268 



August, 1909. 



American Vee Journal 



by so many of them coming en masse 

 in front of it at once. These last shaken 

 off will at once begin to run toward 

 those that have before started in, when 

 the "line of march" will go steadily on 

 until all are in the hive. If in going in, 

 they hustle up to the entrance so fast 

 as to clog it with bees, I take my knife 

 and gently stir the bees directly in front 

 of the entrance, which will cause them 

 to run in with renewed vigor. 



When nearly all of the bees are in, 

 the queen is liberated and allowed to 

 go in, when the work is done. 



Xo matter in how bad a place they 

 cluster, the operation of getting the 

 swarm on the pole is always simple, and 

 there is no need of being in a hurry, 

 for they cannot go to the woods if left 

 hanging on the pole in the hot sun all 

 day, for should they uncluster and start 

 off they would soon come back to the 

 pole and queen, as I have had them do 

 several times. This also does away with 

 that bugbear in natural swarming, ol 

 having 2 or more swarms come out at 

 the same time, as all bee-keepers hav- 

 ing several colonies know so well about, 

 for we need not work with sheets, foun- 

 tain pump, or anything of the kind, till 

 we are almost ready to give up in des- 

 pair, to keep them from going together, 

 as used to be the case in olden times ; 

 but simply let them cluster on the pole 

 and we are at liberty to prepare the 

 second, third or fourth hive, as the case 

 may be, leaving a queen in front of each 

 hive except the first, as the queen for 

 that hive is on the pole. 



When all are clustered, take the pole 

 and carry it to the hive having a queen 

 in front of it, when we proceed to hive 

 them as at first, except that we only 

 dislodge from the cluster on the pole 

 about the right proportion of bees for 

 one hive ; then go the next, leaving 

 enough for a colony there, and so on 

 till all are hived as we wish them. All is 

 done with a perfect ease and certainty, 

 which no other plan can fully give. 



I would often leave the bees hanging 

 on this pole two or three hours, or till 

 I got other pressing business done, when 

 I would hive them at my leisure, the 

 only caution being necessary was to see 

 that the pole was so fixed that it could 

 not break from the great weight of 

 bees, and that the queens, not with the 

 cluster, had a few bees with them to 

 feed and care for them while waiting. 

 In fact, it is always well to allow from 

 4 to 10 bees to run into the cage with 

 the queen, when she is found in front 

 of the hive, so that should any unfore- 

 seen thing happen to call the apiarist 

 away, these would feed and protect the 

 queen all day if need be. Then, if, to- 

 ward the latter part of the swarming 

 season, I wished to put 2 swarms in a 

 hive so they would rush a whole lot of 

 nice honey into the sections in the short- 

 est, possible time, thus making them 

 bring in an immediate return in cash, 

 while if each were put separately in 

 hives, nothing would be the result in 

 section honey, I did not have to hunt 

 out the queens for one of them was 

 with the two clustered swarms, and the 

 other was let go back into its old hive. 

 I would as soon think of going to the 

 old log gums and 1iox-hives, as I would 



of managing an apiary on the natural 

 swarming plan with queens having un- 

 dipped wings. 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



Grading and Testing Queens 



BV J. C. FRANK. 



As many of our small bee-keepers 

 (novice and amateur) don't know how to 

 grade or test queens, nor know the mean- 

 ing of such grading, I am writing this 

 article with a hope of helping them to 

 decide which queens to order. For I 

 notice that many of them think that an 

 untested queen is a virgin, or one that is 

 not impregnated, and are at a loss to 

 know which queen to order, and natural- 

 ly send for some high-priced queens, 

 when an untested one would have been 

 just as good for the production of 

 honey. Unless something very fine to 

 breed from and improve the stock is 

 wanted, an untested queen will be cheap- 

 er and just as good as the higher priced 

 one. 



Some of the terms used by bee-keep- 

 ers in general are not of the best, and 

 are misleading to the beginners in bee- 

 keeping. But as they have been handed 

 down to us by our forefathers we will 

 have to stay with them. 



VIRGIN QUEENS. 



