S96 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Don't Keep Queens After They Are 

 Two Years Old. 



E. W. ALEXANDER. 



REQUEENING an apiary is one of the 

 important points of keeping- it in a 

 profitable condition. As long- as it is neg-- 

 lected as it is by many bee-keepers, there 

 will be no end to the complaints about 

 poor seasons and over-stocking. Not but 

 what we will frequently have poor sea- 

 sons, when colonies with the best of 

 queens will give us only a small surplus, 

 but the chances are so much better with 

 colonies having- good queens, that I often 

 wonder why any one should tolerate a 

 poor one a day longer than could be 

 helped. This is a subject to which my 

 son and myself have given special atten- 

 tion for several years, on quite an exten- 

 sive scale. And we find, all things con- 

 sidered, that it is best to requeen our col- 

 onies as early in the season as conven- 

 ient during the third summer of the 

 queen's life. We would not care to do it 

 when she was any younger, even if we 

 had more young queens than we could 

 possibly use; unless the queen had some 

 other fault, aside from her age. We fre- 

 quently supersede queens within six 

 weeks after they commence to lay, also 

 some when one year old, but it is because 

 of some fault, such as their bees being of 

 a cross disposition, or not good workers, 

 or the queen not sufficiently prolific. 

 While it is true that many queens will 

 give us good service until three years old, 

 and some do fairly well at the age of 

 four years, it is poor policy to keep them 

 after they are two years old. After that 

 age they are too slow in filling their hives 

 with brood in the spring, and we are sure 

 to lose many during the winter and spring. 

 This usually amounts to losing the col- 

 ony; and the loss in dollars, of even a 

 few colonies, would buy many good 

 queens in the fall. So, my friends, don't 



allow yourself to take any chances of 

 loss if you can prevent it. We have too 

 many to bear when we shun all we can. 



Now as to how we should requeen; I 

 think by far the better way is to either 

 rear or buy good, large, well-developed 

 queens from some reliable queen breeder 

 who rears his queens from a good honey 

 gathering strain, then introduce them into 

 our colonies according to our most suc- 

 cessful method of introducing. 



I never thought much of leaving this 

 superseding part of the business for the 

 bees to decide; it is the poorest of all 

 ways; they don't know one-tenth as 

 much about what is for their welfare in 

 this respect as we do. 



Neither do 1 think much of simply re- 

 moving the old queen and allowing the 

 bees to rear one in her place. That is 

 too much of a slam bang way of bee- 

 keeping. We are then breeding from our 

 poorest colonies as well as the best; and, 

 besides, we will soon have a large per 

 cent of small, inferior, degenerated queens 

 that 1 would not allow in an apiary under 

 any circumstances whatever. 



I cannot understand why it is that so 

 many bee-keepers hesitate as they do 

 about buying good, young queens. The 

 same men would not think it extrav- 

 agant to buy 100 bushels of good oats 

 for their horse, although it could be fed 

 on cheaper food and do good services. 

 You never can get as good results from a 

 cheap grade of queens as you can from 

 the best. 1 don't think there is any other 

 one thing connected with our bees, except 

 sugar for spring feeding, that has paid us 

 as well, considering the expense and 

 trouble, as the rearing and buying of 

 choice queens. This is a subject we have 

 tested thoroughly for a long time in all 



