THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



41 



iwiolei, and I alwajs trj- to have, I put them 

 riu call cages provisioned with candy, put six 

 }youjig bees in with each cell, and lay them 

 >on«^op of a strong colony under the cushion, 

 \wl»"re they will hatch and live for a week or 

 _Hv».re. 



1 have used a nursery, but do not now. 

 Years ago I lost a great many of those 

 young queens in introducing, but have no 

 trouble now. I introduce them in my new 

 introducing cage, first removing all the eggs 

 and larvie in the hive. 



This season I shall ship all my queens iis 

 uiy combined shipping and introducing cage 

 which is made out of wire cloth ?i^^ inches 

 long, II4 wide, and i._, thick: one end of 

 whicli is open. The open end is closed with 

 a wooden plug, through which there are two 

 holes filled with candy. This wire cage is 

 enclosed in a wooden box when shipped. 

 When the cage arrives the wooden box is 

 opened, the plug removed and the bees 

 allowed to escape on a window in a room, 

 the queen returned and the plug replaced. 

 The cage is then laid on top of the frames 

 or thrust down between the combs, and tlie 

 bees will liberate the ciueen by eating the 

 candy out of the plug. 



Vawteb Pabk, Ind., Feb'y 22, 18VX). 



How to Rear Early Q,aeens. 



K. B. WILLIAMS. 



CMX B'^'UT the middle of February I select 

 ) tln-ee of my strongest colonies, from 

 which I intend to raise queens, and 

 contract the brood nest of each to 

 only as many combs as the bees can cover : 

 being careful to leave each a comb of tlie 

 nicest pollen. I then feed each colony about 

 a gill of warm syrup each night, which soon 

 starts the queens to laying. When the 

 combs are full of brood in all stages, I insert 

 a frame of drone comb in the center of each 

 brood nest, and increase the feed to ;^4 of a 

 pint daily. When there is sufficient drone 

 brood started, I again spread the brood nest 

 of each apart, from the center, and insert a 

 frame of worker comb saved over from the 

 preceding fall and built only half way down. 

 By the time these last added combs are 

 filled with eggs, it is about the 12th of March, 

 the hives are full of brood and bees, and I 

 am ready lo begin queen rearing. I now 

 reiriove the queens, placing them in two- 

 frame nuclei, and tlie queenless colonies 

 proceed at once to construct cells upon the 

 half finished combs given them : each col- 

 ony usually building from eight to twelve 

 cells. Three or four days before the queens 

 are ready to hatch I slip a ipieen cell protec- 

 tor of wire cloth over each cell. I have tliese 

 cell pi-otectors large enough so that the 

 queens can come out and turn around. I 

 find that the bees will feed these young 

 queens until I am ready to introduce them. 

 I form my nuclei by taking two combs of 

 bees and brood, for each, from my strongest 

 colonies, being careful to remove no queens, 

 and fasten the bees in their nucleus hives 

 for twenty-four hours. At evening, when it 

 is too dark for bees to fly. I go to a nucleus 



and gently raise the quilt around the edges 

 and pour some syrup in upon the first comb 

 and against the side of the hive next the 

 comb. I treat all in this way, and when the 

 bees are all busy taking up the syrup, I 

 remove a comb of caged queens, brush off 

 the bees, go to the first nucleus to which 

 syrup was given, remove the wire cloth 

 from the entrance, and let a young queen 

 run in. All the nuclei are thus furnished 

 with queens, and tlie entrances left open and 

 scarcely a bee returns to the parent hive. 



The old queens are now returned (caged) 

 to their old homes, and their places in the 

 nuclei filled with young queens. The next 

 night the old colonies are given a good feed, 

 and when all are busy, I carefully open the 

 hives and release the queens and all is lovely. 

 This method works well with me, and I shall 

 continue it until 1 find something better. 



Winchester, Tenn., Mar. 10, 18i)0. 



Getting Cells ; Small Hives and Frames for 

 Nuclei. 



D. A. PIKE. 



'HEN ready to commence tiueen 

 rearing, I insert a di"y, clean comb, 

 about a year old, in the center of 

 the colony containing the queen 

 from which I wish to breed. I watch this 

 comb closely to see when the queen begins 

 to occupy it : and when the eggs are three 

 days old I remove it, with the adhering bees 

 ' taking care not to get the queen ), and place 

 it in an empty hive upon the stand of some 

 populous colony that I remove to a new 

 location. A comb is placed upon each side 

 of this comb of eggs and bees, and the space 

 in the hives contracted by a division board. 

 The work must be done in the middle of the 

 day when the bees are on the wing. By this 

 method I get as good queens as those raised 

 under the swarming impulse. 



I don't approve of lamx) nurseries. All 

 my queens are hatched in full sized hives. 

 I start with two or three frames, and gradu- 

 ally build them up, during the season, to a 

 full colony. For untested queens, I use a 

 small hive with four frames, the frames 

 being only four inches square. Sontf of 

 these small hives contain eiijlif and ten 

 frames. I put queens and jilenty of bees in 

 a few of these little hives, and when I need 

 brood I take out one of these combs, re- 

 placing it with an empty one. 



To induce queens to begin laying during a 

 dearth, I feed a mixture of honey and sugar. 

 Smithbukg, Md., Mar. 8, 1890. 



Markings of the Carniolans ; a Standard of 

 Purity Needed. 



ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



fT has been mj good fortune to handle 

 and own a great many Carniolans, in- 

 cluding imported and all grades of 

 American bred (lueens, and from many 

 breeders. 