The newly hatched queen is called a 

 virgin to distinguish her from queens 

 that have been fertilized by the drone or 

 male bee. Virgin queens when first 

 hatched are sometimes nearly as large 

 as a fertile queen, but they gradually de- 

 crease in size and when 3 or 4 days old 

 they often look so small that a beginner 

 is disgusted with their appearance, and, 

 if he is hasty, is apt to pronounce them 

 good for nothing. For the first 4 or 5 

 days they crawl about much as an ordin- 

 ary worker-bee does, and it is often 

 very difficult, if not almost impossible, 

 to find them unless plenty of time is 

 taken, and that is more than a busy 

 apiarist can afford to spare. My ad- 

 vice is not to look for them, but insert 

 a comb of unsealed larvae just hatching 



from the egg 



If no cells are started, 



you can rest assured that the queen is 

 tlierc. without looking further, for the 

 very moment she is lost the bees will 

 start queen-cells on this comb, and it 

 enables the bees to rear another queen 

 in case the queen is lost on her wedding 

 trip, which is often the case. This comb 

 will also keep the bees from swarming 

 out with the queen on her wedding trip, 

 which they are apt to do if in a small 

 nucleus containing no brood. 



.\GE AT WHICH QUEEN MATES. 



I notice that the different writers on 

 bees do not agree as to the age when a 

 virgin queen leaves the hive on her wed- 

 ding trip, some stating that they leave 

 the hive when 2 or 3 days old. I am of 

 the opinion that all who make reports 

 of queens being fertilized when under 

 5 days old are mistaken. I never saw 

 such a thing to happen in my apiaries, 

 and in my queen-breeding experience I 

 have noticed them time and time again, 

 when but 5 days old. but I never knew 

 one to do so when under that age. The 

 fact is that I spend all my time during 



the queen-rearing season in the apiary 

 among the bees, and use every possible 

 means in forcing the young queen to fly 

 and take her wedding trip and become 

 fertile at the earliest moment possible. 

 I never have found a young queen lay- 

 ing when less than 7 days old. 



WHEN VOUNG QUEENS BEGIN TO LAY. 



Young queens commence to lay from 

 36 to 48 hours after they become fertile. 

 The time varies according to the season, 

 and whether during the honey-flow. 

 Nearly all young queens will start to lay 

 in about 36 hours after mating. Later 

 in the season, when no honey is coming 

 in from the field, it will be from 48 

 hours to 2 or 3 days. 



UNTESTED QUEENS. 



After the young queen has started 

 laying she is called an untested queen, 

 for her worker progeny hasn't hatched 

 yet, and the queen-breeder doesn't know 

 whether she will produce pure bees or 

 hybrids. These queens are reared from 

 the very best breeding-queens, or from 

 select tested, which are Iseing tested for 

 breeding purposes. 



If the queen-breeder is giving his 

 proper attention to the breeding of 

 queens and sees to it that no hybrids 

 or scrub drones are allowed to fly in his 

 apiaries, 90 percent of the untested 

 queens will prove to be purely mated, 

 and for the honey-producer are just as 

 good as the higher priced queens. 



SE[,ECT UNTESTED QUEENS. 



These are selected from all the untest- 

 ed queens in the apiary. These queens 

 are good layers, very prolific and vigor- 

 ous. They are large and well formed, 

 active on the combs, and somewhat 

 brighter in color than the average un- 

 tested queens. For real business an un- 

 tested queen often proves to be as good 

 as the select untested queens. As a 

 rule they prove to be tested queens. 



TESTED QUEENS. 



A tested queen is one that has been 

 laying for 30 days or more and her pro- 

 geny (or young bees) have already 

 emerged from their cells. They have 

 been in the hive long enough so that 

 their progeny can be tested and know 

 that they are purely mated. If they are 

 mismated they are called hybrids. 



SELECT TESTED. 



A select tested queen is one that has 

 been selected from the tested queens on 

 hand in the apiary. They are purely 

 mated, are good layers, very prolific and 

 vigorous. They are large and well 

 formed, active on the combs, and some- 

 what brighter in color than the average 

 tested queens ; their progeny is also 

 somewhat brighter than the progeny 

 from a tested queen. 



BREEDING QUEENS. 



A breeding queen is one that has been 

 in the hive from 50 days to one year, 

 and has been tested not only for her 

 worker progeny but for her queen pro- 

 geny as well, and found pure in every 

 way. To test a breeding queen properly 

 she' should be in the hive for the entire 

 season. Her bees should be well marked, 

 uniform in color and size, prolific and 

 hardy. They should be good gatherers, 

 and cap their honey white. 



Dodge City, Kans. 



