Vol. XIV 



JUNE, 1904. 



No. 6 



QUEEX REARING. 



The Method Used by a Texas Breeder. 

 By Johu W. PhaiT. 



OUR way to prepare a colony for 

 cell-building is to remove the 

 queen and all the brood, and 

 two hours later give them prepared 

 cell-Clips, or else transfer the larvae 

 into the lower cells of a newly drawn 

 comb. We prefer the former, how- 

 ever, as they are better to handle. We 

 use the Doolittle plan, not because it 

 is better than the Alley or Atchley sys- 

 tem, but because it is more convenient. 

 In order to get good cells and a lot of 

 them built, there must be a honey flow 

 on, or else it is necessary to feed your 

 colony from two days previous, to 

 four days after the operation is per- 

 formed. By this time the cells will be 

 sealed and you can transfer them to 

 the nursery cages or give them a lay- 

 ing queen. But, before giving the lay- 

 ing queen you should give them a 

 frame of cell-cups or a newly drawn 

 comb which has been grafted with lar- 

 vae from your breeder. This should 

 be done twenty-four hours before giv- 

 ing the queen. They will begin feed- 

 ing the larvae much sooner than will 

 a colony just made queenless. 



Now go to another colony that you 

 ■wish to set to cell-building and take 

 ' away its queen and brood and bring it 

 to this colony, and take lae frame of 

 cells which they have started to the 

 colony from which you took the brood 

 and queen. By this means, the colony 

 has been queenless but five days. 



After getting a lot of good cells 

 built, the next thing is to care for 



them. Our cell cages are prepared as 

 follows: Take a strip of wood, three- 

 fourths by one-half inch and cut 

 length to fit between end-bars of brood 

 frame. Now cut half way through the 

 strip saw kerfs to make twenty com- 

 partments, which are separated by 

 partitions made of section material 

 and fitted into the saw kerfs. Now cut 

 a piece of wire cloth to nt eacn side. 

 To provision these you can bore a hole 

 in each compartment and use soft 

 candy; or you can shave a piece of 

 comb down to the mid-rib and fill with 

 honey, allowing it to rest on the bot- 

 tom bar. 



Now cut little caps to just fit be- 

 tween the partitions and will fit tight. 

 These ought to come a little above the 

 wire-cloth side-walls. Now dip the caps 

 into melted wax and stick your cells 

 fast, and place them in the cages until 

 you have it full; then fasten it in a 

 brood frame with a small nail. If 

 you use cages that have holes in the 

 bottom-bars, you can put three in one 

 frame. 



Now, to get these cells hatched is 

 where the trouble comes. Be sure you 

 place the nursery where the bees will 

 cover it entirely. Do not place it in a 

 queenless colony, as some have ad- 

 vised. Put it between frames of open 

 brood where it will get the warmth 

 and moisture. This gives us the best 

 hatch. When hatched, they are ready 

 for the nuclei. 



I know there are many who want 

 their cells to hatch in the nucleus hive, 

 but we hold our queens in the nursery 

 cage until they are four days old, then 

 sucessfully introduce them by using 

 fresh queenless bees every time. Here 



