.Ulv, 1017 



G \. K A N T N (J S IN R K E C U T. T U R E 



517 



])[' a yniiiiii' laying' one. Everythin.u' de- 

 ]n'ii(ls oil I his; for if a virgin or a queeu- 

 cell i.s given llio cliances are nine to one that 

 when the queen goes out to mate the bees 

 will swarm out with her. It is a great mis- 

 take to look in the hive under five or six 

 days to see if the queen has been accepted, 

 for, being- young, she is easiW excited and 

 tliiMi the bees kill her. 



TIIK REASON FOR EARLY REQUEENING. 



At the latter end of (or just after) a 

 heavy honey-flow, old queens take a rest 

 and almost cease laying for five or six 

 weeks until there is a fairly good flow of 

 honey coming on from some of the later 

 sunnner flowers — in this locality from 

 heartsease, as it is the first to yield any 

 amount of nectar. A young queen, if in- 

 troduced, goes to laying at once, and in a 

 week the bees are hustling off to get some- 

 lliing to take care of the young brood. 



i:ave to be replaced as in case of queens re- 

 ceived by mail. Usually about 40 \wv cent 

 of the queens received from other breeders 

 are unprolific. I do not believe this is 

 always due to carelessness of the queen- 

 breeder but to injury of the queens shipped 

 after they have commenced laying- when 

 they are heavy with eggs. 



After determining- the prolificness of all 

 (jueens introduced, there is nothing- furthei- 

 to do until the fall flowers, such as asters 

 and goldenrod, commence yielding nectar. 

 After this flow has been on two or three 

 weeks every colony should be looked over 

 to see that the queens are all I'ight and 

 that there are plenty of bees. Colonies 

 not having enough bees to cover six to 

 eight combs, and with plenty of hatching 

 brood, should be united with other weak 

 colonies. The queen should be laying in 

 the upper stoi-y, there being two stories 



One of Harold Horner's apiaries at tlie close of tlie Iione\-flu\v. 



They will yeiierally find it, too, even if no 

 flowers a))])ear to be blooming- or yielding 

 nectar. 



At the time the old queen is taken away 

 the combs should be looked over carefully 

 and all that have drone-cells removed, good 

 worker ' combs being put in their places. 

 Another story of worker combs should also 

 be put on with the queen-excluder above 

 it, as it will take two stories to hold the 

 young queen. Good combs for this purpose 

 may easily be selected from combs recently 

 extracted. 



Two to three weeks after the younj; 

 queens are introduced the colonies should 

 he looked over carefully, and any que?ns 

 not layino- sliould be killed and good oU'CS 

 introduced. If the (jueens have been rear- 

 ed right at home, not nearly as many w-ill 



left for winter. All suiiilus bodies and 

 the queen-excluder should be removed, like- 

 wise any ventilating-blocks for extra venti- 

 lation at the entrance. The propolis should 

 be scra])ed off the edges of the hive-bodies, 

 floors, and covers, so they will fit closely 

 and leave no opening- for drafts of air 

 aci'oss the frames. 



PREPARATIONS FOR WIXTER. 



At this time it should be possible to tell 

 how much luniey the hive contains for win- 

 ter. Each colony should have not less 

 than seven or eight cxjmbs Aveighing full 

 five pounds each, and it does no harm if 

 there are more than this. The mistake 

 should not be made of hioking- over the 

 bees too late and then filling the top story 

 with co-iihs full of honey sealed clear to 

 the bottom-bars. The bees need time to 



