ADVANCED BSE-CULTURE. 



23 



iug from caging the queen against the 

 comb. I say "supposed advantages," 

 because, as favorable as the Peet cage ap- 

 pears as an introducing cage, I have been 

 equally as successful with other cages. I 

 have had excellent success with a cylin- 

 drical cage, made from a piece of wire 

 cloth foar inches square. Ravel about 

 two wires from one edge of the wire cloth, 

 roll it up, thrusting the projecting ends 

 of the wires through the meshes of the 

 opposite edge, and clinch the ends by 

 bending them over. This forms a round 

 tube about an inch in diameter and four 

 inches long. The ends may be stopped 

 by plugs of wood, corncob, or cork, or the 

 ends may be "squeezed " until they are 

 closed. When the queen is confined in 

 such a cage, the cage should be placed 

 between two combs just over the brood 

 nest, and the combs pressed together un- 

 til their pressure holds the cage in place. 

 That the queen may not perish for want 

 of food, should the bees neglect, or re- 

 fuse, to feed her, see that one side of the 

 cage is pressed against some part of the 

 comb containing honey. 



No definite length of time can be given 

 as to how long a queen should be caged 

 before she is released. The behavior of 

 the bees is the best guide. If they are 

 "balling" the cage, clinging to it in 

 masses, like so many burdocks, their be- 

 havior indicates what the queen would 

 have to endure were she within their 

 reach. The operator must wait until the 

 bees are in a different mood; until they 

 are walking quietly about over the cage, 

 as unconcernedly as upon the combs of 

 honey — perhaps the bees may be offering 

 food to the queen and caressing her with 

 their antenna. This shows that the bees 

 are favorably inclined towards the queen, 

 and that it is safe to release her. 



There is probably no method of releas- 

 ing a queen, let the cage be what it may, 

 that is equal to that of stopping the en- 

 trance to the cage with Good candy, and 

 allowing the bees to eat it out. The bees 

 that first meet the queen are in good hu- 

 mor from the candy they have eaten. 



The queen is released quietly at a time 

 when the colony is undisturbed. 



Until quite recently a few of the leaders 

 in apiculture advised bee-keepers to ex- 

 amine a colony within an hour after the 

 queen was released, to see how she was 

 being treated. If she was found in a ball 

 of bees she must be re-caged. No worse 

 advice could be given. The disturbance 

 frightens the queen; she begins to run 

 and "squeal," when the bees immediately 

 " ball " her. When a bee-keeper rescues 

 his lately- released queen from a ball of 

 bees, it may be natural for him to con- 

 clude that his interference saved her life; 

 but the truth in nine times out of ten 

 would be that it was this very meddling 

 that put her life in jeopardy. After a 

 queen has been released the colony should 

 be let entirely alone for three or four days, 

 or a week, until the queen had become 

 fully established as queen of the hive. 



To be successful in introducing queens 

 that have come from a distance, the con- 

 dition of the colony must be well looked 

 after. It is better that it should be hope- 

 lessly queenless. I<et it build a batch of 

 queen cells, and remove them after all 

 the larvae are to old to be developed into 

 queens, then the bees are almost certain 

 to accept a queen if given to them in a 

 proper manner. I would sooner release 

 a queen after the bees had discovered the 

 loss of their old queen, and before they 

 had begun the construction of queen cells, 

 then to release her after the cells were 

 under way, unless I waited until the cells 

 were sealed over and had been removed. 



When engaged in queen rearing, I did 

 not lose one queen in 100 that I attempt- 

 ed to introduce to a colony that had built 

 a batch of cells. 



Bees are in a much more amiable mood 

 when honey is coming in freely. Don 

 attempt to introduce queens when 

 honey is being gathered, without feeding 

 the bees two or three days before the 

 queen is released. 



There is one method of introducing 

 queens that never fails; it is that of con- 

 fining the queen in a hive with several 



ood 

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