CHAPTER VII 



Preparation for Cells. 



Whether one uses the Alley plan or some of its modifica- 

 tions, or the Doolittle cell cup method, certain stages of the 

 process of getting the cells built may be the same. A supply 

 of royal jelly will be necessary to begin with only where grafting, 

 or changing the larvae from worker cells into prepared cells, is 

 practiced. The preparation of colonies for building cells, finish- 

 ing them and caring for them until ready for emergence of the 

 young queens, is very similar by any of these methods. 



There are numerous variations of the treatment of colonies 

 in preparation for cell building, and several of these will be 

 described in an effort to treat the whole subject in a compre- 

 hensive manner. 



Getting Jelly to Start With. 



If the beekeeper wishes to start cells early in the season 

 before there has been any preparation for swarming, it is some- 

 times difficult to secure a supply of royal jelly readily ; especially 

 is this true when the colonies are still weak from wintering. 

 The first thing to do is to look carefully for supersedure cells, 

 when making the spring examination of the apiary. Failing 

 queens may be replaced at any season, and one or two cells 

 will be built in anticipation of the supersedure. If a cell is 

 found, this difficulty is at once disposed of, providing it is at 

 the proper stage. The royal jelly is found in the bottom of 

 the queen cells and is a thick white paste, very similar in appear- 

 ance to the paste ordinarily used for library purposes or mount- 

 ing photographs. Sometimes, when it is quite thick, it is de- 

 sirable to thin it slightly by the addition of a small quantity of 

 saliva or a drop of warm water. Only a minute amount of 



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