94 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



bees and away from food, hence, when she comes in contact with the 

 bees she is hungry and at once asks for food, instead of racing 

 about the combs. The bees begin to feed and caress her, and all 

 goes well. I believe Mr. Simmins claims that this method is 

 almost infallible; and I remember that I once introduced ten queens 

 by this plan without the loss of a queen. It was during a honey 

 flow, however, and many plans that prove successful at such a time, 

 may miscarry at times when no honey is coming in. The moral is 

 to feed when trying to introduce queens during a dearth of honey. 



To introduce a queen from one colony to another in the same 

 apiary does not call for the skill needed when the queen has been 

 absent several days from a colony, and is jaded by a long journey. 

 I have frequently taken a queen from a colony, caged and sent it 

 away, and then immediately taken a laying queen from a nucleus 

 and placed her upon the spot upon the comb from whence I had 

 taken the other queen, and had the satisfaction of seeing her imme- 

 diately surrounded by a circle of admiring retainers. I believe there 

 are times, particularl3' when honey is coming in freely, when a 

 colony with a laying queen would accept another fresh laying queen, 

 simply by having her placed upon the combs; and all would go well 

 until the queens came in contact. Then there would be a conflict in 

 which the chances of the new-comer would be equally as good as those 

 of the old queen. 



So far as the queen is concerned, it is important that she be 

 brought before the bees in a natural manner; in such a place and in 

 such a way as they would expect to meet her. When clipping 

 queens, I have often replaced one in the hive by dropping her upon 

 the tops of the frames, when the bees would immediateljr pounce 

 upon her as an intruder. A puff of smoke would cause the bees to 

 "let up," when the queen would walk majestically down between 

 the combs, and there she was not molested, because there was where 

 the bees expected to find a queen. When I wish to introduce a 

 queen by allowing her to run in at the entrance, I first shake off the 

 bees, from two combs, in front of the hive, arid, as they are running 

 into the hive, I allow tlje qufeen to run in with them. At such times 

 there are no guards at the entrance, the bees that are crawling in 

 will not attack the queen, and by the time the colony has recovered 

 its tranquility, the queen is quietly parading the combs. 



When a colony has been queenless long enough to build a batch 

 of queen cells, I usually introduce a queen by simply taking a comb, 

 with the adhering bees and queen, from a nucleus, and hanging it in 

 the queenless colony. By means of smoke, or a feather, I drive all 

 of the bees from one of the inside walls of the hive, and against this 



