PART V 
Queens and Queen-rearing 
SHOULD THE HONEY-PRODUCER REAR HIS QUEENS OR BUY THEM? USING EXTRA 
CELLS FROM COLONIES THAT CAST SWARMS ONLY PERPET- 
UATES THE SWARMING TENDENCY. 
Frequently I am asked whether it pays a producer to rear his own 
queens. This is a rather hard question to answer, for so much depends 
on the ability of that producer, and on his experience in rearing good 
queens, Many circumstances also have a bearing on the subject, such 
as the number of queens required annually, the kind of honey pro- 
duced, whether comb or extracted, the time the surplus is secured, and 
the liability of the young queens mating with undesirable drones. All 
these circumstances and many more should be well considered before 
the producer decides to rear his queens. If he has but few colonies, 
and is anxious to learn all he can about bee-keeping, without any re- 
gard to the amount of surplus he may secure, then I would advise him 
to purchase a good breeding-queen and learn as soon as possible how 
to rear choice queens. In that way his experience will be worth much 
to him as long as he continues to keep bees. 
One of the worst troubles in rearing a large number of choice early 
queens here at the North is our cold backward spring weather. We 
use about 400 young queens a year in our apiary, and have tried many 
times to rear them during the latter part of May and fore part of June, 
so as to have them laying about June 10; but it is almost impossible 
to rear so many good queens at that season of the year. If we wait 
till the latter part of June to rear them, then the bees from these 
queens are of but little use as honey-gatherers until after the best of 
the harvest is over. So we find it much better to pay considerable 
money each year for our queens instead of trying to rear them. 
About the first of December we gave a noted queen breeder our 
order for 400 queens, to be sent us between the 1st and 20th of June 
next. It requires time, bees, skill, and honey to rear good queens; and 
when they can be bought for from $65 to $75 per hundred, and ex- 
tracted honey is worth 7 and 8 cents per lb. by the carload, it does 
not pay to sacrifice much surplus in order to rear queens. 
When the ordinary honey-producer attempts to rear his queens he 
is very apt to make some serious mistakes, partly through ignorance 
and partly through a lack of time to give this part of his business the 
close attention it requires. 
If he would procure a good breeding-queen and rear all his queens 
from her, then weed out and destroy all small inferior queens as soon 
