1877. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



215 



queens. When the cild (ineeii begins to fail, 

 cells are started and wlien the yonnj? (jtieen 

 l)ejj;ins to lay, before her mother has entire- 

 ly failed, tliey are often found laying side 

 l)y side. If yon should remove either one, 

 aiid let your'new (|ueen loose, she would be 

 killed most assuredly. AVhat shall we do in 

 such cases V Well, if tlie hive has an un- 

 usual amount of brood, I would look for an- 

 other (lueen, and if not satislied would wait 

 1.'4 or 48 hours and see if they had started 

 (]ueen cells ; if you see the (jueen cells start- 

 ed, you may be very sure there is no queen 

 in the hive, although cases are once in a 

 great while found in which they will keep 

 on with the cells when a virgin queen is 

 l)resent. 



IIOAV TO FIND AND REMOVE Tilt: OLD 

 QUEEN. 



If it is at a season of the year, or during 

 weather when robbers are about or may be 

 expected to be, you had better do your work 

 just about sunset, or so late that all the bees 

 are in their hives. Have smoke in readi- 

 ness, but do not use it if it can be avoided, 

 remove the cover from the hive very gently, 

 and do not have any snapping or jarring 

 about your work. 



Draw off the sheet of duck carefully, and 

 then push the frames on each side," away 

 from one of the central brood combs. If 

 you can lift this out without making any 

 disturbance, you will stand a good chance 

 of seeing the queen at once ; if you do not 

 tind her there, set the frame in your comb 

 basket and examine the next. If the colony 

 is very jiopulous, you may not lind her at 

 all, after going over all the combs ; in that 

 case look them over carefully as you restore 

 them to their places, and if you do not tind 

 her then, close the hive for a short time, 

 and then try again. With Italians, you can 

 often hunt for the queen a couple of hours 

 or more, if you like, but with black bees if 

 you do not tind her the first time, they will 

 usually gather in clusters so much as to 

 make farther search impfs^ible, and there- 

 fore you will have to let them get quieted 

 down before you try again. Your eyes will 

 very soon train themselves, as it w'ere, to 

 r< cognize a ciueen as soon as you get the 

 slightest glimpse of any part of her body, 

 and during the season of queen rearing, the 

 effort required to spy them out quickly is 

 s\;ch that I often dream of seeing queens, 

 and picking ilieni out, all night long, after 

 a busy day in the apiary. 



I rather prefer to pick a queeen up by the 

 wings, but if you can get her securely by 

 the shoulders it will do very well; do not 

 get hold of the soft inirt of her body, or you 

 will be pretty sure to do her injury; if she 

 is a smart active queen, she will be very apt 

 to bite vigorously, and a beginner might be 

 tempted to let her go, doubting the state- 

 ment so often made that queens never sting 

 when caught. Do not be alarmed, but i)uc 

 her into a cage, and kee}) her until you are 

 sure your new queen is safe and laying. 

 Never kill a laying (jueen, initil you have 

 one safely laying in her stead. 



The hive is now presumed to be queen- 

 less, but if our new (|ueen is a very valuable 

 one, we will put her in the cage on top of 



the frames dii-ectly over the cluster, mitil 

 i|ueeii cells have been started. Tliis will 

 usually be in '24 iiours. (.)\h'U tlie hive very 

 gently as before, lift out oue or more brood 

 conibs, until you lind cells eidarged, some- 

 thing like tlie cuj) of ;ni acoiii, mid contain- 

 ing a much larger <iuantily of tlie milky 

 food than is ever given a c<jmmon workei-. 

 We can many times n cognize where a (piec n 

 cell is to be started by this extra, amount of 

 food, before we can perceive any change in 

 its shape. The hive is certaiidy (lueeidess, 

 and we are so far safe; if the bees seem 

 good to the (pie en we are ready to let her 

 out. When you lirst turn back the duck, if 

 the bees are clinging in hard knots to the 

 wire cloth, making a kind of a hissing noise 

 as if they would like to tear her in pieces, 

 you certainly must not let her out, and it is 

 rather unsafe to do so, so long as there are a 

 great quantity of b^es piled up over the 

 cage. If it is safe to release the queen, the 

 bees should be walking about as usual, dis- 

 playing no unusual excitement, and the 

 bees on and about the cage should be offer- 

 ing her food in their usual way, and with 

 the deference and resi»ect they usually pay 

 a queen. If they do not do this, keep her 

 caged until they do get quiet and respectful. 

 Very often they will receive her thus at 

 once, and it may in extreme cases require a 

 week. 



HOW TO llELEASE THE QUEEN. 



Place the cage back on the duck, so that 

 the queen and bees as they crawl out, will 

 have to pass over two or three inches before 

 they reach the combs. Have your smoker 

 ready, but do not use it unless compelled 

 to; as she comes out, they will i»robably 

 come up to see her and get acquainted, and 

 you need not be alarmed if some of them 

 climb up on her back, and walk over her in 

 quite a rude way for receiving visitors, if 

 they only do not begin to try to use their 

 stings. If they do, use a little smoke and 

 and cage her again. If they permit her, af- 

 ter a little looking over, to pass on slowly 

 toward the combs, you can let her go down 

 safely ; but if convenient, I would give her 

 another " look " after about 20 or 30 min- 

 utess. You will tind her without trouble, 

 by the eager tin-ong that surrounds her, to 

 make her accjuaintance. It may be well to 

 see if she is all right and laying, next morn- 

 ing, for I have known them to treat a queen 

 very well at tirst, and then tind her in a ball 

 of bees a half day afterward. Sometimes 

 this "balling" kills the queen in a short 

 time, and again she may live while thus fet- 

 tered for 48 hours, or initil they get over 

 their frenzy and let her go. I have known 

 queens to have all their wings and some of 

 their legs pulled off in such encounters, and 

 yet do good service for a year or two after- 

 wards. We usually use smoke to nuike these 

 bees let go of a (jueen, for if you try to pull 

 them off they are almost sure to sting her. 

 Drojtping them into a cup of water will get 

 them off' safely, and is often the readiest 

 means at hand. 



Many plans have been given to induce the 

 bees to desist v/hen they seem bent on this 

 kind of nuschief, such' as taking away all 

 their brood, removing all their combs and 



