116 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



food the same as used in shipping 

 cages for mailing queens. The 

 queens were then removed from the 

 six colonies ; when the bees were 

 back in the hive and had quieted 

 down, these cages were placed on 



Introducing Cage. 



une frames, under the cushion in 

 such a wa}'^ tliat the bees would have 

 access to the food, then a small 

 amount of tobacco smoke was 

 blown into the hive, thus scenting 

 bees and queens all alike. In the 

 course of two hours the queen was 

 released and as the colony had not 

 had time to miss their own queen, 

 the new one was successfully in- 

 troduced. This method is entirely 

 new and is now in print for the 

 first time. I think it will be found 

 the safest, quickest and easiest 

 way to introduce queens yet given 

 to the public. 



SEVERAL METHODS FOR INTRODUC- 

 ING UNFERTILE QUEENS. 



Unfertile queens cannot be intro- 

 duced immediately after removing 

 a fertile queen from a colony, uuless 

 perhaps, it is a queen just emerged 

 from a cell, and even in that case 

 tAie chances are that she would be 

 destroyed when twenty-four hours 

 old. I notice by the bee journals 

 that some of our most prominent 

 queen breeders cannot at all times 

 make a success of introducing 

 virgin queens. If the plan given 

 below is followed, success will sure- 

 ly be the result. 



In the first place the colony, 

 whether it be a large or small one, 



must be queenless seventy -two 

 hours before the virgin queen is in- 

 troduced. I have introduced some 

 queens in thirty-six hours after re- 

 moving a laying queen, but it is 

 much better to use the seventy-two 

 hour method, I do not lose on an 

 average one queen in 100 by the 

 following method, though nearly 

 all the unfertile queens I intro- 

 duce are from four to eight days 

 old. Leave the colony queenless 

 three days, then just before night 

 fumigate the bees pretty thoroughly 

 with tobacco smoke, by using the 

 pipe described on page 91, and let 

 the queen run in at the top of the 

 hive if possible ; then throw grass 

 against the entrance of the hive to 

 keep the bees in, as the smoke will 

 slightly intoxicate them and some 

 would roll out on the ground. The 

 bees will fully recover from the 

 effects of the smoke before the next 

 morning, and not even an expert 

 could select the colony to which 

 the queen was introduced the night 

 previous. 



ANOTHER WAY TO INTRODUCE UN- 

 FERTILE QUEENS. 



This plan is similar to the second 

 one given for introducing fertile 

 queens. Last season we introduced 

 a large number of queens by plac- 

 ing them in cages above described, 

 and then inserting the cage in one 

 corner of one of the brood- frames, 

 andsmokingthe beesslightly. (The 

 colonies had been queenless three 

 days). When the food is removed 

 from the cage the queen leisurely 

 walks out and is successfully intro- 

 duced ; if the weather is pleasant 

 she is fertilized the next day. 



It will be noticed that this 

 method is successful for the reason 

 that the hive is very quiet when the 

 queen is released. Excitement at 

 the time of introducing a queen is 

 about sure death to her. 



If the person receiving a queen 



