108 Texas Department of Agriculture. 



kind of queens to bu.y. 



It is often a question with some beekeepers as to what kind of 

 queens to purchase, with which to improve bees. Various beekeepers 

 give as much as $5.00 apiece for breeding queens from which to rear 

 other queens or for re-queening old colonies. Thus, the total ex- 

 penditure for half a dozen such queens would amount to $30.00, and, 

 while this method is a good one, since the young queens reared 

 from these will be better than the old stock, the chances are that 

 they will all produce hybrid bees, owing to the fact that they will 

 mate with drones of the common stock in the apiaries. A more eco- 

 nomical way, and one that results in a larger number of purely 

 mated queens, is to spend the same amount of money, or $30.00, for 

 untested queens from a reliable queen breeder, who is known for 

 producing good stock. The chances are that a good number of the 

 queens thus obtained will prove as valuable as the $5.00 queens, 

 while others may be worth from two to three dollars, and probably 

 range in value down to the price of untested queens. Since un- 

 tested queens from reliable breeders can be purchased at from 75 

 cents to $1.00 each, and cheaper in larger quantities, this is by far the 

 most satisfactory way of buying queens when improving the stock 

 in an apiary. Thereafter, many of these queens may be used to rear 

 daughters from, and since there will be a large number of pure 

 drones, the chances of becoming purely mated are better than if the 

 high priced queens were purchased. 



REARING OR BUYING QUEENS. 



Queen rearing is really a separate branch of beekeeping. Few 

 beekeepers produce honey extensively and rear queens for the mar- 

 ket at the same time, and the number is decreasing in this day of 

 specialization. The successful queen-rearer devotes his entire time 

 and attention exclusively to this part of beekeeping. Procuring a 

 crop of honey is a secondary matter with him. However, it pays 

 even extensive honey* producers, and especially amateurs, or those 

 who have a small number of colonies, to rear queens at times. 



It is an open question whether it is better for honey producers to buy 

 queens, or to rear them. "While a large number rear their own 

 queens, it is doubtful whether or not larger producers, who devote 

 their entire time to honey production, would not do better to buy 

 them. After trying both ways, some extensive honey producers have 

 found that it does not pay to rear their own queens, and that the 

 specialist in queen-rearing is better prepared to furnish good queens 

 in large numbers, at less expense. 



The beginner, with only a few colonies, would do well to buy the 

 few queens needed in case of a missing queen in one of his colonies, 

 or for the number of increase to be made, until he has learned to 

 rear good queens. While this plan seems a little more expensive, he 

 has the advantage of so improving his stock that it will produce more 

 than the cost of his investment, while his own reared inferior queens 

 may reduce his honey crops materially. It is not meant that rearing 

 one's own queens is to be discouraged, because one who has the time 



