1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



949 



QUEEN-BEE RAISING. 



Favors the Establishment of Record-books, 



and Keeping Data Relative to All Queens. 



The Importance of Good Queens. 



BY HENRY HEIDORN. 



iThis article by Mr. Heidorn was read as a paper be- 

 fore a meeting of the Central California Bee-keepers' 

 Association, and was afterward printei in the Hanford 

 Jcntrnal. The Association voted, however, to send the 

 paper as an article to Gleanings, and we hereby take 

 pleasure in placing it before our readers. — Ed.] 



In response to the secretary's request to 

 prepare an article that may be of interest to 

 the members along the line of bee keeping, 

 more especially on the value of good queens, 

 allow me to say that I do not believe I can 

 give you any thing that is new, or that you 

 do not know; and while to elaborate in a 

 theoretical manner on the value of good 

 queens might be somewhat of a dry subject, 

 1 will resort to the results of my observa- 

 tion in the field of daily experiences. The 

 subject is rather too large to do justice to in 

 a short talk, and for that reason I will men- 

 tion but a few conditions that appear to ev- 

 ery bee-keeper, making a demand on his 

 time, skill, patience, and endurance, in the 

 accomplishment of his aims, which, I think, 

 might help us to realize the value of a good 

 queen. I have no doubt that all bee- keepers 

 who are extensively engaged in bee-keeping, 

 and more especially those who make bee- 

 keeping a success through their efforts, in- 

 stead of simply making money out of bees 

 because of an unusually good pasture in a 

 favorable season, will agree with me that 

 queening and reqaeening has much to do in 

 keeping the apiaries in healthy, strong, and 

 profitable condition, for health and vitality 

 and the making of good opportunities are 

 necessary in the acquirement of success in 

 any line. It, therefore, behooves every bee- 

 keeper to look into and become familiar with 

 the art of raising his own queens, instead of 

 being always dependent upon what others 

 should do for them, or to do without what 

 he should have. 



But before I say anything on this subject 

 let us consider one other point which may 

 prove to be of some consequence; namely, 

 order and system. No banking institution, 

 railroad corporation, or government is with- 

 out an orderly system which enables it to 

 transact and maintain tremend )U3 institu- 

 tions with success. Order is heaven's first 

 law. How many of our bee-keepers keep 

 order— such as enable them to reap a benefit 

 from it? I think there are some. When I 

 first started to raise bees, and inquired con- 

 cerning queens, having been much disap- 

 pointed I was referred to a man in Southern 

 California who was said to be quite success- 

 ful. I learned that he kept a record- book, 

 and raised his own queens, but not for the 

 market. Having obtained several queens 

 from him I tried my own skill, and in 1899 I 

 adopted the book system, I numbered all 

 of the hives, began to raise from the two 

 queens imported a goodly number, and in 



discarding the old ones introduced, I re- 

 corded the young queens. Time offered op- 

 portunities to observe their usefulness, dis- 

 position, and their several distinctions; and 

 as the season advanced, this book showed 

 me the year during which the greatest num- 

 ber of queens wtre raised, which queen they 

 were raised from, their color, size, and gen- 

 eral appearance, and indicated their relation, 

 if any. This information enables me to 

 trace usefulness, disease, and worthlessness 

 in all instances. It enables me to avoid in- 

 breeding when selecting queens for breed- 

 ing; gives me the age of all queens, by which 

 I avoid that indolent and inactive disposition 

 associated with feeble bees superseding when 

 retarded by adverse conditions; it avoids 

 many instances where a disorderly hive 

 would go to pieces, or, if able to hold on, 

 would raise an inferior queen or encourage 

 the appearance of laying workers. Know- 

 ing a queen, when failing, to be three years 

 old, I can act with safety accordingly. If 

 but two years old I look for a cause. In 

 this way, by observation, I have gained 

 some remarkable experience. Unruly, rank, 

 indolent, and unskilled bees can more easily 

 be traced and checked when opportunities 

 present themselves. I need worry but httle 

 about the yearlings during the swarm- 

 ing season, when work is so plentiful; but 

 during that time I can watch the two-year- 

 olds, and in case there are extra- good queens, 

 such as I should not like to lose, 1 can swarm 

 them off, which will render a valuable queen, 

 which, perchance, you might have lost while 

 being busy elsewhere. I am able, if occa- 

 sion requires, to find a superseding queen 

 among the three-year-old bees that are 

 ready and fit to do good work in building 

 queen-eel's. 



This brings to us the consideration of rais- 

 ing queens. Many are the ways and meth- 

 ods adopted by the different queen- breeders, 

 as treated in the magazines and instruction- 

 books, known everywhere. I think there is 

 but little to be said at this lime on any 

 special method, A swarm in good condition, 

 preparing to swarm, will do good work. If 

 the queen does not suit, take unhatched 

 eggs from your good queen, and place a lim- 

 ited number of cells in a broodless hive; 

 and, when started, transfer the cells to the 

 swarm before mentioned, and, if more suit- 

 able, transfer these larvae into newly started 

 queen-cells of the same hive, destroying the 

 rest not wanted. This work should be done 

 before any cells are found capped in the 

 hive. If you are obliged to resort to forcing 

 cell-building by removing or caging a queen, 

 give but one set of cells, and, when com- 

 pleted, restore order. It is not profitable to 

 give them a second hatch, after removing 

 the cells when completed, neither should a 

 new swarm, having lost its queen in swarm- 

 ing, nor a remaining swarm in a mother 

 hive, having a young queen, be given brood 

 to raise its own queen, nor any swarm hav- 

 ing lost its queen. These we will class as 

 disorderlv hives; all are incapable of doing 

 good work. A laying queen should be given 



