96 PRACTICAL QUEEN REARING 



success by this method. When new queens are ordered they 

 cage the old queens in the hive until the newcomers arrive. 

 The old queens are then destroyed, and the new ones placed in 

 the same cages and replaced in the same hives. The cages 

 have already acquired the hive odors, and the bees have become 

 accustomed to the presence of their queens in the cages. By 

 the time the candy has been removed, there is a very small 

 element of danger. 



Direct Introduction. 



The easiest time for direct introduction of queens is during 

 a heavy honeyflow. At such a time the bees will be in a con- 

 stant state of activity because of the wealth of honey coming 

 in, and queens can be introduced with a minimum of danger. 

 At such times, the author has gone to the hives to be requeened, 

 caught the old queens and run in the new ones, with little effort 

 to disarrange the affairs of the community, yet the plan worked 

 with entire success with colony after colony. Many of the di- 

 rect methods which are so successful during a honeyflow, must 

 be followed very carefully under other conditions, or failure 

 will result. 



There are several of the direct methods, familiarly known as 

 smoke method, flour method, water, and honey methods, etc. 

 The same principle underlies them all. In every case the object 

 is to develop such an abnormal condition within the hive, that 

 the change of queens can be made without the fact being dis- 

 covered by the bees. 



The smoke method has recently been exploited as something 



new. Some of the details of the practice are all that is new, 



for Alley described a similar way of introducing queens by means 



of tobacco smoke as long ago as 1885. He directed as follows: 



"When tobacco smoke is used to introduce them, throw some grass 

 against the entrance to keep the smoke in and the bees from coming 

 out. Blow in a liberal amount of smoke, and then let the queen run in 

 at the top through the hole used for the cone-feeder." 



The method as advocated by A. C. Miller does not antici- 

 pate the use of tobacco, but the ordinary smoke always avail- 



