Gleanings in bee culture 



February, 1917 



cujos should be only about three-eighths of 

 an inch in length. It has been the writer's 

 privilege to carry on extensive experiments 

 within the past two years to determine 

 which size will give maximum results. 

 Several thousand cells were started during 

 this time, using various lengths and sizes 

 of cell cups. Cells of different sizes and 

 lengths were given to the same colony 

 under various weather conditions and the 

 results recorded. Cells were also alter- 

 nated on the same cell-bars. The con- 

 clusions derived from these experiments are 

 as follows: 



The greatest number of cells are accepted 

 and completed when seven-sixteenths of 

 an inch in diameter and from three-fourths 

 to one inch in length. (These sizes are 

 for cell cups before being given to the bees.) 



Cells three-fourths of an inch in diame- 

 ter and larger were found never to be 

 accepted, as well as cells under one-fourth 

 of an inch in diameter. 



Cells three-fourths of an inch to one inch 

 long, and seven-sixteenths of an inch in di- 

 ameter, were found to be capped over soon- 

 er than any other size. Little wax must 

 be supplied by the bees, and cells of such 

 size are therefore more inviting. 



The cells are usually larger when com- 

 pleted than when drawn out from cell cups 

 only three-eighths of an inch long. 



The virgin queens that hatch from such 

 cells are, as a rule, larger than from the 

 smaller cells. Such queens are undoubtedlv 

 better fed, since more room for royal jelly 

 is present in a large cell. 



PREPARING THE CELL CUPS. 



In preparing the cell cups the usual 

 methods as given by Dr. E. F. Phillips and 

 Doolittle may be followed. The only pre- 

 caution to take is to get the edges of the 

 cell cups very thin. If the edges of the 

 cell cups are thick (such as machine-made 

 cell cups) the jDercentage of accepted cells 

 is not as.great. This has been fully de- 

 termined by the writer in experiments cov- 

 ering two years of time, and involving the 

 starting of hundreds of cells. After the 

 cells are fastened to the cell-bars they 

 should be placed in a colony for polishing 

 out. Care must be taken not to leave 

 them too long, ten to fifteen minutes be- 

 ing a sufficient length of time. 



STARTING THE QUEEN-CELLS. 



It is not the intention of the writer to 

 give directions for grafting larvae, etc., 

 as this is very adequately described in 

 the standard works on queen-rearing. 

 However, the ideal conditions present in 

 the cell-builders make the work more sim- 

 ple than usual. Not more than a portion of 



royal jelly the size of a pin-head is neces- 

 sary for each cell. In fact, one good-sized 

 queen-cell will furnish enough of the jelly 

 to start forty to fifty others. 



Before placing the bar of cells in the 

 cell-building colony, a cover should be made 

 as follows: Take an ordinary Higgins- 

 ville cover and cut it exactly in two length- 

 wise. Take a piece of wood about four 

 inches wide and the exact length of the 

 cover, and place its edges so that it will 

 fit exactly between the halves of the cover 

 when pushed together. The object in using 

 a cover in sections is that, when the frame 

 holding the bar of prepared cells is in- 

 serted in the center of the cluster, less 

 disturbance is caused, and fewer risks 

 taken in not having the cells accepted. 

 One, two, or three bars of cells can be 

 started at once; but undoubtedly better 

 queens are secured where nurse bees can 

 confine their entire attention to one bar of 

 cells. When the brood placed in the upper 

 hive body is practically all sealed over, the 

 nurse bees can confine their entire atten- 

 tion to the one bar of cells given them, 

 with the result that they are practically all 

 accepted, or at least over ninety per cent 

 for the entire season. By what other plan 

 can the same results be realized? The 

 beauty of it is that they are accepted 

 every time. 



In moving sealed brood to the upper 

 liive body, it sometimes happens that two 

 or three queen-cells are started from un- 

 sealed brood. If this happens they must, 

 of course, be destroyed in order to pre- 

 vent a queen from emerging. 



At the end of twenty-four hours, the 

 accepted bar of cells is placed in an- 

 other colony to be " finished." After the 

 cells are once accepted they can usually 

 be completed very nicely in a colony above 

 a queen - excluder. When the cells are 

 " ripe " they are ready to be inserted in 

 a nucleus, and the queens emerge there or 

 can be placed in nursery cages. 



It might be well to mention what success 

 has been had by this method of using the 

 Alley plan of starting queen-cells. The 

 results are exactly as good. Early in June 

 I had 42 queen-cells started on one comb 

 using the Alley plan. The comb was cut 

 in several places, and every other larva 

 lifted out along the cut edges. On the 

 lower part of the comb, or next to the bot- 

 tom-bar, 23 cells were started, counting both 

 sides, and 19 other cells started on the 

 rest of the comb. Many other good re- 

 sults were had, but this particular instance 

 was the record. As settled weather came 

 on, only the Doolittle method was used. 



