1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1579 



does not absolutely control swarming in my 

 locality, I get fewer swarms. 



I introduce my queens in the fall. Hardly 

 any honey is coming in at that time, and 

 brood-rearing is at a low ebb. If mated 

 queens are given they are introduced two 

 days after the old queens are removed. Each 

 queen is put in a spiral cage, and, instead of 

 the tin cap, a thick piece of paper the same 

 dimensions as the tin cap is put in its place. 

 Our cage is put into each super with an ex- 

 cluder between. If no queens are on hand 

 I use grafted cells. Care must be taken that 

 only one super is left open at a time to allow 

 the queen her flight. 



I have just read Mr. Alexander's article. 

 I wish he would give me some information 

 through Gleanings. When I remove the 

 excluders I find only one queen in the hive 

 shortly after the operation; while by using 

 excluders I am able to keep as many queens 

 as there are supers, right through the winter. 

 Remember, it is in the fail of the year. Have 

 I committed a breach of etiquette by not for- 

 mally introducing the queens to each other in 

 a little boxful of pampered bees? Why is it 

 they disappear? and who does the killing? 

 My experience has been the same as yours, 

 Mr. Editor. One queen has nearly always 

 turned up living; but I know for a fact that 

 the bees don't always do the killing. 



QUEENS WITH THEIK STINGS CLIPPED. 



For this operation I use an anesthetic. Take 

 a quart Mason jar and drop in a piece of 

 sponge the size of a walnut saturated with 

 chloroform. Close the jar by stuffing a piece 

 of cloth in the opening, so as to make it per- 

 fectly tight, and let it stand for about three 

 minutes. Catch your queens and put each 

 one in a small wire cage, and feed them all 

 with a drop of honey on the wire. Now with 

 a piece of string lower the cage in the jar 

 and replace the cloth. It will be for only a 

 moment, for the instant you see the queen 

 falling, pull out the cage and at once remove 

 the queen; grasp her with the thumb and 

 first finger of the left hand, and press gently 

 at the top of the abdomen. When the right 

 amount of chloroform is given it causes a 

 spasmodic contraction; the sting protrudes, 

 and is easily cut with a pair of scissors. The 

 queen will soon revive, but care should be 

 taken not to give an overdose, for it always 

 kills. Two of those sting-cut queens were 

 introduced into a hive, and were not molest- 

 ed at all through the winter. 



I have just concluded an interesting ex- 

 periment with a friend on the plurality of 

 virgin queens in one colony. There is a case 

 where the queens were balled by the bees, 

 and they got black eyes in fights between 

 themselves. Fifteen queens were raised in a 

 queenless hive from grafted cells, and each 

 in a cage. Five of the queens were sacrificed 

 in fights and on the operating-table. Two 

 virgin queens, sting-cut, were put in a small 

 cage. Immediately there was a mix-up, each 

 queen continually jabbing its pointless sting 

 into her opponent's neck. Biting with all 

 their might, they fought only to become ex- 



hausted and break away for rest. This fight- 

 ing continued at intervals for half an hour. 

 As no hurts were given or received, five 

 sting-cut virgins were introduced to the 

 parent hive in spiral cages. On examining 

 the hive four days later, four of the queens 

 were on the frames, four minus legs and 

 wings. All were crippled; these were re- 

 moved, and five more introduced. This time 

 only three were left. The bees seemed to 

 have picked a favorite. The other two were 

 a sorry sight. This one queen looks to be 

 perfect, and after a long period has just 

 started to lay. I was beginning to think 

 that the sting of a virgin queen came into 

 play on her drone in the act of copulation. 

 The eggs look natural, so I do not think the 

 queen is a drone-layer. 



If I can get the bees to accept a plurality 

 of virgin queens in a hive by Mr. Alexander's 

 method I feel sure that several queens can 

 be mated at one time from a single hive. I 

 have a batch of queens due to hatch in a few 

 days, when the experiment will be tried. 



Sierra Madre, Cal. 



[This was referred to Mr. Alexander, who 

 replies:] 



In connection with the experience of Mr. 

 Davenes there are some comments I should 

 like to make. First, I can not see why it is 

 best to have only one super open at a time 

 when a surplus of virgin queens is hatched 

 in the hive. I have always had an entrance 

 to each super open several days previous to 

 their maturing, so the bees could become ac- 

 quainted with their new entrance; and with 

 us the young queens are less likely to be 

 balled or injured with the bees, as they ap- 

 pear to work more like separate colonies 

 than when they have only one entrance until 

 the young queens are ready to fly. 



In regard to surplus queens being stung 

 when the excluders were taken out so as to 

 allow the queens to meet each other, I will 

 say I have never had a case of this kind ; but 

 I am inclined to think that the queens are 

 stung by young bees about a week old, as 

 bees about that age always seem to be more 

 inclined to sting a queen than at any other 

 time during their lives. I have many times 

 known bees of about that age to grab and 

 sting their mother queen, simply because 

 their hive was suddenly disturbed. I have 

 never had a case of laying queens stinging 

 each other during the summer season. 



Now as to the practicability of clipping off 

 the stings of our queens, I don't think the 

 average bee-keeper would be likely to make 

 it a success. There are many who can not 

 clip the wing of a queen without injuring her 

 for life; and I am sure that there would be a 

 large per cent of good queens killed if they 

 attempted to clip their stings. I think there 

 are other ways much safer by which the desir- 

 ed results could be obtained. As 1 have writ- 

 ten before, I have but little faith in keeping a 

 plurality of virgins in a colony unless they 

 are separated with queen-excluders. We 

 think it safer to keep them separated from 

 each other ten days or more after they com- 



