170 MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 



she will thus stand on her feet, and not trouble by constantly 

 pas«ng her legs up by her wings, where they, too, would be 

 in danger of being cut off. Now, take a small pair of scissors, 

 and with the right hand open them, carefully pass one blade 

 under one of the front wings, shut the blades, and all is over. 

 Rome apiarists complain that queens thus handled often 

 receive a foreign scent, and are destroyed by the bees. I have 

 clipped hundreds, and never lost one. I believe that the 

 above method will not be open to this objection. Should the 

 experience of any one prove to the contrary, the drawing on 

 of a kid glove, or even the fingers of one, might remove the 

 difficulty. 



FERTILE WORKERS. 



We have already referred to (pp. 77 and 90) and described 

 fertile workers. As these can only produce unimpregnated 

 eggs, they are, of course, valueless, and unless superseded by 

 a queen, will soon cause the destruction of the colony. As 

 their presence often prevents the acceptance of cells or a 

 queen, by the common workers, they are a serious pest. 



The absence of worker brood, and the abundant and care- 

 less deposition of eggs — some cells being skipped, while others 

 have received several eggs — are pretty sure indications of 

 their presence. 



To rid a colony of these, unite it with some colony with a 

 good queen, after which the colony may be divided if very 

 strong. Simply exchanging places of a colony with a fertile 

 worker, and a good strong colony, will often cause the destruc- 

 tion of the wrong-doer. In this case, brood should be given 

 to the colony which had the fertile worker, that they may rear 

 a queen ; or better, a queen-cell or queen should be given 

 them. Caging a queen in a hive, with a fertile worker, for 

 thirty-six hours, will often cause the bees to accept her. 

 Shaking the bees off the frames two rods from the hive, will 

 often rid them of the counterfeit queen, after which they will 

 receive a queen-cell or a queen, 



