1586 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



Bees wintered in cellars by all means 

 should be protected by windbreaks when set 

 out in spring. During March and April, bees 

 that fly out in search of pollen or water be- 

 come chilled by the cool winds, and are lost 

 in great numbers within a few feet of their 

 hives. This has a tendency to weaken the 

 colonies, causing what is known as "spring 

 dwindling." When windbreaks are provid- 

 ed, bees do not come in contact with these 

 cool currents of air unless they venture a 

 certain distance; and when returning home 

 they are apt to arrive more safely when once 

 within the boundary limits of windbreaks. 



The past season has certainly proven the 

 value of protection against wind and chilly 

 weather. 



A few dollars spent in this direction will 

 be a great benefit to the bees. Now is the 

 time to make preparations. 



Akron, O., Nov. 11. 



QUEEN-REARTNG. 



Alley Plan for Obtaininjs: Cells Preferred; 

 Queens Mated from Nuclei over Strong 

 Colonies; Advantages of Sectional Hives 

 for this System; How to Requeen with- 

 out Having them Queenless at any Mo- 

 ment. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



In an article in Gleanings for May 15 I 

 made the statement that not the least of the 

 influences that produce swarming is an aged 

 queen, and that requeening the entire apiary 

 prior to the main honey-flow would go far 

 toward preventing swarming. I am con- 

 vinced that a great deal of my swarming 

 troubles have resulted from a desire on the 

 part of the bees to supersede their queen. 

 Since the article above referred to appeared 

 in print I have been asked to give a detailed 

 description of my method of requeening the 

 entire apiary in the spring, hence this article. 



As soon in the spring as our colonies are 

 strong enough to occupy three sections of 

 our brood-chamber we will begin operations 

 by getting our cells started in strong colonies 

 made queenless for this purpose. I will not 

 go into detail to describe our method of se- 

 curing queen-cells. Suflice it to say we pre- 

 fer the Alley plan, believing that, as a rule, 

 better quee'ns can be reared by this plan of 

 getting cells started than where the larva is 

 transferred with a spoon, especially by the 

 novice in queen-rearing; for I ha^ e noticed 

 that, whenever a larva is disturbed and 

 placed in a bed of royal jelly in a prepared 

 cell, by the bungling hand of the novice, the 

 bees will invariably lick up the feed, leaving 

 the transferred larva high and dry, and the 

 future queen will be injured in proportion to 

 the length of her fast while in this state. 



Having secured a bunch of natural queen- 

 cells built over larvaj from our choicest breed- 

 er, the next thing to do is to prepare our nu- 

 clei for the hatching and mating of our 

 queens; so we will go to each colony that we 

 wish to requeen, and remove the top brood- 



section containing bees, brood, and honey, 

 being careful not to get the queen, and place 

 over the top of the next lower brood-section 

 a wire-cloth screen, and on the top of the 

 screen we will place a queen-excluding hon- 

 ey-board having a slot cut out of the upper 

 edge of the rim JX3 inches, near the corner 

 furthest from the entrance to the hive, and 

 on this honey-board we will place the top 

 brood-section. The slot cut in the rim of the 

 honey- board is for an entrance to the top 

 brood-section, which is to be used for a nu- 

 cleus. 



We are now ready to insert our queen- 

 cells. This is done by enclosing the cell in 

 a cell-protector and pushing it down between 

 the combs in the center of the nucleus. As 

 soon as the young queen hatches out and be- 

 gins to lay nicely the wire cloth is removed 

 and the bees are allowed free access to both 

 queens through the honey-board. The young 

 queen is now given the two lower brood-sec- 

 tions, while the old one is allowed to continue 

 operations in the top one until time to put on 

 the supers, when she is promptly killed. 



By this method good queens can be reared 

 much earlier in the season than by the meth- 

 ods in common use with the full-depth frame 

 hives, since the heat arising from the colony 

 below will keep the nucleus warm. Since 

 nearly if not all the honey will usually be in 

 the top brood-section in early spring it will 

 be necessary to feed the colony below unless 

 there happens to be a honey-flow. 



When we used the honey-board alone be- 

 tween the hive and nucleus a good many of 

 our young queens would all at once be miss- 

 ing; but since we combined the wire cloth 

 with the honey-board we have had no fur- 

 ther trouble along this line. By this method 

 the entire apiary can be requeened without 

 any loss or inconvenience to the colonies 

 treated, and no expense for mating-nuclei or 

 other traps. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



[This plan of requeening so as not to in- 

 terrupt egg-laying in a colony we believe to 

 be excellent. But we think our correspon- 

 dent overestimates the danger done to a lar- 

 va after it has been transferred to an arti- 

 ficial cell cup. Of course it is possible a 

 bungling manipulator in a cold atmosphere 

 might do harm. But if one follows carefully 

 the directions that are given no bad effect 

 should follow.— Ed.] 



NAIL-BOXES. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLEB. 



A bee-keeper is likely to use a good many 

 nails, and a good many kinds of them. It 

 makes a difference what he keeps them in 

 when not using them — also what he keeps 

 them in when using them. One of the most 

 inconvenient ways I can think of is to have 

 them tied up in a paper, untying the paper 

 and picking each nail out of the paper till he 

 has used all he wants, and then tying up the 

 paper again, putting it along with a lot of 



