66 PRACTICAL QUEEN REARING 



able to convince himself that this plan brings enough better 

 results, in practice, to justify the extra trouble, where large 

 numbers of queens are to be reared. 



The cellcups are placed in the wood bases and fastened in 

 place as shown in Figure 25. Commercial queen breeders 

 usually have two or three bars of cells in each frame instead of 

 only one. About fifteen cellcups to each bar is not unusual, 

 so that with a liberal number accepted it is often possible to 

 get from thirty to forty finished cells in each batch. Figure 26. 



At this stage the grafting house described on page 31 is 

 very desirable. The queen cells from which the royal jelly 

 is to be taken, together with the prepared cellcups and a frame 

 of newly hatching brood from the breeding colony are now taken 

 to the grafting house or into a warm room for the final prepara- 

 tion. For transferring the jelly and the larvae, there are spe- 

 cially prepared tools in the market. These look very much like 

 knitting needles w T ith one end flattened and slightly bent to 

 one side. However, one can do very well with a quill cut down 

 to a strip about a sixteenth of an inch in width, with the end 

 bent in similar manner. Even a toothpick can be made to 

 serve -quite well. 



An ingenious device for transferring larvae is described by 

 John Grubb of Woodmont, Pa. He uses a small stick of wood 

 about three-sixteenths of an inch thick and four inches long, 

 one end of which is whittled down to a long tapering point. 

 A long horsehair is doubled, then twisted together, and doubled 

 again. Both ends are laid on the stick, the circular center 

 extending beyond the end. Fine thread is wrapped around the 

 hair and the stick, to hold all firmly. The doubled hair makes 

 a circle about a tenth of an inch in diameter beyond the pointed 

 end of the stick. With this horsehair spoon it is an easy mat- 

 ter to, lift a larva from a cell and transfer it to a cellcup. It 

 is easily and quickly made and materials necessary are usually 

 within easy reach. 



First a bit of royal jelly is placed in each cellcup, and then 

 a larva about twenty-four to thirty-six hours old is carefully 

 lifted from its cell and placed on the jelly. There is some 



