Jlce'lccep'my in Vktor-ia. 63 



given, the result will be as good as by any other method, so far as 

 the vitality and prolitieness of the young queen are concerned. 



In either ease, however, there is a considerable loss in the reproduc- 

 tion of the worker-force of the hive, much less certainly, but still 

 considerable, when a cell, ready to hatch within twa days, is given. 

 When allowing the bees to raise a new qiieen themselves after destroy- 

 ing or removing the former ((ueen, it will l)e at least 21 days before 

 the young queen commences egg-laying; when a cell is given, it will 

 be twelve days during which reproduction is at a standstill. Now, as 

 good queens cannot be raised, excepting imder the very conditions 

 which cause brood-rearing to be at its best, it follows that breeding is 

 interrupted just when it should be at the maximum. Even a poor or 

 old queen will at such a time lay 500 eggs per day, representing for 

 21 days a worker force of 10,500 bees and 6,000 for twelve days, but 

 as young bees C(mtinue to hatch for 21 days after the old queen is 

 removed, the weakening of the colony does not become evident till a 

 month afterwards, by which time the circumstances have probably 

 passed from memory. 



It is a generally iinclerstood fact that there can be only one queen in 

 a hive at a time and, with the one exception referred to further on, 

 that holds good, as, on the average, from the time the young queen 

 hatches till she begins to lay, ten days elapse, and a break in egg- 

 laying for that period must of necessity occur. To reduce this in- 

 terruption of breeding to a minimum, or to do away with it altogether, 

 different methods have been evolved and practised, principally by 

 American bee-keepers in the first instance. 



The plan which does away with stoppage of egg-laying altogether 

 is to confine the queen to the combs of the lower chamber by means of 

 a queen-excluding honeyboard. About half of the combs of brood are 

 placed in the upper story, to which a separate entrance is provided. 

 A queen-cell is given above and the yoimg queen will take her mating 

 flight from the upper entrance, and in due course will commence to 

 lay while the old cjueen in the lower chamber still continues. The 

 young laying queen may be removed and used elsewhere and another 

 cell given. 



This is an ideal method in theory, but success depends upon a com- 

 bination of circumstances. These are : a colony covering the combs of 

 two stories ; a queen in the lower chamber at least two, but better three 

 years old; and a free use of the upper entrance by the worker bees, 

 otherwise the virgin queen when returning from her mating flight, 

 finding no bees at the upper entrance, will be attracted by the lower 

 one, will enter, and either kill the laying queen or be herself destroyed 

 by the bees. 



To reduce the total interruption of breeding to a minimum for the 

 number of queens required, the usual practice is to divide one colony 

 into a number of nuclei of two or three combs, each being given a 

 queen-cell and placed apart from others. Many of the bees will, how- 

 ever, return to the former stand, leaving but young bees behind. 

 These are unable to properly take care of the brood and the queen-cell 

 and to defend the little hive against intruders. 



