1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



283 



PRIDQEN ON QUEEN-REARING. 



Cell-buildiug. 



BV W. A. PRIDGEN. 



To prepare the bees for cell-building- we 

 will first consider the manipulation with 

 the hive as shown in Fig-. 2, last issue, page 

 231, with only three chambers, as it is less 

 complicated; and, to simplif3' matters, we 

 will imagine that each chamber is lettered, 

 beginning- at a at the left, and going to the 

 right with b and c in order, each being 

 stocked with a distinct populous colony of 

 bees, a and c having entrances on one side 

 and b on the other. 



Remove the queen from a, and, two or 

 three daj's later, these bees will be ready 

 to complete cups that have been accepted by 

 broodless and queenless bees confined, as 

 has already been described, without de- 

 priving them of their brood, though any 

 queen-cells found started on their combs at 

 the time the accepted cups are given to 

 them should be destroyed. When the queen 

 is removed, a comb of brood and adhering 

 bees maj' be taken with her to form a nu- 

 cleus, and thus leave a space for the cell- 

 frame, and separate those left to fill the 

 space until the cups be given, or the queen 

 alone may be taken, and a space made by 

 removing a comb containing no brood when 

 the cups are given, provided the combs left 

 in the hive are so arranged as to place the 

 cups in the center of the brood-nest. 



The bees can remain in this condition un- 

 til the cells are sealed, and then remove the 

 division-board in the partition between 

 a and b, and insert the bridge; or 

 communication can be given between them 

 when the batch of cups is inserted and 

 have the cells completed as is the case over 

 an excluder with a laying queen below. 

 The point to be emphasized right here is 

 the fact that this hive is conveniently ar- 

 ranged for having cells built by queenless 

 bees, or those in touch with a laying queen, 

 according to the wishes of the operator. 



Communication should be given every 

 time as soon as the cells are sealed, if it is 

 not done before, so that the bees will act 

 like those recently made queenless, in case 

 it is necessary to cut off communication 

 with the queen, to have the next batch of 

 cups accepted and the cells sealed, though 

 this is seldom necessarj' in either case, if 

 the hive is kept crowded with bees; though 

 when the first batch of ripe cells is remov- 

 ed, all the brood in chamber a will be 

 sealed; and if the bees fail to accept the 



cups promptly, without their first being giv- 

 en to confined queenless bees, then simply 

 cut oft" communication between a and 

 b by removing the bridge and dropping a 

 solid board into the slot, late in the eve- 

 ning, and the next day they will be found 

 in a condition to accept cups promptly. If 

 one is not in a hurry to have cells built, 

 communication can be given when the queen 

 is removed; and when all the brood is seal- 

 ed, remove the queen-cells built on the 

 combs, and then drop a solid board, or one 

 provided with bee-escapes, into the slot, be- 

 ing sure to have the escapes so arranged 

 as to conduct the bees from the queen's 

 chamber to a, if the latter be used, and 

 in this way one may have the first batch of 

 cups accepted by these bees. 



The same manipulations apply to cham- 

 ber c, throughout, though they should 

 not both be worked at the same time, but 

 so managed as to remove a batch of ripe 

 cells, first from one and then the other every 

 five or six days. 



As soon as the point is reached at which 

 communication is given from the queen's 

 chamber to one or both of the others all the 

 time, a bee-escape should be adjusted to 

 the entrance to the queen's chamber, so 

 that the bees can pass in through it, but 

 can not pass out until all passing is through 

 the partitions and chambers a, b, and c, 

 and then stop the entrance to the queen's 

 chamber. Not only because more satisfac- 

 tory work at cell-building is done in a 

 chamber having the main entrance; but in 

 case a swarm issues we want to throw the 

 working force all into the cell-building 

 chambers, and so depopulate the queen's 

 chamber that the swarm-cells will be de- 

 stroyed, and the queen will begin to lay at 

 once, without its having to be opened. This 

 is easily accomplished by simplj' adjusting 

 the solid boards in the partitions, when 

 the swarm issues, or as soon afterward as 

 convenient, and again open the same en- 

 trance below the zinc excluder to the queen 's 

 chamber, which is far ahead of caging 

 queens and cutting out cells to prevent 

 swarming, as one never lays in a business- 

 like manner so long as she is in touch with 

 bees that have the swarming fever. 



The swarm naturally returns to the en- 

 trances of the cell-building chambers, and 

 are in condition to accept cups and contin- 

 ue the work to a state of perfection. 



Under these conditions all sealed cells 

 should be removed, and given to queenless 

 bees or those over excluders to be cared for 

 until ripe, and at the same time furnish 

 the cell-builders, from which they are ta- 

 ken, a supply of freshly grafted cups. In 

 five or six days communication can again 

 be given from the cell-builders to the queen's 

 chamber, and the bee-escape adjusted as 

 before, only to repeat the operations as oft- 

 en as a swarm issues, which causes the 

 apiarist but little annoj'ance unless the 

 swarm unites with another that chances to 

 be out, or is joined by a queen that is tak- 

 ing a flight. In this event, cut oft" commu- 



