66 



a ripe queen celJ. A stock should never be without a fertile 

 queen, except when it is left thus in order that it may more 

 readily accept a fresh queen (152) ; therefore any method of. 

 re-queening which necessitates leaving the stock queenless, or 

 with an unmated queen, except for the purpose just mentioned, 

 is objectionable ; the beekeeper should therefore arrange to_ 

 keep in readiness a supply of mated queens : some people may' 

 j)refer to purchase queens from time to time, rather than to 

 devote to queen rearing the small amount of extra time re- 

 quired for that purpose ; but all who desire to work their stocks 

 to the best advantage, should rear queens in nucleus hives. 

 Queen rearing is not more troublesome than many other prac- 

 tices carried out in ordinary beekeeping, and it should be 

 regarded as an essential part of intelligent up-to-date bee- 

 keeping. Frequent change of blood is as essential in apiculture 

 as in stock breeding, therefore it is most desirable that a queen 

 obtained from an unrelated stock should be introduced 

 at least every alternate year, and the young queens reared in 

 nuclei should be raised from her, or she may be used to produce 

 drones. In selecting a queen from an unrelated stock for the 

 purpose of introducing fresh blood to the apiary, great care 

 should be taken to insure so far as possible that the new queen 

 is from an apiary that is free from foul brood, and that she is of 

 a prolific strain, noted for producing a good race of workers. 



In the autumn before the season of queen rearing, procure a 

 queen from an unrelated stock (146) , and 

 147. Preparing: for introduce her into a stock selected as suit- 

 ftueen Rearing. able for producing queens ; this stock 

 should be well furnished with good fresh 

 worker combs, and should be in thoroughly good condition for 

 wintering ; if such a queen has not been procured , select the most 

 suitable stock for queen rearing , having regard to the instructions 

 in paragraph 146 ; remove all drone comb from this stock, 

 which may be called stock " Q " ; select another suitable stock 

 for drone rearing; this will be referred to as stock "D." 

 Stimulate (106) and spread brood (90) in the spring, so as to 

 bring these stocks forward as much as is desirable, with a view 

 to having stock " Q " in swarming condition before any other 

 stocks in the apiary, and to have drones flying from stock " D," 

 a few days before the queens are expected to hatch out in 

 stock " Q " ; recollecting that a period of thirty-five to forty 

 days must elapse from the time the egg is laid until drones fly 

 freely. A frame containing as large a proportion as possible 

 of drone comb, should be placed in the centre of the brood nest 

 of stock " D," when breeding commences, to encourage drone 

 production. The stock " D " may be moved (182) to where 

 the nucleus hives (57) will afterwards stand, and it is advisable 

 that they should be placed a little apart from the other hives and 

 facing a different aspect, if that can be conveniently arranged 

 This spot should be clear of the line of flight from other hives' 



