J(i Advanced Bcc Cidturc 



indicates what the queen would lia\e to encUu'e were slie within their 

 reach. The operator must wait until the\' are in a ditferent mood, until 

 the}' are walking cjuietly about over the cage, as unconcernedly as 

 upon the combs of honey — ]5erhaps the bees may be offering food to the 

 <|ueen and caressing her with their antennae. This slif)ws that the bees 

 are favorabl}' inclined toward the queen, and it is never safe to release 

 a queen unless the bees sin )\v in this manner that they have practically 

 accepted her. 



Speaking of releasing the queen by boring a hole through the comb 

 reminds me that there is ])robably no better way of releasing a cjucen, 

 let the cage be what it ma\ , than that of stopping the entrance with a 

 piece of broken-up comb honey, or with some kind of soft candy, and 

 allowing the bees to eat it out. The bees that first meet the queen 

 are in good humor from the candy they have eaten; and, as has just 

 been mentioned, the queen is released quietly at a time when the colony 

 is undisturbed. .Vfter a queen has been released the hive should be left 

 undisturbed three or four days, or a week, until the Cfueen has com- 

 luenced laying and become fully established as queen of the colon\'. 

 When a queen has been relcascil only a short time, she is easily fright- 

 ened, when she is likely to run and "squeal," and the result is that the 

 bees will at once ball her. 



When a queen from a distance is to be introduced to a full colon \, 

 the condition of that colony is of the utmost importance. The most 

 favorable condition is that it be hopelessl}- queenless. I^et it build a 

 batch of queen-cells, and remove them after all of the brood has been 

 sealed, and the bees are almost certain to accept a queen if given to them 

 in a proper manner. When I was engaged in queen-rearing I don't 

 know that I ever failed in trying to introduce a (jueen to a colony that 

 Irad built a batch of cells. I would sooner release a queen after the 

 bees had discovered the loss of their old queen, and before thev had 

 begun the construction of queen-cells, than to release her after the cells 

 were under way, niilcss 1 waited until the cells were sealed over and had 

 been removed. 



If the bees are shaken from their combs into a \entilated box, 

 and kept confined, without a queen, several hours, ;\Ir. Doolittle savs 

 that the}- will invariably accept a queen if given one in the box. In 

 other words, the\- are hopelessl}- queenless, away from home, confined, 

 and are ready to accept anything in the shape of a queen. 



If the bees can, in some wa\-, be placed in such a condition of 

 mind (or body) as to let the queen alone until she has gathered the 

 reins into her hands, so to speak, there is seldom an\ more trouble 

 about her being acce])te(l as their sovereign; and one excellent method 

 of placing them in that condition is by the use of tobacco smoke. For 



