June, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



339 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



our laying queen with two frames of brood 

 from all our strong colonics that we wisli 

 to requeen, making a nucleus similar to the 

 nuclei formed earlier. At this same time 

 we give u ripe queen-cell in a cell-protector 

 from a colony made queenless 12 days be- 

 fore. 



By this method we have found that it 

 takes away all desire of swarming, and the 

 new queen comes on the theater of action 

 at the beginning of the honey flow, and such 

 vim as it gives the swarm is surprising. If 

 any of the queenless hives have started 

 queen-cells before this protected cell hatches, 

 the bees will destroy them as soon as the 

 young queen emerges. With the young 

 queen present in the hive, with plenty of 

 room (that is, three stories at this season 

 of the year), we are sure the swarming 

 problem has been solved. There will be a 

 short time (about 13 to 15 days) when there 

 will not be much for the nurse bees to do, 

 and seemingly they all pitch in and become 

 workers much earlier than if left the old 

 waj'. In fact, they hustle like a new prime 

 swarm. Mr. Myers says he is positive we 

 can get 30 to 50 pounds more to the colony 

 besides extra increase and no swarming. 



About Aug. 1 we start extracting. At 

 this time we examine the nuclei we made 

 at the beginning of the, honey flow, and if 

 they have developed so as to make prosper- 

 ous colonies by fall, all is 0. K. If not, then 

 we give a frame or two of brood to help 

 them up to proper strength. We plan to 

 have all our nuclei build up sufiiciently to 

 fill a 10-frame body. These are wintered 

 mostly in the cellar, and the next spring at 

 the time of clipping queens we transfer them 

 to 13-frame hives. Usually at extracting 

 time we have two or three bodies of combs 

 almost solid with honey to extract. As soon 

 as extracted we sometimes divide the old 

 swarm, usually placing most of the brood 

 and one of the bodies and their queen in a 

 new location; the remaining brood is left 

 on the old stand in the lower body, and a 

 new untested queen is given them. At the 

 same time we add an extracting super to 

 catch the surplus bees. After working on 

 this system we have not had a swarm for 

 two years in our home-yard of over lOU 

 colonies. 



With this system we have no use for 

 queen-excluders, which, to my mind, hin- 

 der the bees and help in^ wearing them out. 

 In our experience we have found that by 

 using new comb in the third story or full 

 sheets of foundation the young queen will 

 find amjile room and will confine herself to 

 the two lower stories. 



With our large hive and our locality we 

 are able to connect our system with fruit- 

 growing and make a success with both. 



Adams & Myers. 



Ransomville, N. Y. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS 



Methods Should Vary with the Condition of the 

 Colony 



When there was a good honey flow all of 

 the plans of queen introduction I tried 

 seemed to be a success; but when the hon- 

 ey flow stopped and I found that some of 

 them failed part of the time, and the rest of 

 them failed all the time, I decided it would 

 be better to learn more about the old sys- 

 tem — the one that has been used for many 

 years, but perhaps not well understood. 



The Benton cage with three one-inch holes 

 bored part way thru a wooden block is most- 

 ly used in shipping queens. One of these 

 inch holes which is connected with a %- 

 inch hole leading to the outside of the cage 

 is filled with candy, which is intended to 

 supply the queen and her attendants with 

 food while on the road; and there is sup- 

 posed to be enough left in the cage on ar- 

 rival so that it will take the bees of the 

 colony 48 hours to gnaw away the pasteboard 

 that is tacked over the candy hole, eat out 

 the remaining candy and release the queen. 



The wire cloth that is nailed on one side 

 of the cage is for the purpose of protecting 

 the queen from the bees, also for the pur- 

 pose of giving the bees a chance to get ac- 

 quainted, or rather to give the queen the 

 colony odor, which she must have before 

 she will be accepted by the bees. 



To introduce a queen to a normal colony, 

 remove the queen from the hive. Also, the 

 bees that accompany the queen should be 

 removed from the cage. Then place the 

 cage containing the new queen on top of or 

 between the frames so the bees can have 

 free access to the wire side of the cage. 

 If the queen is still in the cage, sixty hours 

 later, push a lead pencil thru the candy, 

 making an opening for the queen to pass 

 out. Place the cage back on the frames and 

 let her majesty go out when ready to. By 

 doing this the bees will have become quiet 

 before the queen emerges from the cage. 



As a rule, we are in too much of a hur- 

 ry to have the queen released from the cage. 

 If she is released a few hours before she 

 completely absorbs the colony odor, she will 

 be balled by the bees. The colony should 

 not be disturbed for a few days after the 

 queen has been released. 



When a colony has been queenless from 

 three to five days they will have started 

 (|ueen-cells. Then the queen-cells should be 

 removed before the queen is released. 



When a colony has been queenless eight 

 or nine days the brood will all be sealed, 

 and there will be capped queen-cells, all of 

 wliich should be removed and a few hours 

 later a queen run in at the entrance. The 

 reason they accept a queen so readily is be- 

 cause they have, to a great extent, lost 



