94 



followed in these experiments. During cool 

 nights such as exist in Wisconsin in early 

 spring, and no honey-How, it has been 

 found that cells are of*;e.i torn down by 

 the bees, even after they are sealed oxer. 

 Just how to overcome such difiiculties was 

 still a problem at this tims. 



Prepared bars of cells were given to 

 each and every colony; and the six lliat 

 accepted the most cells during those irials 

 were recorded. A greater number of trials 

 were subsequently made with these six 

 colonies. The colonies were all "bout equal 

 in strength, and were fed each evening 

 during this period. At least a dozen trials 

 were made, and finally the best two were 

 selected as "cell-builders," and the others 

 set aside to be used in " finishing " cells. Of 

 these two colonies, one was about ten per 

 cent better than the other. Let us look 

 back a little. From the records it was 

 found that both had young queens reared 

 during the previous Aug-ust. Both queens 

 had been reared from the same mother, 

 which was considered the best breeder in 

 the yard the year previous. From these 

 experiments involving the starting of sev- 

 eral thousand cells,* it is concluded that a 

 young vigorous queen is necessary to pro- 

 duce the greatest number of nurse-bees 

 needed in a cell-building colony. It is usu- 

 ally conceded that bees are less apt to 

 swarm if a young queen is present, yet an 

 old queen could never be used in the cell- 

 building colony to be described presently. 

 The number and value of the queen-cells 

 that can be secured by the beekeeper de- 

 pends entirely upon the cell-builders. This 

 is the writer's conclusion after two years 

 of experimenting on this particular point. 

 We have all noticed that some mares will 

 nui-se a colt better than others; that some 

 cows treat a calf kindly and will nurse it, 

 whereas its own mother will not; that a 

 certain brood sow can nurse twelve pigs 

 l)etter than another will nurse six. It is a 

 (luestion of individuality and behavior. We 

 have the same conditions present in queen- 

 rearing. Not all colonies are cell-buildei'S. 

 One will accept a batch of twenty cells and 

 complete them all; another may not accept 

 ten. It is up to tlie beekeeper and queen- 

 breeder to determine to some extent at least 

 which colonies it will pay him to use as 

 cell-builders, the same as it pays the breeder 

 of swine to determine which shall be his 

 brood sows and which go to market. It is 

 a business sense that prompts such action. 

 We must specialize in order to succeed 

 best. It is quite as easy to start one hun- 



* Work done to be absolutely accurate ; all these 

 preparations perhaps not necessary ordinarily. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Febeuaky, 1917 



dred cells and have ninety completed as it 

 is to have only twenty-five conipleted. As 

 it takes time to make the wax cell cups, 

 secure royal jelly, and graft larvae, one 

 should endeavor to get maximum results. 

 To use the words of David Rankin, " Make 

 evei"y seed, every second, and every cent 

 count." 



FURTHEP PREPARATION OF THE CELL-BUILDER. 



In this latitude it is scarcely possible to 

 have queens fertilized before June 1. The 

 number of drones present up to this time 

 is small, and no nuclei should be made be- 

 fore then, for the brood is chilled during the 

 cool nights. As soon as the cell-builders 

 have been decided upon, stimulative feed- 

 ing should be resorted to in order to have 

 the colony in the best possible condition. 

 To help the cell-builder, frames of sealed 

 brood may be given from other colonies. 

 By June 1 the cell-builders mentioned had 

 each twelve frames of brood, and more 

 hatching brood was given from other colo- 

 nies in order to secure a greater number 

 of nurse bees. All these preparations 

 might seem out of place if the usual method 

 of dequeening the colonies were to be 

 followed in starting queen-cells. But it 

 will be seen by the reader that this extra 

 work is not in vain. 



PRFjI'ARATIONS NECESSARY JUST BEFORE BE- 

 GINNING COIONY FOR ITS SEASON'S WORK 

 OF ACCEPTING QUEEN-CELLS. 



A bee-escape board should be taken and 

 spaces cut out as shown in Fig 1. A 

 piece of wire screen the mesh of which is 

 small enough so that a worker cannot pass 

 thru is exactly fitted in the bee-escape 

 board. Just before tacking on the wire 

 a double Porter bee-escape is inserted. 

 After the wire is tacked on securely a hole 

 is cut at the opening of the bee-escape and 

 the wire soldered on completely around the 

 opening to prevent any possible chance 

 of allowing a passage for the bees. In 

 using bee-escape boards prepared in this 

 way the natural temperature of the colony 

 is disturbed very little. A bee-escape board 

 made entirely of wire is not so satisfactory, 

 as it may sag more or less in the middle 

 and cause trouble. A wood-and-wire queen- 

 excluder must also be provided. An empty 

 hive body is taken, and a one-inch hole 

 bored in one end to one side, as shown in 

 Fig. 2. A small alighting-board should 

 also be nailed on lo assist bees in leaving 

 and returning to the hive. 



Two days before the colony is to begin 

 its season's work of accepting queen-cells 

 the final preparations are made. Fasten 

 the bee-escape board to the bottom of the 



