O SPECIAL BULLETIN NO. 49 



On the afternoon of the day when he has his cell building colonies 

 ready, th.e apiarist should remove from the breeder this frame of larvae, 

 cut away the marginal area of eggs and thus expose along the new margin 

 larvae not more than a day old. Next he should kill every two larvae out 

 of three so that when queen cells are constructed they may not adjoin 

 each other. The comb is now ready to insert into the cell building colony. 

 All these operations should be done so rapidly as to avoid undue exposure 

 of the larvae. 



Render Cell Builders Queenless 



On the morning of this same day the final steps in the preparation of 

 the cell builder should be taken. When we left the cell builder it was full 

 of brood and bees and had a good queen. Much of the brood has now 

 emerged so that the colony is doubly strong. But queenright bees do not 

 build queen cells, therefore the queen and all the unsealed brood should 

 be removed and stored over an excluder above some other colony. Very 

 few bees should be taken along for they will be needed in the cell builder. 

 In this cell builder should be left a great deal of honey and pollen and to 

 it should be given in some kind of feeder at least a pint of thick sirup. 

 One comb should be left out to make room for the prepared comb of larvae. 



A word should be said in explanation of this treatment. It is no doubt 

 clear that by rendering the colony broodless as well as queenless the natural 

 instinct of the bees to build cells under queenless conditions is much in- 

 tensified. Thousands of nurse bees have been secreting larval food at full 

 capacity and when left suddenly without larvae to feed the food naturally 

 accumulates in still greater abundance. The feeding of thick sugar sirup 

 further accentuates the secretion. Thus all conditions for cell construction 

 are made ideal. So by afternoon or evening these bees are ready to pounce ■ 

 upon any larvae given them and construct a great number of queen cells. 



Building the Cells 



Into the center of this colony, then, the prepared frame of larvae may 

 be placed. On the next day one may expect to find from twenty to fifty 

 or more cells started. Most probably there will be more cells started than, 

 the colony can carry to maturity. In fact, it is usually inadvisable to leave 

 more than ten or twenty cells for one colony to complete. One may keep 

 watch, however, and if he finds the bees can keep thirty cells supplied with 

 more jelly than the larvae eat he may - leave that many. But no pains 

 should.be spared to secure the very best cells obtainable. Good cells mean 

 good queens; good queens, strong colonies; strong colonies, big honey 

 crops. 



Care of Cells 



If the comb of eggs and larvae is cut so as to leave one-day old 

 larvae along the margin, the cells built thereon will be sealed five days 

 later and the queens will emerge from them on the eleventh or twelfth 

 day. After the cells are sealed one should kill all those built above the 

 margin on older larvae, and then put the frame in the top story of a strong 

 colony with a queen excluder between that story and the brood nest con- 

 taining the queen. The cells will be kept in such a colony fully as well 

 as in the cell builder. The brood taken from the cell builder and stored on 



