64 
at the bottom, surrounded by cells containing honey or pollen, 
it is an almost certain sign that there is a queen in the hive, as 
these cells have been prepared for her to deposit eggs in. 
The signs that a stock is queenless are as follows :—On the first 
day after losing their queen, the bees run 
145. Queenlessness. about in a bewildered, agitated state, in 
and out of, and over, the hive, this com- 
motion being most observable immediately, say one hour, after 
the loss of the queen; in 48 hours they will have quieted down, 
and may work, but do so in a half-hearted way,; those returning 
to the hive will often linger on the alighting board, as if un- 
decided whether to enter or not ; in spring, little or no pollen is 
brought in (7); and drones are allowed to remain in the hive 
after other stocks have expelled theirs (8). When such signs 
are observed, narrow the entrance to 3 inch wide to prevent 
robbing (140) ; examine the hive when other bees are not flying, 
and if there is no queen, and if there are no eggs nor brood pre- 
sent, except possibly those of a drone breeding queen or a fertile 
worker (7), the stock should be re-queened or else united to 
another stock (188) possessing a queen. 
When a fresh queen is required she may be procured from 
146. Providing another apiary, care being taken to select 
Queens: one from a stock which is unrelated to the 
stock for which she is intended, or the bee- 
keeper may may have one or more queens in readiness in nucleus 
hives (148), from which he can take a queen; or he may utilise 
a ripe queen cell. A stock should never be without a fertile 
queen, except when it is left thus in order that it may more 
readily accept a fresh queen (152); therefore any [method of 
re-queening which necessitates leaving the stock queenless, or 
with an unmated queen, except for the purpose just mentioned, 
is objectionable ; the beekeeper should therefore arrange to keep 
in readiness a supply of mated queens: some people may 
prefer to purchase queens from time to time, rather than to 
devote to queen rearing the small amount of extra time required 
for that purpose ; but all who desire to work their stocks to the 
best advantage, should rear queens in nucleus hives. Queen 
rearing is not more troublesome than many other practices carried 
out in ordinary beekeeping, and it should be regarded as an 
essential part of intelligent up-to-date bee-keeping. Change 
of blood is as essential in apiculture as in stock breeding, there- 
fore it is most desirable that a queen from an unrelated stock 
should be introduced occasionally, and when she has been tested 
and proved satisfactory the young queens reared in nuclei 
should be raised from her, or she may, be used to produce drones. 
In selecting a queen from an_unrelated stock for the purpose of 
introducing fresh blood to the apiary, great care should be taken 
to insure so far as possible that the new queen is from an apiary 
that is free from foul brood, and that she is of a prolific strain, 
noted for producing a good race of workers. 
