THE BEGINNER IN BEE CULTURE. 15 



Ten days from transferring, the cells y^ill be ripe enough for removal. A 

 colony given regular stimulating food will raise good cells in a season when 

 the supply of nectar is limited, providing a supply of pollen is available, and 

 brood is raised freely under the stimulus. In all cases, of course, a number 

 of drones must be flying. 



Another method of transferring larvse, and one in favour with many 

 apiarists, is to transfer from the best Italian colony a frame of brood from the 

 brood nest, and to put in its place a frame containing a full sheet of comb 

 foundation. When this foundation is drawn out and eggs are laid in the 

 cells, the operator finds and cages the queen of another colony, and after 

 shaking the bees from the brood combs and supers leaves the colony with 

 only two frames, these containing honey or honey and pollen, and sufiicient 

 space being left between the two for a third frame. The brood removed can 

 be put over the brood nest of a fairly populous colony. 



The colony manipulated is now left queenless and broodless until next day. 

 The apiarist will then remove from his Italian colony the comb containing 

 eggs, cut a strip containing only one row of cells and shave to the midrib 

 the cells on one side. This strip should be fastened to the under side of the 

 bottom bar of a shallow super frame, or the middle bar of a frame as 

 previously mentioned. To allow ample room for the cells to be built out 

 conveniently, leave only one egg out of every four along the row. Eggs can 

 be destroyed with a piece of stick or a match. The frame is then put into 

 the space between the two combs in the queenless hive, and left until the cells 

 have been started. If desired, the cells after being started can be removed 

 and completed by a populous colony above an excluder, as previously 

 mentioned. After the cells have been removed, the brood combs and supers 

 can be returned and the queen liberated. 



Good cells can often be obtained when a colony is preparing to swarm by 

 removing their larvae from the embryo cells and transferring the very young 

 larvae from a selected colony. 



Clipping Queens. 



There are two important reasons why the apiarist should clip the wings of 

 all laying queens : the first, so that a sure record can be kept and the apiarist 

 know the age of the queen ; the second, for convenience during the swarming 

 period and in hiving swarms. To the practical apiarist clipping is a simple 

 matter, but the beginner with little knowledge and a pair of scissors is likely 

 to do some damage. Before attempting to clip a queen the beginner should 

 understand that to clip a virgin queen will destroy her usefulness by causing 

 her to become a drone layer. Also, that in the case of a supersedure colony 

 there may be a beautiful virgin in the hive with the old queen. Be careful 

 if there is evidence of a hatched queen cell. 



A small, sharp pair of scissors are the most convenient for clipping. Catch 

 the queen by the wings with the thumb and first finger of the right hand, and 

 carefully transfer her to the thumb and first finger of the left hand ; the soft 

 portion of the top of the thumb to be on top of the thorax, and the top of the 

 first finger directly underneath. Hold the queen carefully and clip the wings 

 on one side only. The queen has two wings on each side. The beginner had 

 better have some practice on drones for a while. If a queen should get a 

 cramp while being clipped, the abdomen should be gently straightened and 

 the queen kept out of the hive until she is all right, for the bees would ball a 

 queen atfected with cramp, which, however, is not a usual occurrence. 



