THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
57 
Introducing Queens. — In response to an 
inquiry on this subject I communicated 
to the Bee-Keepers' Magazine some ten or 
twelve years ago in substance the method 
here deseiibed. I had then been employ- 
ing it successfully for some time and have 
ever since made use of it in introducing 
annually a large number of valuable queens — 
some seasons even several hundred, yet it has 
never failed with me, nor have I ever known 
of anyone’s losing a queen in introducing (no 
matter at what time of the year) provided all 
the conditions herein named were exactly 
complied with. The method was re-published 
by Gleanings in 1883 at the request of a Texas 
correspondent who, with other beekeepers of 
his locality, had been invariably successful with 
it — had, in fact only lost queens when follow- 
ing the plan recommended by one of the most 
widely-circulated American text-b >oks on bee- 
keeping. 
It is advisable to select always when about 
to introduce a valuable queen, a stock of bees 
which is in a pei'fectly normal condition and 
in prime order, that is, has a good laying 
queen, brood in all stages, honey, pollen and 
plenty of young bees. I remove the reigning 
queen and at once cage the imported queen in 
a pipe cover cage,* being careful to put the 
latter over cells of honey n ar the centre of 
the cluster of bees so the queen will surely be 
kept warm and get food during her imprison- 
ment. I usually put into the cage as 
companion-bees five or six just hatched 
workers taken from the hive to which the 
queen is to be introduced. The cage is pressed 
into the comb until the points reach the bases 
of the cells, and it is essential to place this 
comb in the hive in such a manner that the 
end of the cage will press against the adjoin- 
ing comb, lest the bees by clustering on it pull 
it out by their own weight. On the following 
day just about sundown the queen is to be 
released, provided, upon opening the hive, the 
workers are not packed densely about the cage 
trying to sting her through it. In the latter 
case she may be left caged twenty -four or even 
forty-eight hours longer. Hut if left this 
length of time it is necessary to look for 
newly-formed queen-cells and 'destroy them 
before releasing the queen. It is best in all 
these manipulations to use a little smoke. 
Upon freeing the queen drizzle diluted honey 
or sweetened water over the combs and boes. 
'Ihe queen may also be daubed with honey at 
10 Dii ? eot ’ os » f< ! r Makwo.— U se wire-cloth having; to to 
^ meshes to the inch. Cuta piece tin. wi.lebv 4!in. lone 
roll it around a stick to give it a cylindrical form, law the 
cclites and sew with a piece of wire. Then in one end of 
this cylinder make slits jin. apart and ?in. deep, and bend 
WiVt, h l r; e - <: ', oU ) 80 as ‘'lose this end of the ease. 
, "1° flat end of a pencil press warm wax or comb iiito 
the bottom inside to su e it firmness, then unravel five or 
six strands of the wire-cloth at the other end 
the moment she leaves the cage. The combs 
are then to be replaced and the entrance of 
the hive contracted so but one or two bees can 
pass in or out at the same time. It will be 
well not to touch the hive for two or three 
days thereafter as the bees may attack the 
queen if the hive is open before they are 
thoroughly accustomed to her. 
The conditions necessary to success in intro- 
ducing queens are complied with by the above 
plan, namely The bees are queenless long 
enough to have become fully aware of the fact, 
yet not long enough to have started queen- 
cells; the strange queen is caged long enough 
to acquire the peculiar odour of the hive to 
which she is to be given ; the bees are all at 
home when the queen is released, and thus all 
get thoroughly gorged with food and are well 
disposed toward the new queen. No robbers 
come about and by morning all is in order. — 
From Frank Benton’s “ Bees,” Munich. 
Carniolans — The bees of Carniola are 
noted for their great gentleness. They only 
rarely resent any manipulation, and need 
very little smoke to subjugate them. It 
might be thought they were lacking in 
pronounced qualities, but on the other hand, 
they show decided traits peculiar to them- 
selves and accompanied by distinctive markings, 
and are therefore as justly entitled as any bees 
found in Europe to be called an established race. 
Ihe typical, select Carniolan queen has a 
deep copper or bronze - coloured abdomen, 
thorax thickly set with grey fuzz, large, 
strong wings, and a large stout-looking body. 
Carniolan queens are larger on the average 
than those of any other race, having especially 
broad abdomens. Some queens are quite dark, 
even attaining with age a shining jet colour. 
Such queens, though themselves resembling 
queens of the common race, do not produce 
bees in any way inferior to other Carniolan 
queens. Also pure Carniolan queens are occa- 
sionally met with which arc as yellow as 
Italians. Yet they invariably produce workers 
and drones which are distinctively Carniolan. 
In all pu-ts of Carniola some queens are found 
which produce bees having the first segment 
of the abdomen somewhat rusty red in colour, 
and they are asoften seen amongthe finest, most 
prolific queens as among those of any other 
grade. Nevertheless, variation in colour and 
qualities is less with Carniolans in their native 
land than with Italians in Italy. Yellow 
workers arc not found in Carniola, while black 
bees — natives, too, and not imported — exist in 
Italy. The remarkable size and general bronze 
colour of Carniolan queens, in contrast with 
the grayness of their progeny, make it easy 
to fin 1 them on the combs. They are exceed- 
ingly prolific, and herein lies one of the very 
valuable qualities of this race. J 
