REARING QUEENS IN QUEBNRIGHT COLONIES 75 



cell building, they will recognize their hopelessly queenless con- 

 dition, and be ready to accept the prepared cells with little 

 delay. Alley gave eggs in strips of natural comb, instead of 

 the prepared cells, it will be remembered, but the principle 

 is the same. He left the bees queenless in the swarm box for 

 at least ten hours. He also fed the bees syrup while confined 

 in the box. 



Rearing Queens in Queenright Colonies. 



The author prefers to rear queens in a queenright colony, 

 since it is not so difficult to maintain normal conditions over a 

 long period of time, and the bees are not so sensitive to fluctua- 

 tions in weather conditions or honeyflow. It is not always 

 possible to make a success with the first batch of cells given 

 by this plan, but once accepted the same colony can be kept 

 busy rearing cells for weeks, or even all summer if desired. 



One plan which is followed by successful breeders is to 

 select a strong colony for cell building. Remove the cover, 

 and put a queen excluder in its place. Then take enough 

 frames of brood from several different colonies to fill a second 

 brood-chamber above the excluder, leaving one vacant space. 

 Care must be used to make sure that no queen is on the frames 

 placed in the second story. The vacant space is left as near 

 the center of the colony as possible, and a few hours later a 

 frame of prepared cells is placed there, feeding the bees with 

 syrup from the sprinkling can at the time the cells are given. 

 If this first batch of cells is not readily accepted try again the 

 following day. After four days a second batch can be given, 

 and a new batch every four days thereafter. By this plan the 

 cells are left with the colony until ready to be given to the 

 nuclei. It only becomes necessary to add two or three frames 

 of sealed brood every week to provide the colony with plenty 

 of young bees for nurses, to continue cell building indefinitely. 

 About ten to fifteen sealed cells can be secured from a single 

 colony every four days by this plan. If a heavy honeyflow comes 

 on, it may become necessary to add supers between the brood 



