76 THE BOOK OF BEE-KEEPINO. 



A few cautions anent (jueen-rearing are advisable. Nevei 

 expose queen-cells in the direct rays of the sun, nor in cold air 

 or wind, for any length of time. Do not violently shake or turn 

 upside down a frame having queen-cells in it. Never leave a 

 nucleus, before the queen is mated, without uncapped brood and 

 honey. If it is required to remove the bees from off a comb 

 having queen-cells, they must be brushed off, not shaken. Always 

 keep entrances of nuclei contracted to about two bee-space 

 width. If a queen-cell is destroyed by having its side torn 

 open, there is most likely to be a queen already in the hive. 

 A second cell can be given to a nucleus if the first is destroyed 

 or its occupant dies, as also another cell after a queen has been 

 removed, provided its strength has been kept up by the 

 addition of brood. 



124. Queen-introdnction, — ^A colony that has lost its queen 

 can be re-queened very easily if certain precautions are taken 

 when placing her in the hive, or, as it is usually termed, " intro- 

 ducing" her. If these precautions are not taken, the bees will 

 certainly kill any alien queen that may enter ; there have been 

 a few exceptions to this rule in the case of queenless colonies. 

 For many years the only system advocated and adopted was 

 by caging. This was performed by inclosing the queen in a 

 cage made for the purpose, and allowing her to remain thus 

 protected from the assaults of the inhabitants in the hive for 

 about two days. On the expiration of this time the bees had 

 got acquainted with her, and when released she would be accepted 

 by them with the usual tokens of filial respect. Caging is not the 

 perfection of queen introduction, though for a novice it is about 

 the safest method. Often, while confined, the mother-bee may 

 poke a leg through the bars of the cage ; this is instantly seized by 

 some of the crowd of irritated bees who thickly surround the cage 

 containing her, and it may be torn off. Although the actual loss 

 of a portion of a leg does not seem to affect her prolificacy, yet the 

 whole of the^leg, even to a part of her body, has been known to 

 be torn away and death result. To get over this difficulty seems 

 to be impossible ; therefore, we must remember that with queen- 

 introduction a certain loss of mothers is inevitable We have 

 been most successful with the system called " direct queen-intro- 

 duction," though in the case of novices results are not always as 

 satisfactory as with us. The first style of cage introduced was 

 the "pipe-cover" cage; this is a dome of wire net soldered on to 

 a narrow rim of thin tin, about ijin. in diameter. When a mother- 

 bee is to be introduced she is placed in the cage, and then the 

 cage is slipped on to a piece of cardboard. It is placed in its 

 position on the face of the comb, the card is gently withdrawn, and 

 the cage pressed with a screwing motion into the comb, until 

 firmly fixed. The mother-bee is allowed to remain thus imprisoned 



