities have claimed that all worker 

 larvEe are fed royal jelly the first three days, 

 and that they are then fed a coarser food. 



