40 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



How to Get the Best Cells ; Sending Queens 

 Long Distances. 



J, p. H. BROWN. 



qWX S the queen is the prime factor in the 

 (1^^ colony, it is essential that she should 

 ^g^^ possess all tlie requisites for success- 

 fully performing her especial func- 

 tion. The highest type of a queen can only 

 be obtained when all the conditions for her 

 development are the most perfect. 



The larva should be taken as soon as pos- 

 sible after its eruption from the envelope of 

 the egg. To tell this stage requires an ex- 

 perienced and practiced eye. The royal 

 jelly must be most abundantly supplied, and 

 this can only be elaborated to the greatest 

 perfection by young bees. It is essential 

 that there be plenty of both honey and pollen. 

 The temperature of the developing larva; 

 must be maintained at a uniform degree. 



Right here a question springs up: Are the 

 best queens reared only at swarming time? 

 This question must be answered in the af- 

 firmative if the queen breeder fails to secure 

 during the season the above condition neces- 

 sary for their proper development. ^Yhen a 

 colony swarms we find it in the best possible 

 condition, — the hive is crowded with young 

 bees; honey and pollen are plentiful: and, 

 besides, the whole hive is infused with life 

 and an intensity of purpose to perpetuate 

 the race. Hence it would be natural for 

 them to put forth their best energies to the 

 development of the embryotic queens. 

 Therefore the breeder should not lose sight 

 of the swarming conditions, and he should 

 strive to keep his breeding colonies up to an 

 approximate standard. The colonies in 

 which his breeding queens are kept must 

 always be well stocked with honey and pol- 

 len and supplied with desirable combs for 

 the reception of the eggs. The queens for 

 drones must be well selected: and all impure 

 and defective ones, either from drone laying 

 queens or fertile workers, must be destroyed. 



After the swarming season is over the best 

 results can usually be obtained hy securing 

 the cells in three or four frame nuclei. I 

 use a frame of the Langstroth size. When 

 the hive is filled with frames of honey and 

 pollen and the prepared larvse, it is set some 

 little distance from any other hive, and it is 

 populated with young bees by taking frames 

 of crawlinfj-oid bees from populous colonies 

 and shaking the l)ees in front. The old bees 

 will return to their own hive. Not less than 

 three quarts of young bees should run into 

 the nurse hive. To secure this quantity it 

 may be necessary to draw frames from a 

 number of hives. The cells of larva^ are to 

 be cut down two-thirds, and the strips are to 

 be secured so that the cells are vertical. 

 Early in the season while the weather is yet 

 cold it is best to fasten the strips in frames 

 of old tough coml > cut to the best advantage. 

 In warmer weather they can l)e fastened to 

 strips of wood in the frames. If good cells 

 are wanted the greatest care must be used 

 in the selection of the larviy and in its ad- 

 justment in the frame. The working force 

 of the bees should be concentrated to the 

 production of a few first class cells rather 



than scattered in the production of many 

 small and imperfect ones. It is always best 

 to anticipate and destroy an imperfect cell 

 rather than wait and lose time to pinch the 

 head of a worthless queen. 



In breeding queens there are so many 

 small details — "business odds and ends" — 

 that are hard to explain — only (juickness of 

 perception and "tact" can grasp them at 

 the moment and make the application. 



During my twenty years as a breeder of 

 queens I have tried every sort of shipping 

 cage that I could think of and hear of, and 

 have provisioned in various ways, and have 

 settled on a prepared Good Candy for 

 moderate distances, but when the queen will 

 be from ten days to three weeks on the 

 journey I use a hard candy made of granu- 

 lated sugar, and then have a tin water-bottle 

 in the cage. Long confinement in a cage 

 has a very injurious effect on a queen. 

 Many queens that are very prolific when 

 shipped are made lefs so by long caging. 

 Many prolific queens have their ovaries in- 

 jured in introduction by allowing the bees to 

 ball them. 



In the above I have only thrown out a few 

 general principles. In a short article it is 

 impossible to go into details. 



Augusta, Ga., Feb. 24, 1890. 



Getting Cells ; Starting Nuclei ; A Cage for 

 Shipping and Introducing Queens. 



I. B. GOOD. 



■^j^N queen rearing the main thing is to 

 ^j have plenty of good queen cells ; or 

 ^^ what is better, young queens, on hand 

 at all times. The first thing in the 

 spring is to prepare colonies for cell build- 

 ing. This I do by liberal feeding and by 

 taking hatching brood from other colonies 

 and giving them to those I am preparing for 

 cell building. AVhen a colony becomes very 

 strong — the hive crowded with bees — I take 

 the queen away and give the bees larviv from 

 the queen I wish to breed from, using the 

 Alley plan. I have tried the Doolittle plan, 

 but with me it has not proven a success. 



I mark the date on top of the frame, and 

 leave tlie comb in the hive until tJie cells are 

 capped ; then remove them to some other 

 colony which has previously been made 

 queenless. Next, I very carefully go through 

 the colony that built the cells, and if the bees 

 have started any cells on their own combs I 

 destroy the cells. Then I give them another 

 batch of larva:" from my breeding queen. I 

 generally let a colojjiy start three batches of 

 cells, then introduce a laying queen. 



Eight days after the cells are started I 

 make my nuclei. Years ago 1 had a great 

 deal of trouble in getting the bees to stay. 

 I now iiut the bees in the nuclei: faslenthem 

 in; give them plenty of ventilation: and set 

 them in the cellar forty-eii' ht hours. In that 

 time they will have started cells, and, when 

 liberated, ereri/ bee n-ill st((!/. I now give 

 each nucleus a (jueen cell in a cell protector. 



As I said in the beginning, tlu.> main thing 

 now is to have plenty of cells. If I have 

 more cells (that are ready to hatch) than 



