QUEEN BEARING AND INTRODUCTION. 



167 



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Fig. 98. 

 PIPE-COVER 

 CAUE. 



to become accustomed to her before her release, she should be 

 caged on one of the centre combs containing brood and un- 

 capped honey. The pipe cover cage (Fig. g8) 

 is the least complicated and most useful cage 

 tor the purpose. Pick up the queen, and let 

 her run up into the cage, sliding a card under- 

 neath. Take out the centre comb; uncap a 

 few honey cells next to capped brood : put 

 down the cage so that it will cover some un- 

 capped honey: withdraw the card; and press 

 or screw the rirn into the comb a.s far as the 

 mid-rib, or the bases of the cells, carefully 

 avoiding injury to the cjueen in any way. Do 

 not disturb the bees again for at least twenty-four hours, or 

 for two or three days if the colony has been long queenless. 

 Releasing is safer if done in the evening, when the bees have 

 quieted down. If, on releasing her, the bees on the comb 

 show any inclination to crowd or molest the queen, cage her 

 again until the next day. Sometimes the bees will release the 

 queen themselves by eating through the comb; and, if a circu- 

 lar piece of the comb be cut from the opposite side, under the 

 cage, and be put back again, the bees will be encouraged to 

 release and welcome the queen in that way. Of course, there 

 must not be another queen in the hive, and if there be any 

 queen cells on the combs, they should be removed. The Abbott 

 Queen Cage (Fig. qq) is a device by which a 

 queen may be imprisoned in the midst of the 

 cluster, and released without exciting the bees 

 or uncovering the hive. The cage is slipped 

 between two of the frames ; the queen is ad- 

 mitted at the top ; and, when the wire is 

 drawn up, an exit at the bottom opens and 

 allows her to pass out. 



298. Introduction by Artificial Swarming. — 

 As it is found that bees of a swarm will gene- 

 rally accept a new queen readily, queens are 

 sometimes introduced by making an artificial 

 swa-rm of the stock (222), removing the old 

 queen, and shaking the bees off the frames 

 before an empty skep placed on their stand. 

 The hive is then replaced on the stand, and 

 the bees are shaken on to a hiving boarcl, the 

 new queen being dropped among them as they 

 run in. This plan is not only troublesome, but is attended 

 with extra risks, and there is danger of having the brood 

 chilled during the operation. 



Fig. 99. 



ABBOTT QTiEEN 



CAfiE. 



