REARING IMrROVED RACKS. 263 



its winter losses. If the colony is licjit well supplied with 

 honey, enough drones will be raised to impregnate all the 

 queens in the neighborhood ; otherwise, they might destroy 

 these early drones after having raised them. 



If our directions on the removal of drone-comb (676) 

 are followed, but few drones will be raised outside of those 

 colonies specially intended for drone-breeding. As soon 

 as they begin to hatch, we may make preparations for 

 queen-rearing, the best time being at the opening of fruit- 

 blossoms. Some queen-breeders begin earlier, but early 

 breeding gives much trouble and Kttle pay, and our advice 

 to Northern Apiarists, who want early queens, is to buy 

 them from some reliable Southern Apiarist, as they can be 

 raised earlier in the South, much more cheaply than in the 

 North. 



513. In an Apiary composed of several colonies, there 

 are always some comparatively weak ones, either because 

 their queens are old, or because they are not prolific. Such 

 queens are of very little value, and should be replaced. 

 Select one of these colonies — not the poorest, unless it is 

 populous enough to raise good queens. Kill its queen, and 

 exchange its brood-combs, after having brushed the bees 

 off, for a less number of combs, containing eggs and larvae, 

 from your best queen. It may be well to feed the colonies 

 containing the select queens beforehand, so as to incite the 

 laying of eggs (164) and nursing of the brood. 



514 If you desire to raise queens from eggs, (490), or 

 larvae just hatching, prepare for it, by giving your select 

 colony some frames of dry comb, or comb foundation, 

 (674) a few days ahead, for the queen to lay in. In this 

 case, only those combs that contain eggs should be given to 

 the queenless colony. It is always better to give but a 

 small number of brood-combs to the colony intended for 

 queen-raising, and to reduce its space with the division- 

 board (349) ; as they can best keep it warm, in this ma^- 

 per, and raise better queens, 



