BROOD AND BROOD-REARING 
140 
ally happens that, in order to prevent in- 
breeding’, one must go to some other breed¬ 
er to get stock for crossing with his own. 
The average beginner should buy bis 
breeding stock, especially if he has only a 
few colonies; and even after he becomes 
fairly expert, if he has only one apiary it 
will be advisable for him to buy a breeding 
queen of two or three of the best breeders 
in the country. A good queen is worth 
from $5.00 to $10.00—usually the latter 
figure. Sometimes as much as $25.00 is 
paid. When one buys a breeder he should 
always have her sent to him in a nucleus 
rather than thru the mails. Usually a 
breeding queen is not less than one year 
old, for it takes at least a year, unless the 
season is exceedingly favorable, to measure 
up her value. A queen one or two years 
old will not stand transmission thru the 
mails like an untested queen that has just 
begun to lay. 
After one receives a breeder he should 
give her the utmost care, not expecting that 
she will live more than a year, especially if 
she is already two years old. He must keep 
her in a small nucleus, for no breeding 
queen during the active season should be 
the mother of a powerful colony. She 
should be kept down, and given as little 
egg-laying to do as possible; and then in 
the winter, when the active season is over, 
her colony should be gradually built up 
with combs of emerging brood. She should 
he given young brood in this way until 
she is the mother of a large colony, and 
then in addition she should be given every 
advantage by housing her colony in a. large 
double-walled hive in a protected location. 
Or. if one has a good cellar where he can 
control conditions, her colony should be 
placed indoors. See Wintering Outdoors 
and Wintering in Cellars, 
The use of a good breeding queen may 
mean the difference between profit and loss 
in a year’s business. It is folly to keep 
scrub coavs on the farm when good coavs 
on the same feed Avill furnish tivo or three 
times the milk. It is equally foolish to 
breed from anything but the best queen 
stock obtainable. A good strain of bees 
will produce anywhere from two to three 
times as much honey as a poor one. See 
Queens and Queen-rearing. 
BROOD AND BROOD-REARING. 
“Brood” is a term commonly used to des¬ 
ignate the young of the bees in the cells 
that have not emerged.. It may be young 
bees just before they have come from the 
cells, the larvae in various stages of 
growth, or even the eggs. 
Very often the beginner is confused be¬ 
cause he is not able to distinguish capped 
honey from capped brood; nor does he 
knoAv the difference betiveen drone and 
Avorker brood. Sealed brood is of a light 
to dark-broAvn color, depending on the age 
and color of the comb itself. In ordinary 
Avorker brood, in cells five to the inch, the 
cappings are made up of wax and fibrous 
material, smooth and slightly convex if the 
brood is not diseased. Drone brood is the 
same in appearance except that the cap¬ 
pings are more convex AA 7 ith four cells to 
the inch. The cappings o\-er honey are 
Avhite, bluish-white, or yellow, are more or 
less irregular, and someAvhat flattened. The 
honey may be in either worker- or drone- 
cells. By comparing the illustrations of 
brood shown on folloAving pages, together 
Avith the cappings of comb honey under 
Comb Honey, the beginner will easily make 
the distinction. 
The average beginner may not be able 
to see eggs at first. One trouble is, he does 
not knoAv where to look nor Avhat to expect. 
When he peers down into the bottoms of 
the cells and sees tiny little objects stand¬ 
ing on end at an angle he hardly knows 
Avhat they are. The cuts on. next page 
shoAV the eggs in the bottoms of the cells, 
altho photography is not able to show the 
depth of the cell. The cut, page 142, sIioavs 
brood in various stages of development. 
HOAV TILE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF BROOD 
REVEALS THE REAL CONDITION OF THE 
COLONY. 
It is the presence of eggs or young larvae 
that shows that the bees have a qiteen and 
are beginning to rear brood. This may- 
show even during midivinter if the Aveather 
has been Avarm for a feAv days; or it may 
occur, as it usually does, in early spring. 
Brood will be found in all stages of growth 
as the season progresses. 
On the other hand, the absence of un¬ 
sealed brood, and especially the absence of 
