244 Clipping the ^ueen, 



yet to see the first indication that the above is true. Still, 

 if the queen essays to go with the swarm, and if the apiarist 

 is not at hand, she will sometimes be lost, never regaining 

 the hive ; but in this case the bees will be saved, as they 

 will return without fail. I always mean to be so watchful, 

 keeping my hives shaded, giving ample room, and dividing 

 or increasing, as to prevent natural swarming. Sometimes, 

 however with the closest vigilance swarms will issue; then 

 we may save much labor and vexation if we have the wing 

 of the queen clipped. Many of our farmers ai'e now keep- 

 ing bees with marked success and large profits, who could 

 not continue at all except for this practice. Mr. George 

 Grimm keeps about eighty colonies of bees, and says he 

 only works ten days in the year. But he clips the queens' 

 wings and his wife does the hiving. 



Some .apiarists clip one primary wing the first year, the 

 secondary the second year, the other primary the third, and 

 if age of the queen permits, the remaining wing the fourth 

 year. Yet, such data, with other matters of interest and 

 importance, better be kept on a slate or card, and firmly 

 attached to the hive, or else kept in a record opposite the 

 number of the hive. The time required to find the queen 

 is sufficient argument against the "queen- wing recoi'd." 

 This is not an argument against the once clipping of the 

 queen's wings, for, in the nucleus hives, queens are readily 

 found, and even in full colonies this is not very difficult 

 especially if we keep Italians or any of the other races of 

 yellow bees. It will be best, even though we have to look 

 up black queens, in full colonies. The loss of one good 

 colony, or the vexatious trouble of separating two or three 

 swarms which had clustered together, and finding each 

 queen, or the hiving of a colony perched high up on some 

 towering tree, would soon vanquish this argument of time. 



To clip the queen's wing, which we must never do until 

 she commences to lay eggs, take hold of her wings with 

 the right thumb and index finger — never grasp her body, 

 especially her abdomen^ as this will be very apt to injure 

 her — raise her off the comb, then turn from the bees; place 

 her gently on the left hand, and press on her feet with the 

 left thumb sufficiently to hold her. Now with the right 



