PART V 



Queens and Queen-rearing 



SHOULD THE HONET-PEODUCEK BEAE HIS QUEENS OE BUT THEM? USING EXTEA 



CELLS FEOM COLONIES THAT CAST SWABMS ONLY PEEPET- 



UATES THE SWAEMING TENDENCY. 



Frequently I am asked whether It pays a producer to rear his own 

 queens. This is a rather hard question to answer, for so much depends 

 on the ability of that producer, and on his experience in rearing good 

 queens. Many circumstances also have a bearing on the subject, such 

 as the number of queens required annually, the kind of honey pro- 

 duced, whether comb or extracted, the time the surplus is secured, and 

 the liability of the young queens mating with undesirable drones. All 

 these circumstances and many more should be well considered before 

 the producer decides to rear his queens. If he has but few colonies, 

 and is anxious to learn all he can about bee-keeping, without any re- 

 gard to the amount of surplus he may secure, then I would advise him 

 to purchase a good breeding-queen and learn as soon as possible how 

 to rear choice queens. In that way his experience will be worth much 

 to him as long as he continues to keep bees. 



One of the worst troubles in rearing a large number of choice early 

 queens here at the North is our cold backward spring weather. "We 

 use about 400 young queens a year in our apiary, and have tried many 

 times to rear them during the latter part of May and fore part of June, 

 so as to have them laying about June 10; but it is almost impossible 

 to rear so many good queens at that season of the year. If we wait 

 till the latter part of June to rear them, then the bees from these 

 queens are of but little use as honey-gatherers until after the best of 

 the harvest is over. So we find it much better to pay considerable 

 money each year for our queens Instead of trying to rear them. 



About the first of December we gave a noted queen breeder our 

 order for 400 queens, to be sent us between the 1st and 20th of June 

 next. It requires time, bees, skill, and honey to rear good queens; and 

 when they can be bought for from $65 to $75 per hundred, and ex- 

 tracted honey is worth 7 and 8 cents per lb. by the carload, it does 

 not pay to sacrifice much surplus in order to rear queens. 



When the ordinary honey-producer attempts to rear his queens he 

 is very apt to make some serious mistakes, partly through ignorance 

 and partly through a lack of time to give this part of his business the 

 close attention it requires. 



If he would procure a good breeding-queen and rear all his queens 

 from her, then weed out and destroy all small Inferior queens as soon 



