226 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Rearing: (Jueeiis. 



A correspondent in Earlville, lo\v;i, 

 asks for information bearing upon tlie 

 above subject, and as there may be 

 others desirous of more light, we will 

 give a somewhat elaborate reply : He 

 writes : 



I do not understand, in Italianizing 

 my apiary (Bee Journal, page 202), 

 when the queen lias been removed 

 from my Italian colony for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining queen cells, how 

 eggs are deposited in these cells, the 

 queen not being replaced in the Italian 

 colony ; and how am I to l<iiow when 

 queen cells are ripe 'i Please answer 

 in the Bee Jouunal. 



The bees will build the queen cells 

 around eggs or larvje, or remove tlie 

 egg or larva and iilaee it in the cell. 

 Scientists and apiarists are divided in 

 opinion as to whether the cell is con- 

 structed around the egg, or the egg 

 placed in the cell by the bees. It is 

 possible, nay probable, th;it botli are 

 riglit. We have seen several cases, in 

 the course of our obsei'vations, which 

 led US to believe tliat bees frequently 

 remove eggs from one comb to another; 

 if they may do so, for convenience or 

 other cause, for the purpose of rearing 

 worker brood, why may they not do so 

 in the case of rearing queens '? It 

 wonld be improbable that a queen 

 could be removed from a prosperous 

 colony without leaving an ample num- 

 ber of fresh eggs or young larvaj from 

 which to rear all tlie queens which 

 may be desired. If, however, there is 

 a doubt about the matter, an outside 

 frame of honey may be removed from 

 the brood chamber, and the remaining 

 frames be then spread so as to admit 

 of placing a nice, clean comb In the 

 center, or a sheet of fresh foundation, 

 and in three or four days the new 

 comb will be found filled with eggs, 

 when the queen can be removed. 



If many cells are wanted, the fol- 

 lowing will be found an excellent 

 plan : Remove from its stand the 

 hive containing your most populous 

 black colony of bees, and put in its 

 place an empty hive ; in this put four 

 nice, clean, empty combs, leaving 

 room in the middle for a fifth, and 

 placing a division board at each outer 

 side. The hive removed put on a 

 stand three or four rods distant, and 

 cage the queen securely ; now take 

 from the hive you wish to rear queens 

 from a comb containing only eggs 

 (leaving the queen in her own hive), 

 cut off, say, one-third of the lower 

 part of the comb, lengthwise from 

 front to rear, put the frame with the 



remaining two-thirds of comb con- 

 taining eggs in the center of the new 

 hive ; throw a blanket over the frames, 

 put on the cover of the hive, and lay a 

 board slanting from the ground to the 

 entrance; now take out the frames 

 one at a time from the hive removed, 

 and shake and brush all the bees from 

 the combs in front of the new hive, 

 then replace the combs in the black 

 colony and lelease the queen. The 

 object in cutting the comb is to give a 

 full, unlinished surface to facilitate 

 and encourage the building of numer- 

 ous queen cells, as bees seem to prefer 

 mutilated spots for starting them, and 

 they are easier removed from an ex- 

 tended surface, or edge, than if 

 grouped, so that one cannot be cutout 

 without injuring others. By adopting 

 this plan, you not only secure a greater 

 number of cells, but you know, also, 

 that the queens are reared from very 

 young larvie, and, consequently, are 

 fed on royal jelly from the time they 

 are hatched from the eggs. 



After about the seventh day from 

 the time the larva; are hatched, you 

 will find the queen cells capped over. 

 This capping will be quite rough and 

 irregular, and have the appearance of 

 being rudely daubed or plastered on 

 the end with coarse wax. In ten days 

 the worker bees will be working on 

 the point ; on the twelfth day the point 

 will be trimmed down, and on the 

 fourteenth will have lost its waxy ap- 

 pearance, and be dressed down quite 

 smooth, when the cell is what is 

 termed "ripe." These dates of time 

 are based upon cells built with only 

 eggs in the hive. We have known 

 queens to emerge in about twelve 

 days after the colony was made queen- 

 less, but these were undoubtedly 

 reared from much further advanced 

 larvse, and such queens are generally 

 supposed to be not as good. 



Several objects are gained by arti- 

 ficially swarming a colony to rear 

 queens as above, chief among which 

 are : 1st. Greater number of queen 

 cells ; 2d. No drones are reared in the 

 hive, as they have no male eggs from 

 which to rear them; 3d. The parent 

 Italian queen is still left in her own 

 stimulated colony to rear Italian 

 drones; 4th. A good cell can be left in 

 the hive, to Italianize the black colony; 

 5th. There will be no hatching black 

 bees to add confusion in testing the 

 young queen. 6th. There is but one 

 fractional frame of brood to divert 

 the cares of the bees from their queen- 

 rearing. 



Forty-eight hours before cutting- 

 out the queen cells, form nuclei for as 

 many queens as you wish to rear, or 

 as you may have good cells, by taking 

 a frame of sealed and hatching brood,, 

 and placing, with an empty comb, in 

 a hive with division boards each side, 

 then close the entrance and fasten the 

 bees in for 24 hours, and on the fol- 

 lowing day, cut out and graft a queen 

 cell in each nucleus. Combs or foun- 

 dation can be added to the nuclei from, 

 time to time as they may be needed. 

 In twenty-one days after the young 

 queens are mated and begin laying, 

 their ]>rogeny should be emerging 

 from the cells. Many other plans are 

 practiced besides those described 

 above, but none, we believe, mor& 

 simple in detail and as satisfactory in 

 results. 



1^" Mr. H. Jones, Chesaning, Mich., 

 kindly sends us an item entitled 

 " Glucose," credited to the N. Y. Cit^ 

 Item. We have already published the 

 substance matter of the article — ia 

 fact, it is partly made up from editor- 

 ial matter in the Bee Journal, <ind 

 for which, by some oversight, we 

 tailed to receive proper credit. We 

 are always pleased to receive these 

 items, as it is not only an indication 

 that our patrons are in accord with us 

 in our efforts to effect needed reforms, 

 but they frequently bring to our 

 notice transactions which we miglit 

 otherwise overlook, or have no oppor- 

 tunity of observing. It also afford* 

 us pleasure to be able to assure our 

 readers that the public are rapidly 

 becoming aware of the baneful in- 

 fluence of food adulterations, and that 

 even Congress seems inspired to at- 

 tempt a reform in the matter. Nous- 

 verrons. 



Deluged With Letters.— One of our 



advertisers writes thus : " Stop my 

 advertisement in the Bee Journal. 

 I am deluged with letters. 1 cannot 

 answer half of them." This shows 

 the good results of advertising in the 

 Bee Journal, when anything of 

 value is offered for sale. 



1^ Mr. J. W. Margrave, of Hia- 

 watha, Kas., reports that J. V. Cor- 

 nell, a young bee-keeper of that place 

 has " left for parts unknown," leav- 

 ing a young wife and babe to the ten- 

 der mercies of a cold world. Mr. M. 

 adds: " lie ought to be published in 

 all the bee periodicals as a* base vil- 

 lain." Pass him around. 



