PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING 65 



cage thus equipped with a piece of wire cloth over the top and a thin 

 board or paste-board cover is ready for the reception of a queen and 

 her attendants, usually to the number of a dozen or fifteen ac- 

 cording to the time of the year, distance to be sent and condition 

 of the weather. The queen is usually put in first and may be re- 

 moved from the comb by picking her up by the wings with the right 

 hand. The cage, with the cover slipped back from the ventilated 

 end, and held in place with rubber bands, is held in the left hand 

 with the thumb in position to close the opening. Then workers 

 are selected to accompany her and inserted successively. These 

 should be neither too young nor too old, as young bees have not 

 cleared their bodies of feces and old bees will not stand the journey. 

 Some of them may have honey, one or two of them may be pretty 

 well filled, but the others must be empty in order to care for the 

 food in case of the latter' s running and so prevent daubing. Also 

 bees laden with honey do not travel well as they are easily shaken 

 about the cage. The bees all in, the wire cloth may be tacked down 

 and the cage leaned up against something, the screened side down 

 to let the bees work out the particles of wood from the freshly cut 

 cage. Then the covers may be nailed on. With a one cent stamp 

 (domestic rate) the queens will be delivered to the purchaser. 



The latter upon receipt of the queen will remove her and her 

 attendants if in good condition to an introducing cage, the change 

 being made before a closed window. If the bees are travel stained, 

 very young bees may be placed in the introducing cage in prefer- 

 ence to them. This pipe covered cage is made of a piece of wire- 

 cloth rolled to form a cylinder about an inch and a half in diameter 

 and secured at the seam by lacing. Incisions are then made in 

 one end and the edges bent in to form the top leaving the cage about 

 an inch and a half deep. Then about three-eights to a half inch is 

 ravelled out at the open end, so that the cage may be pressed into 

 the comb. There are other forms of cages as West spiral cage, 

 made of spiral wire, and Miller's cage, a flattened wire-cloth box with 

 the ends closed by blocks. The great advantage of the pipe cover- 

 ed cage is in its allowing the queen to be in a normal condition on 

 the comb, with access to honey, all quite strong advantages es- 

 pecially after a queen has been on a long journey. Care should 

 be taken in introducing with the pipe covered cage to have the ad- 

 joining comb close against the top so that the weight of the bees 



