WORK WITH THE QUEEN.—Chapter X. 
the beekeeper considers the 
poor queen better than no 
queen at all, he may, before 
killing the old one, wait un- 
til certain the new queen 
has been accepted. Then the 
dequeening and requeening 
may be accomplished at the 
same operation. The old 
queen may be kept tempo- 
rarily in a cage without at- 
tendant bees, the cage be- 
ing inserted between combs ; 
of brood in any strong col- The mailing and introducing cage. 
ony. If the new queen is 
not accepted, the old one may then be reinstated by introducing in the 
regular way. Extra queens may often be kept in this way for weeks. 
~~ Ca. 
7p Naz, - - 
How to Introduce. 
There are a nunber of good plans of introduction, among which we 
recommend introducing by means of the mailing cage (the same in prin- 
ciple as the Miller cage). Preparatory to introducing by the cage method, 
remove all the queen-cells that may be found present. See that the card- 
board mail wrapping of the mailing cage is removed, but take care not 
to remove the pasteboard over the hole at the end. Place the cage, wire 
side down, above the opening between two frames so that the bees can 
easily get to it. In case the inside cover of the hive has no rim and so 
cannot be inverted to provide space for laying the queen cage on top of 
the frames, then the queen cage should be inserted between the tops of 
two frames. To do this, remove one frame containing no brood from the 
hive in order to give sufficient room to leave the wired side of the cage 
exposed so that the bees can visit it. In about 24 hours the bees have 
gnawed away the pasteboard nailed over the end; then they eat out the 
candy in the cage, and thus release the queen, which, by this time, has ac- 
quired the scent of the hive and will, therefore, be quite likely to be ac- 
cepted. Examination of the hive should be made 24 hours after putting in 
the queen cage, and if 
the bees have not gnawed 
away the pasteboard 
over the end hole, it should 
be removed. The colony 
should be left undisturb- 
ed for at least five days 
after the queen has been 
accepted, for opening the 
hive soon after introduc- 
Introducing a queen in mailing cage, either by lay- ing may result in the loss 
ing the cage on top of, or between, the frames of 
the hive, of the queen by balling. 
co 
