to the fasting. A queen actively laying may perish from hunger 
in forty-five minutes, while one which has not deposited eggs for 
a considerable time may show no effects from an hour’s fasting. 
The essential thing is that the queen be in such condition when 
put into the colony that she will request food. If the bees at once 
feed her no fears need be entertained for her safety. 
If a direct method is desired the fasting or honey method is 
recommended. Very few have had success with the smoke method. 
Fig. 37. Queen cage (original). 
Indirect Methods—Indirect methods are used more than are others, 
probably because less labor is entailed and if the queen is a pur- 
chased one she is already in a cage (Fig. 37) which well serves the 
purpose of an introducing cage. The mailing cage may be placed 
above the frames if the hive has an inner cover by turning this 
cover top down, placing the wire cloth of the cage over the space 
between two frames. 
If the colony is populous enough so that the bees hang down 
to the bottom board the queen cage may be pushed into the entrance 
with the wire cloth up. 
The cage may also be placed between two combs, although this 
spreads the combs so that if there is a honey flow extra comb may’ 
be built in the gap, and, further, it is necessary to remove one frame 
to provide room for the cage. Always arrange that the bees in 
the hive will have access to the candy plug in the end of the cage 
and to the wire cloth. Do not dequeen a colony in anticipation 
of the reception of a queen, as she may not arrive when expected. 
There seems to be no good reason for leaving a colony queenless three 
days before introducing the new queen. It doubles the labor and 
there is no evidence that the reception of the introduced queen is 
made more certain. 
: Another indirect method is by the use of what is known as the 
push in the comb” cage. This is simply a shallow wire cloth box 
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