AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



569 



Topics of Interest. 



Mating Qneen-Cell Protectors, 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes thus : " Please 

 tell us something in the Ameeican Bee 

 Journal about queen-cell protectors. 

 How are they made ? How do you put 

 in the queen-cells ? How do you fasten, 

 or hang them, to the brood-frames ; 

 position on frame, etc. ?" 



If I am right, the idea of caging 

 queen-cells so as to keep the bees from 

 destroying them, and at the same time 

 allowing them to hatch in the hive and 

 let the qaeen walk right out among the 

 bees, the same as if the -cells were not 

 caged, originated with me ; and was 

 brought about by the loss I sustained in 

 trying to make something work which 

 others said was a success ; but which 

 proved a total failure with me, namely : 

 The placing of a nearly mature queen- 

 cell in a colony, or nucleus, at the time 

 of taking away a laying queen. 



Many still say that they have no 

 trouble in thus giving queen-cells, and if 

 they tell the "whole truth and nothing 

 but the truth," this article will be of no 

 benefit to such. The cell protector is 

 made by rolling a small piece of wire- 

 cloth around a V-shaped stick, and 

 while in place, fastening the side which 

 is out, by sewing in a wire, so that a 

 small, but not a very flaring, funnel is 

 made, the hole in the small end being as 

 large as an ordinary lead-pencil. 



Some of the supply dealers keep them 

 for sale in the stamped form, but as I 

 have used both, I prefer the home-made 

 ones, as above, for the reason that tlie 

 points of the wire-cloth, which stick out 

 all around the hole in the small end, 

 seem to prevent the bees working away 

 at the end of the cells as much as they 

 do with the others ; for at times, with 

 the pressed ones, they seem to think that 

 the cage should not be there, and as the 

 end surface is smooth, so as not to dis- 

 commode them at their work, they bite 

 away at the wires and the cell until the 

 end of the cocoon covering is eaten 

 through, and the queen destroyed. After 

 having several failures with those 

 bought, and none with those made at 

 home, I studied into the matter and came 

 to the above conclusion, which, I think, 

 is right. 



Having the protectors made, we are 

 ready for the queen-cells. If the cells 

 are built from the wax cups (my book 

 on Queen-Rearing tells how these cups 

 are made), there is no trouble in picking 

 the cells off the stick they are built on, 

 and slipping them into the protectors ; 

 but if they are built in the ordinary way, 

 on the surface of the combs, a good deal 

 of trimming will have to be done to have 

 them go well down into the point of the 

 protector, as they should. 



The ends of the cells should go down 

 to within three-sixteenths of an inch of 

 the small end of the protector, or to 

 within that much of the extreme outside 

 points of the wires, so that when a bee 

 goes in to attack the end of the cell, 

 these wires are continually "punching" 

 her about the thorax as she moves 

 around. If any cell will not thus go 

 down, trim it until it does. 



If you cut through the cell at or near 

 the base, so you can look in and see the 

 queen, it will do no harm, for when the 

 cell is caged, the bees cannot get at these 

 open places to tear the cell to pieces and 

 drag the queen out, as they always will 

 where a cell is mutilated and left un- 

 protected. This one item alone, of 

 being able to save all cells, no matter 

 how closely built together, will pay all 

 to make and keep a few of these protec- 

 tors on hand ; for who has not destroyed 

 many cells in years gone by, in trying to 

 separate two or more built together ? 



If the cell is not hatched when I think, 

 perhaps, it should be, I take it out of 

 the protector, cut a hole or slit in the 

 side near the base, to see if the pupa is 

 all right, sometimes taking them out in 

 my hand and looking at them until I am 

 satisfied, putting them back in the cell 

 again, putting the cell in the protector, 

 and the protector back in the hive ; the 

 bees nor the queen being any the wiser 

 for the curious eyes that have peered 

 inside the sacred domain, she hatching 

 out as perfectly, in due time, as she 

 would have done had the cell been left 

 on the comb where it was first built. 



After the cell is in the protector, I use 

 a piece of a corn-cob to keep the bees 

 away from the base of the cell. I 

 formerly used a cork, but I like the cob 

 the best, as the roughness of the cob 

 keeps it in place without fastening, 

 while the bees would sometimes work 

 out the cork, unless it was fastened in. 

 To keep them in place where I wished 

 them in the brood-chamber, I formerly 

 used a small wire, running this through 

 the meshes above the cork, and twisting 

 the wire to keep the cork from sliding 

 out. The upper end of the wire was 



