38 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



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their full ability in regular laying. 



I have stated that it is easier to in- 

 troduce a queen to a colony containing 

 a laying worker than to a colony con- 

 taining an old queen, unless this queen 

 has been found and killed. I know 

 that this statement will not be con- 

 curred in by many others, for I have 

 often seen it stated that it is impossible 

 to introduce a queen to a colony hav- 

 ing laying workers; yet I have never 

 failed. I speak from actual experience. 

 Before I state how I have succeeded, 

 permit me to say that a colony having 

 laying workers is rarely worth saving. 

 Yet there are times when such colonies 

 are still powerful enough to make a 

 good colony if a queen is successfully 

 given them early enough in the season. 

 The apiarist must decide this point for 

 himself. 



In order to show how to succeed, 1 

 will state under what conditions I 

 tried the introduction of queens in 

 drone-laying colonies. We used to im- 

 port queens on a very large scale. This 

 was in the '8o's. We used to receive 

 from Italy about a hundred queens per 

 month during the summer months. As 

 these queens were fatigued from their 

 long journey, we always introduced 

 them to full colonies of bees in our 

 apiary, before re-shipping them to our 

 customers in the United States. The 

 price obtained was sufficient to reward 

 us for such a course, and when a queen 

 had been for 3 or 4 weeks in a full 

 colony, she had fully regained all her 

 lost vigor, and was much more likely 

 to be satisfactory to the purchaser than 

 if she had been held in a very small 

 nucleus or in a queen-cage. Besides, 

 this introduction gave us new blood in 

 the apiary. Owing to this course we 

 had to kill a number of queens each 

 month, usually of the common race or 

 of the hybrids. These spare queens 

 were quite often prolific, and it seemed 

 a pity to kill them. It was then that 

 I attempted to save a good queen and 

 a worthless colony at the same time, 

 by introducing the one into the other, 

 by the ordinary method of caging the 

 queen for 48 hours in the hive, and re- 

 leasing her by inserting a piece of comb 

 honey in place of the stopper of the 

 cage. This method has never failed, 

 and I attribute it to the fact that the 

 queen introduced was in each instance 

 a vigorous laying queen in the fulness 

 of her power. 



In the introduction of queens that 

 have been traveling there is almost al- 

 ways a delay in the laying; the new 

 queen does not take possession of the 

 empty cells immediately, and for this 

 reason the bees that have one or more 

 laying workers will have an animosity 

 towards her that they will not enter- 

 tain towards a queen that is able to 

 lay eggs at once, and thus show her 

 ability to fill the needs of the colony. 



My conclusion, therefore, is that al- 

 though it is more difficult to introduce 

 a queen to a drone-laying colony than 

 to a normal colony, this may be suc- 

 cessfully done by the above method. 

 But I would never risk a queen which 

 has been confined to a cage for some 

 days to any but a normal colony made 

 queenless just before introducing her. 

 ^ A good laying queen introduced to 

 a drone-laying colony in May — if this 

 colony has still enough bees to take 

 care of her brood — will rear a populous 

 colony for the fall crop of honey, and 

 will often prove a paying investment. 

 For this reason, queens bought from 

 reliable Southern breeders in early 

 spring are a great help to the Northern 

 bee-keeper. C. P. Dadant. 



Mr. Dadant's paper was received 

 with marked attention and brought out 

 a most interesting and profitable dis- 

 cussion, though Mr. Dadant apologized 

 for his subject. Nearly all the member-j 

 participated in the exchange of ideas 

 and relation of their successes and mis- 

 takes along the line of experience which 

 was under consideration. 



Mr. Black asked if the drones pro- 

 duced by working bees were as good 

 for the fertilization of a queen. 



In answering the inquiry Mr. Dadant 

 said that such drones were smaller, 

 and on that account less desirable for 

 the purpose. 



Mr. Black told of his experience with 

 a very small queen — the smallest he had 

 ever seen — that was with his bees for 

 4 years, to his certain knowledge, prov- 

 ing herself a good queen. He recog- 

 nized her by her size. 



Mr. Kildow and Mr. Pyles told of 

 putting unfertilized queens into a hive 

 before they had taken their wedding 

 flight, and still proving good queens. 

 There was doubt expressed by some 

 members as to whether they were un- 

 fertilized, or whether there might not 

 have been other queens in the hives so 

 treated. 



j^i*i«isf&I*i<-. 





