INTRODUCING 
535 
is placed over the hole. Worker bees are 
next picked up in a similar manner, and 
poked in, selecting bees that are not too 
young or too old, preferably those that are 
filling with honey from open cells. For 
the small cage there should be about a 
dozen attendants. If the cage is larger, 
two dozen may be used; and if it is extra 
large, four or five dozen. When cages are 
mailed during cold weather there should be 
more bees put in, to help keep up the ani¬ 
mal heat. 
There are several sizes of these Benton 
cages—the larger ones being used for 
longer distances. The one on p. 533 is good 
for 1000 miles thru the mails, altho very 
often used for twice that distance. This 
may be called a combination mailing and 
introducing cage. Ordinarily, if one has 
much introducing to do it is better to use 
something especially adapted to the latter 
purpose alone. The Miller introducing- 
cage, mentioned next, has been used very 
largely. 
MILLER INTRODUCING CAGE. 
It is very convenient to have in the 
apiary small special cages for introducing 
and holding queens that come out with 
swarms until they can be introduced or 
disposed of. The one illustrated here is 
an excellent one. It is especially handy 
for introducing young virgins. The cage is 
so flat it can slide in at the entrance with¬ 
out even removing the cover of the hive, 
and the bees will release the queen by the 
C. C. Miller’s introducing-cage. 
candy method. Yet for introducing fertile 
or valuable queens it should be inserted 
between two combs which are then drawn 
together until they hold the cage. The 
queen thus acquires the scent of the combs, 
brood, and the cluster, and hence when re¬ 
leased will be more likely to be accepted. 
This cage, like the Benton, will give very 
much better results if a piece of paste¬ 
board is nailed over the end. This the bees 
will gnaw away, gaining access to the 
candy, which they eat out. As already 
mentioned under the Benton cage, a double 
thickness of pasteboard or a piece of tin 
will keep the queen confined longer, and 
the author would advise “playing safe” 
even in introducing. 
Another feature of this cage, of great 
importance to beginners, is as a queen- 
catcher. It can be put down over the 
queen after the wooden slide is removed, 
Introducing-cages with the Thomas Chantry principle applied. Letter a shows the cage with 
a long channel on the left side to receive candy. The other side has a piece of perforated queen-excluder 
nailed over the hole that communicates with the interior cage. The space back of the perforated zinc is 
filled with candy, as also the entire space on the left side of the cage. In operation the tees will go thru 
the perforated zinc and eat out the candy in about 24 hours; but it will take them two or three days to eat 
out the candy on the left side before the queen is released. In the mean time the bees in the hive have 
been going in and out thru the perforated zinc, giving the queen the colony odor, b, c, d, e are different 
applications of the same principle. 
