INTRODUCTION OF VIRGINS 99 



queenless colony or nucleus with safety. The bees are appar- 

 ently conscious that any bee of such a tender age is incapable 

 of harm, and she is accepted as a child of the community. 

 For such, it is not necessary to provide any artificial stimulus 

 of any kind; smoke, flour, or water are all unnecessary. 



Virgins that are four or five days old are more difficult 

 to introduce, than are fertile queens. Alley recommended dip- 

 ping the virgin in honey, thinned with a little water as above 

 described, and then dropping her into the queenless hive. He 

 wrote that virgins could only be introduced successfully to 

 colonies that had been queenless for at least three days. It 

 has often been advised to leave colonies queenless for this per- 

 iod before introducing fertile queens, but the author prefers 

 to give a fertile queen immediately on removing the old queen. 

 With virgins there is a larger element of danger. 



