63 
damped occasionally with the solution while in use, and removed 
after a few days if the robbing has then ceased. Another method 
which might be adopted when the above-mentioned preventive 
measures prove ineffectual, is to provide a tunnel about 2 inches 
long, 4 inch wide, and 3 inch high, made of perforated zinc, and 
fitting close against and covering the entrance; the tunnel 
should be placed in position after bees have entered the hive in 
the evening, and should be so fixed on the alighting-board that 
though secure it may easily be removed; the robbers will try 
to enter at the ordinary place close to the hive door, and will 
rarely try to enter by the tunnel, the narrow passage of which 
while affording means of egress for the bees in the hive, could 
readily be defended by them ; as the bees of the attacked stock 
will probably on their return crowd at the hive entrance, the 
tunnel should be removed for a short time after bees have 
ceased flying for the day; the robber bees will then have re- 
turned to their own hives, and only the bees belonging to the 
robbed stock will enter; after they have done so the tunnel 
should be replaced in position: this treatment should be con- 
tinued for a few days, until robbing appears to have ceased. 
The Swiss entrance (21) is a preventive against robbing. 
XX. REARING, CHANGING, INTRODUCING, FOR- 
WARDING, AND WINTERING QUEENS. 
As explained in paragraph 6, a prolific queen rapidly exhausts 
herself when afforded every facility for 
144. Necessity for laying in a bar-frame hive; as such queens 
Re-queening Stocks. deteriorate in egg-laying powers after two 
seasons, they should not as a rule be re- 
tained longer. It may also be necessary to re-queen a stock for 
other reasons; possibly because the queen has been rendered 
useless by an injury received: queens are sometimes injured or 
killed when frames are carelessly or roughly handled; or the 
queen may be lost when on her nuptial flight, owing to her having 
been seized by a bird, or having fallen into grass, or failing to 
recognise her hive on her return to it. 
A virgin queen is very active, and difficult to find ; it therefore 
frequently occurs that on examination of a hive after the issue 
of a swarm or the supersedure of a laying queen, neither eggs 
nor brood are to be seen, nor can a queen be found; nevertheless 
it is quite possible that a virgin queen or one that has not 
begun to deposit eggs is present; such a queen would be apt 
to take to flight if on a frame which has been removed from 
the body-box and exposed to bright daylight for examination ; 
great care should therefore be taken to avoid lifting out a frame 
carrying the queen : a simple and reliable method of ascertaining 
whether or not a queen is present is to examine one or two of the 
centre frames which the operator should hold while standing 
with his back to the strongest light ; if about the centre of any 
comb there is a circular patch of empty dry cells highly polished 
