THE beekeepers' DIRECTORY. 1 23 



to which they wish lo introduce the new one. There are 

 several ways to find the queen in any colony. A black queen 

 in a black colony is the hardest to find (except a virgin 

 queen) and an Italian queen, even in a colony of golden Ital- 

 ian bees, is the easiest to find. The heavy, rich golden color 

 of a large, yellow queen is easily distinguished from the small 

 striped bees that compose the colony. 



The following is the easiest way I know of for the novice 

 to proceed : Take a hive, nearly like the one the bees are in, 

 place it on the ground or on a large cloth (a horse blanket 

 will do) , then place a drone-and-queen trap at the entrance of 

 it and close ai?^ other holes the queen might pass through. 

 Now, all is ready ; smoke the bees, take out the frames one 

 at a time and examine them carefully for the queen as they 

 are removed ; if not found, shake the bees from the comb in 

 front of the empty hive on the ground and place each comb 

 in the hive as examined. Continue to do so until all the combs 

 are out and have been looked over. If the queen is not found, 

 close the hive and with the use of the smoker drive the bees 

 in through the metal on the trap and at the same time look 

 sharp for the queen. She will, most likely, be found in a very 

 few moments trying to pass through the metal. 



I believe the above is the surest, quickest and easiest way 

 for the novice to find a queen. 



This work must not be done in the middle of the day, un- 

 less the bees are gathering honey, or robbing may be induced. 

 Do it just about sunset. If too late to find the queen at 

 night she will be fouiid on the ti'ap the next morning. 



One other method for finding a queen is to remove the 

 honey-board, place the cap on and drive the bees up into it 

 by gradually blowing smoke in at the entrance and drumming 

 on the hive five minutes or more. Turn the cap over and look 

 for the queen. If not found, place another cap on and repeat 

 the operation. 



An old queen is rather slow about leaving the brood-nest, 

 even when the bees are well smoked, and sometimes it is nec- 

 essary to drive nearly all the bees out and even then remove 

 the combs to find her. 



The expert is not obliged to use the above method to find 

 a queen. He merely blows smoke in at the entrance of the 

 hive to alarm the bees and in a few moments uncovers the 



