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<; I. K A N I X (i S I N 1! K K C V L T U H 





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RCMTOE^IELD^OF 





SIMPLIFIED QUEEN REARING 



How Good Queens Can be Produced Even by Be- 

 ginners 



It is g('iior;illy concedcil tlint tlic t'oiii- 

 iiKMX-ial lioiioyin'odiicor slumld rear a j)art 

 or all of his own quoons. Many small bee- 

 keepers, however, do not believe it will pay 

 to go to all the trouble to rear the few 

 queens they need, preferring to let the bees 

 do it. Now the beginner, if he is the en 

 thusiastic amateur that he should be, is in 

 the bee business for one of two reasons: he 

 is in it for the love of the thing, or for the 

 honey he expects to get. In either case he 

 has a strong desire to learn the bee busi- 

 ness, and he should remember that if he 

 would understand bees he must study the 

 queen. If one keeps bees for the ])leasure 

 derived from itj certain it is that the jjleas- 

 ure may be increased many-fold by study- 

 ing and rearing queens. What greater de- 

 light can the amateur experience than to 

 behold a beautiful queen all his own rear- 

 ing. Dr. Miller used to say, '.' Every one 

 thinks the most of his own baby." This is 

 doubly true if that "babj^" be a queen. 



The beginner who has but half a dozen 

 colonies may not find it advisable to learn 

 the grafting method unless he ex[)ects to 

 keep more bees in the future. If that is 

 the case, the sooner he begins to ])ractice 

 with the grafting method the better. How- 

 ever, there are many principles running 

 thru all methods of queen-rearing that are 

 similar; consequently if we learn one meth- 

 od, it will help us the better to learn an- 

 other. 



It is a well-known fact that queen-rearing 

 during the swarming period is a very sim- 

 ple matter compared with rearing queens 

 during a dearth of ])asture. The swarming 

 period is the time that the colonies are in 

 jirime condition for queen-rearing. It is 

 this condition of the colonies that makes 

 for success at queen-rearing, and not the 

 fact tliat the bees liave the swarming fever. 

 I have found that if the conditions within 

 the hive are made right, every bit as good 

 results can be had in a colony that is not 

 )irei)aring to swarm as in one that is pre- 

 ] aring to swarm. What are these condi- 

 tions? The colony must be strong in bees, 

 tliere must be a large proportion of young 

 be(>s to act as nurses, there must be some 

 si]ri)lus honey in the hive, there must be a 

 large amount of brood in all stages, and 

 there must be both nectar and pollen com- 

 ing in from the fields. These conditions are 

 right for swarming, and they are also right 

 for rearing queens. The beginner should 

 tackle the queen-rearing job when the con- 

 ditions are the most favorable; so he should 



begin as soon in the spring as the colonies 

 are in the condition describ(>d. 



If the queen is removed from such a c(d- 

 ony, the bees will construct queen-cells; 

 and, if care is taken to select only the best 

 cells, very good queens may be reared. This 

 is a very simple method; but, as the bees 

 often choose larvae too old for best results, 

 it should not be used if a better one, that 

 is not too comjilicated, can be used. A 

 method that gives every whit as good 

 (|ueens as can be reared in any manner I 

 will give in the following short article. In 

 my earlier experience I used this, and I 

 found it to give most excellent results. It 

 combines two features that should appeal 

 t<o the amateur; it is sim})le, and it gives 

 the best of queens. 



When the swarming season is at hand, 

 go to the colony containing the best queen 

 from which you wish to breed. In the cen- 

 ter of the brood-nest place an empty comb. 

 A new comb is preferable to an old one as 

 the bees can work the wax much easier 

 than they can in an old one. Leave this 

 for two days, then examine it. If there 

 are plenty of eggs in it, it is ready for use. 

 If not, leave it another day. I prefer not 

 to leave it more than three days, for we 

 want to give this frame to bees for queen- 

 rearing before any of the eggs are liatche(l. 

 Assuming that there are plenty of eggs in 

 the comb, we are ready to prepare a colony 

 to build the cells. Go to a strong colony that 

 has plenty of brood and bees. If their 

 queen is a poor one, you can kill her. If 

 she is a good one and you wish to save her, 

 take a frame of brood and honey with the 

 adhering bees and the queen, and put them 

 into another hive. The nucleus thus formed 

 may be built up to a full colony or it may 

 he given back to the colony from which it 

 was taken when we are thru using it for 

 cell-building. After the queen has been re- 

 moved, take out all frames that contain 

 any brood or eggs. Brush off all the bees, 

 then give this brood to weak colonies or to 

 any colony desired so that it will be taken 

 care of. This leaves the colony from which 

 the brood was taken, both broodless and 

 (fueenless. The bees should be left in this 

 condition for two or three hours when the 

 fiame of eggs from the colony containing 

 the breeding queen is placed in the center, 

 aiul the remaining combs of honey and pol- 

 len are moved up close to it. 



Let us now note the conditions brougl t 

 about in this colony. A few hours before 

 they were feeding a large number of larvae. 

 They have now been without larvae for sev- 

 eral hours, and the larval food has been 

 accumulating so they are in a condition to 

 feed hu\^ae la\ishly. They are also queen- 



