i6 



OUEEX-REARIXG 1\ ENGLAND. 



al»nut a dozen during the second and 

 third dav of feeding, and any above this 

 number must noAV be removed. They 

 may be given to another colony if one 

 in suitable condition can be found to 

 take them. A colony covering over ten 

 combs may, ho\ve\-er, be allowed to rear 

 20 to 24 queens, provided the two car- 

 riers are separated by a comb or two. 



The queens will emerge during the 

 tenth or eleventh day after the larvae were 

 transferred. Consequently, to avoid the 

 risk of a queen getting free and destroy- 

 ing the others, it is necessary to place 

 the cells in separate cages or to distribute 

 A fine Queen-cell. 'h«m to tlie nuclei not later than the 

 evening of the ninth <lay after the larvae 

 were transferred. How to proceed with this work is explained 

 on pages 6 and 23. 



Rearing: Second and Third Batches of Queens in a 

 De- queened Colony. — As soon as the queen-cells are sealed 

 over, namelv, four days after thev were started, they may 

 be placed in nursery cages (see page 2^) and a second batch 

 of Iar\'as in cups may be started, any adventitious queen- 

 cells being cut out. Four davs later a third batch may be 

 started. But it will generally be found that the bees will 

 reject at the start a larger proportion of larvae in the second 

 batch than in the first, and a still larger proportion in the 

 third batch, although thev will usuallv rear well tho.se that 

 have been started. This difficultv, if serious, may be over- 

 come bv giving them started cells from other colonies. It 

 is not advisable to try to get a de-queened colonv to rear a 

 fourth batch of queens, because the bees usually become 

 listless ten or twelve davs after their <]ueen has been re- 

 mo\'ed. It now becomes a question Avhat to do with the 

 queenless colony. It mav be broken up into a few nuclei, 

 but containing so many old bees it is not well suited for 

 nucleus formation. The best thing to do with it is to give 

 it a fertile queen. 



