1500 Depaetiment of Ageiculture 



queens. The fact is, when I see a poor queen I kill her at once, if 

 it is in the season when I have surplus queens on hand. Then I 

 introduce a young laying queen before closing the hive. I then 

 mark the hive so that I know what has been done, and give it no 

 more attention until some days later, when I am again working in 

 baid out-apiary. 



I want to say a little more about the hard-candy stopper. It is 

 very much more con\'euient t(i use than the soft candy usually 

 made with sugar and hi.mey. It is cleaner to handle. I>y the 

 use of hard candy the apiarist can learn to gauge the time he 

 desires his (jueens to l)e liberated. 



The apiarist will smin learn bow much hard candy to use and 

 buw t(i use it. 



The hardness of the candy and the strength of the colony have 

 something to do with the length of time required to liberate the 

 queen, l)y using a jiiece of candy 11 ^ inches long. If ynu set the 

 nail through the cage for the candy to rest on, so that only •)4-ineh 

 of the candy is covered with the cage, and -Jii-inch of the candy 

 protrudes aljuve the cage, then the bees will eat the same size nf 

 candy sto])per away very much sooner than they would if the 

 candy stopper were crowded down into the cage the whole length 

 of the candy. 



(^uecus can just as w(dl be introduceil some days after the re- 

 moval of the old (lueeii, the same as with some other cages that 

 rei|uire soft candy; but remendier to use just as much hard 

 candy as you need to confine the (|ueen the desired length of time. 



J\Iany will think that the bees will not eat the hard candy away 

 and lilicrate the queen ; biit they will do it with the spiral cage. 



The candy l)ccomes softer after being covered with bees, and 

 they eat it away faster than you would think. They eat it from 

 all sides through the cage until the candy is so small that the 

 1)ees go into the cage with the queen Ix'fore she walks out. The 

 Iku's ne\'er kill the (pieen in the cage. 



In due time the i|ueen walks out of the cage quietly. She is 

 How safely introduced. 



It is better not to open the hive for the next few days after the 

 intro<luction of a new queen. 



^lany queens arc killed l)y o])ening the hive too soon after they 

 have been safely introduced, before they begin laying freely. 



