MAY 15, 1916 



413 



ty frame each day, or, rather, a frame with 

 hatching brood in il, and putting it in the 

 same place every time we always have larvae 

 to "graft" of the right size and age. Graft- 

 ing — that is, transferring the selected larvae 

 to prepared cells — may be begun four or 

 five daj'S after putting the breeder on the 

 shallow frames. Remember, even if the 

 queen lays immediately after her release 

 from the cage those eggs will not hatch for 

 three days, and it will then be another 24 

 hours before the larvae will be old enough 

 to graft. 



If the above work is done in the early 

 spring, or when a flow of nectar is not on, 

 do not neglect to put in a feeder and give 

 the colony a little syrup each afternoon 

 about sundown or after. This will cause 

 the bees to feed the larvs better; and well- 

 fed larvae are what we want. They must be 

 floating in the milky food. 



Two days before grafting, in order to 

 have a cell-building colony ready, dequeen 

 a good strong colony that is overflowing 

 with young bees, and place in the hive a 

 division-board feeder. Feed this colony 

 every evening about sundown until the cells 

 are sealed. Feed all cell-building colonies 

 and the breeder about a pint of syrup if 

 there is no flow of nectar. I always feed 

 at sundown or after, as there is less danger 

 of starting robbing at that time. 



GRAFTING THE LARV^ INTO THE PREPARED 

 CELLS. 



At the beginning of the season, as there is 

 no royal jelly available, graft the first lot 

 " dry." Do not expect gi-eat results with 

 this first lot. Take the frame of larvae from 

 the breeder; and, after making sure that the 

 queen is not on it, shake the bees before the 

 entrance. With a grafting-tool lift the lar- 

 va from the cell by sliding the point of the 

 tool under it so that it will float on to the 

 tool. The larvae should not be over 36 hours 

 old. Place a larva in the bottom of each cell 

 cup, which cups should have been previous- 

 ly prepared and stuck on thin sticks. Eigh- 

 teen cups should be on each stick. Now 

 give this lot of 18 gi-afted cells to the queen- 

 less cell-building colony, hanging them in 

 with the open ends down. 



Care should be taken not to injure the 

 larva in lifting it from the cell, as an in- 

 jured larva means a bad queen. Also see 

 that there are no fine particles of wax or 

 dust in the cell cups. Be sure to graft as 

 much as possible from the center of the 

 comb, as drone larvae will sometimes be 

 found around tlie edges, especially the up- 

 per edge next to the top-bar. 



After placing the cells in the queenless 



colony, make a record in the record-book 

 of tlie number of the hive in which the cells 

 have been placed; also of the breeder, the 

 date when they are due to hatch, and the 

 number of cells grafted. Cells should hatch 

 12 days after gi-afting if the larvae are the 

 right size. 



Now dequeen another colony to have 

 ready for cell-building three days later. 

 Don't forget to put a feeder in this colony 

 also. In grafting the second lot of cells 

 one will have better luck, as there is by this 

 time royal jelly with which to " prime " the 

 cells. Go to the colony which has the first 

 lot of cells and cut off an unsealed cell 

 which is well fed. Take this cell and ex- 

 tract the larva, throwing it away ; then with 

 a small paddle stir the royal jelly until it 

 becomes of uniform consistency. With the 

 paddle, lift out some of this jelly ; and with 

 a small round stick, which has a small -cav- 

 ity in the end, take a drop of this jelly 

 and place in the bottom of every cell cup. 

 One well-fed cell should contain enough 

 royal jelly to prime from 36 to 54 cell cups. 

 In hot dry weather sprinkle the floor of the 

 building, and the jelly will not dry up so 

 quickly. 



After priming the cell cups with the jelly, 

 repeat the grafting operation as before, 

 placing a larva in the center of each cell, 

 on top of the royal jelly. Place the lot of 

 grafted cells in the second queenless colony, 

 being careful to make the record as before. 

 Always have a slate on the outside of the 

 hive on which to write the date the cells are 

 to hatch, and the number of lots or cells. 



After the cells have been sealed they may 

 be put in the upper story of some good 

 strong colony to stay until ready to be dis- 

 tributed. The queenless cell-building colo- 

 ny will thus be available for use again. In 

 placing the sealed cells in the second story 

 of a colony with a queen, two well-filled 

 combs of larvce must be raised to the second 

 story, and the frame with the sealed cells 

 placed between them. A queen-excluder 

 must be put between the super and the 

 brood-chamber to keep the queen from com- 

 ing up and tearing the cells down. The 

 cells may be left in this super until two 

 days before they are due to hatch. They 

 must then be taken out, care being used not 

 to jar or turn them upside down, and cut 

 from the stick. Each cell should be placed 

 in a West queen-cell protector. After you 

 have them all in the protectors, and distrib- 

 uted, one cell to each nucleus, which you 

 have already formed, they can hatch out in 

 their natui'al way. 



Hang a slate on each nucleus with the 

 date the queen is due to hatch, written on it. 



