96 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



I cannot ayrco with you on the "letting 

 alone" plan, for as soon as I think (and I 

 can tell very nearly) that my queen is re- 

 leased I examine my colony to see how she is 

 accepted. The letting alone plan will do 

 where anyone has more money than time, 

 but I always have lots of time. Strange to 

 say, I have never yet introduced a valuable 

 queen except to my most vicious colony. 

 Many no doubt would not do it but the only 

 reason that 1 can imagine why I do so is to 

 supercede the pesky hybrids. I have yet to 

 find the first queen "balled." Probably if 

 you were to call upon me and see how my 

 hives are fixed and how I handle them you 

 would do as I do and put a "provided" in 

 your advice. For the inexperienced or be- 

 ginner your advice is best, but I say there is 

 no harm in looking after a newly iniroduced 

 queen in one hour after she is released pro- 

 vided you can be careful; yes, very careful. 

 Your frames should not snap and crack, nor 

 should you kill a bee. I know old bee men 

 that have never witnessed the laying of the 

 (lueen, yet it is nothing uncommon for me 

 to lift the frame that the (jueen is on, and 

 she keep right on with her laying all the 

 time. If you can bo tliat careful, do not 

 hesitate to look after a queen no matter if 

 she is not worth more than $1.00. 



Probably one secret of my success is that, 

 as a rule, I never leave a colony (lueeuless 

 more than two hours and do not give them 

 a chance to construct cells. By this method 

 I have never lost a queen even when she 

 was "jaded" as you say. It is customary 

 for some writers to advise people to have 

 their colonies queenless for several days be- 

 fore they intend to introduce a queen; in my 

 opinion it is the worst possible advice that 

 can be given. The worst cases that I have 

 over had were where the bees luid once had a 

 virgin queen( but were broodless) and she 

 was lost. It seemed as if she would never be 

 accepted. Don't say that it was caused by 

 the hive being opened too soon, as 1 am 

 satisfied that was not the case, as I 

 found the queen on the bottom of the hive 

 in a ball, and she was there before the hive 

 was opened. 



The condition of the colony is of more im- 

 portance than anything else, and the right 

 conditions are justfis apt to be i)resent when 

 no honey is coming in, if the hive is opened 

 carefully without a jar. 



If a queen will l>e accepted it can be told 

 very easily by taking your cage containing 



the queen and placing it on top of the frames 

 of the colony after having the old queen re- 

 moved for one hour. If the bees stick tight 

 to the cage, there is danger, and no pro- 

 vision should be made to release the queen 

 till the following day; but if only a few are 

 inclined to bite on the wires you can let the 

 bees begin liberating the queen, at anytime. 

 For the novice it might be best to feed, but 

 I never liave, and have never lost a queen on 

 that account. 



The best all-purpose cage in my opinion is 

 the Peet, and the best method to use it is by 

 clinching it on the comb and letting the 

 bees release the queen by cutting away the 

 comb ; that is, if the comb is old. If placed 

 over honey, it has a tendency to sweeten 

 sour bees before they reach the queen ; but 

 it is not a success when the bees are inclined 

 to "show their temper " towards the queen; 

 nor is it safe at any time to place the cage 

 on new comb, as the queen might be released 

 too soon. In my estimation, the candy 

 plan is too rapid, unless there is a plug of an 

 inch in dei)th to be eaten out. 



The best method of introducing a virgin 

 ([ueen is to let her run in loose, after queen 

 cells are started. She should be taken as soon 

 possible after she emerges from the cell, al- 

 though I have had good success in letting 

 two-days-old virgins run into colonies tliat 

 had been qeenless only one hour ; still the 

 chances are against success in such cases. 

 (Henry Alley makes a sure thing of this 

 method of introducing old virgin (jueens by 

 first partly stupefying the bees with tobacco 

 smoke. Ed.) 



Always try and see how well a colony 

 would like a queen, then, if you can be care- 

 ful, don't hesitate in looking at them when 

 you think she is released ; and never un- 

 queeu a colony before you have another 

 queen on hand to give it. 



Gkand lAiiHiK, Mich. Mar. i;5, 1891, 



Honey Just as Salable and no " Grumbling " 



When Separators Are Not Used — Dealers 



Must Learn How to Handle Bulged 



Combs. 



MJiS. li. C. AXTELL. 



\K HAVE used separators, but not 

 very extensively, for the past six 

 years. We have less in use each 

 year, until we have now almost wholly dis- 

 carded them. 



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