60 



Bee-l-ee pin;/ in Victoria. 



!'- no doubt that good queen cells are produced by bees bent on swarming 

 (in the proper season). They are raised deliberately, and only when con- 

 ditions as to food supply and strength in bees are suitable. But the bees 

 of queens from swarm-cells inherit the swarming impulse, which the best 

 apiarists of all countries are trying to eliminate, and such queens are 

 therefore not desirable in any numbers. 



There is yet another impulse under which bees will raise good cells ; 

 the superseding impulse. When a queen is in her third season, and long 

 before the apiarist can notice any decline in her prolificness, the bees usually 

 prepare to supersede her by raising one or more queen-cells. They do this 

 at a time when the conditions are most favourable ; they are usually better 

 judges of this than their owner, excepting in the case of a queen suddenly 

 failing from disease or accident. If the bees are inclined to swarm there 

 may be a swarm issuing before or after the cell or first cell hatches 

 Where the bees are less inclined, the virgin queen on emerging from her 

 cell will destroy all other cells but will take no notice of the remaining 

 old queen, her mother. 



The number of cells raised under the superseding impulse is not large 

 — from one to three usually ; but they are invariably fine large cells pro- 

 ducing splendid queens. For a number of years I have obtained some of 

 my best queens in this way, but as the number is limited I could not get 

 sufficient, till I made use of the superseding impulse for raising them 



1. Comb Cut for Queen Raising. 



from larvae supplied repeatedly to the superseding colonies from selected 

 breeding queens. For this purpose it is necessary to know the ages of all 

 queens. Colonies having queens in their third year are examined periodic- 

 ally when conditions are favourable. If there are indications of super- 

 seding, the cells are removed and larvas from the breeding queen, over 

 which cell cups have previously been started by temporarily queenless bees, 

 are given in place of those removed. The colony should naturally be 

 populous and thriving enough to raise good cells. If the queens which 

 are not up to standard are replaced every year irrespective of age, these 

 three-year-olds are those which passed all the musters and there will be no 

 lack of the necessary condition. Should none of the superseding colonies 

 be of sufficient strength other strong ones may be made by exchanging 

 queens between colonies with old queens and strong colonies with younger 

 ones. 



To have all the queen-cells mature at the same time, so as to be able 

 to leave them where they are raised till the day before they hatch, it is 

 necessary for the young larvas from which the queens are to be raised to 

 be all of the same age. This is not a difficult matter for any one knowing 

 from experience the size of the grubs at different ages. At eighteen 

 hours old, thev are of about the size of the small c of ordinary type and 

 will hatch on the twelfth day. For the purpose of obtaining larvae of 

 the right age in sufficient numbers, I do not find it necessary to insert an 



