Vol. XI. 



AUGUST 1, 1883. 



No. 8. 



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NOTES FROm THE BANNER APIARY. 



No. 45. 



MR. ALLEY'S BOOK ON QUEEN-REARING. 



MR. ALLEY has very kindly sent me his new 

 book, "The New Method of Queen-Rearing;" 



' and, with his consent, I will tell what I think 



of it. It is well bound, well printed on good paper, 

 and well illustrated; but 1 consider the price too 

 high. One dollar would be about right. Mr. Alley 

 uses small frames, about 5 inches square, for his 

 nuclei. For one reason, I should like this, as there 

 would be more spaces between the 00111133, for the 

 amount of comb used, than it larger combs were 

 used, and thus fewer bees could care for more brood; 

 but, aside from this, I should not like the arrange- 

 ment. I can never consent to have two sizes of 

 frames in one apiary; it brings in too many "traps 

 and calamities." To get these small frames stocked 

 with bees and brood is too much trouble; and to 

 get the bees back into full colonies, upon large 

 frames, in the fall, is too much trouble. Mr. A. tells 

 U8 how to stock these nuclei by driving the bees 

 from a box hive, cutting up the comb and fitting it 

 Into the small frames. A pint of bees is given each 

 nucleus, and they are confined 48 hours. How he 

 gets bees and brood for them when frame hives are 

 used, he does not say. Does he proceed in the same 

 manner? How much neater and quicker it is to 

 simply take full-sized frames filled with brood, and 

 covered with bees, and carry to the nucleus hives! 

 I was almost persuaded last winter to adopt Mr. 

 Heddon's style of nucleus (see page 74); but as I 



thought it all over while on my homeward trip, I con- 

 cluded it was "too many oats for a shilling," and 

 that when I had to use a different-sized frame for 

 my nuclei than I did for my full colonies, I should 

 quit the business. When full-sized frames are used, 

 the nuclei can be made quite strong, and will store 

 considerable honey. If in a locality where there 

 was but little honey to gat her, and queen-rearing 

 was made a specialty, there would then be some ex- 

 cuse for using small frames for nuclei; but even 

 then I would have all my frames about 8 in. square. 



Mr. A. keeps his breeding queens in miniature 

 hives, as he considers the risk of killing them, in 

 securing eggs as too great, if kept in full colonies. 

 One must be very careless indeed to kill queens 

 while securing eggs. I have yet to kill a queen 

 while hf\ndling the bees. He objects to taking eggs 

 from standard combs, as it mutilates them. Of 

 course, it does ; but the bees soon fill the holes again. 



Mr. A. places much importance upon the ease 

 with which the exact date of the laying of eggs can 

 be determined when the queen is kept in a nucleus. 

 With his method of queen-rearing this is of impor^ 

 tance ; but where a lamp nursery is used, and the 

 cells are removed 3 or 4 days before ihey hatch, it 

 amounts to nothing. He says that a queen is al- 

 most certain to lay at once in a comb inserted in a 

 nucleus, while it may be 3 or 4 days before she lays 

 in a comb inserted in a full colony; and, to a certain 

 extent, I agree with him. I keep the colonies con- 

 taining my breeding queens rather weak, and well 

 supplied with empty combs; thus the queen is al- 

 most certain to be laying in some of them. I sanc- 

 tion his advice to use strong colonies for cell'buildlng. 



