540 
INTRODUCING 
much smoke inducing distress is not hard 
on the bees and the queen. The author be¬ 
lieves that when queen is valuable one of 
the other methods should be used. 
A SURE WAY OF INTRODUCING. 
There is one perfectly sure way of intro¬ 
ducing a very valuable queen, such as an 
imported one, if the conditions are ob¬ 
served carefully. Two or three frames of 
emerging brood are removed from several 
hives; every bee is shaken off, and the 
brood put into an empty hive contracted 
to a small space; and unless the weather 
is very warm, the whole is placed in a 
warm room, or over the hive of a strong 
colony with screen wire cloth between the 
two. The queen and her attendants are let 
loose in this hive, and the young bees, as 
they emerge, will soon make a colony. 
As several who have tried this plan have 
been so careless as to leave the entrance 
open and let the queen get out, the begin¬ 
ner is warned especially to have the hive 
closed, so that no bee can by any possibil¬ 
ity get out.* If the frames selected con¬ 
tain no unsealed brood, there will be very 
little loss; but otherwise the larvae, having 
no bees to feed them, will mostly starve. 
As soon as a few hundred bees emerge, 
the queen will be found with them, and 
they will soon make a cluster. When the 
combs have been taken from strong colo¬ 
nies, where the queen is laying hundreds of 
eggs in a day, the colony will become 
strong in a week or two. Three frames 
will do very well at first, and one or two 
more may be added in the course of a week 
or two. No live bee is to be given to the 
queen, and the hive must be kept in a 
warm place—the nearer 90 degrees F. the 
better. 
THE CALIFORNIA PLAN OF INTRODUCING. 
This makes use of the principle just de¬ 
scribed of putting the queen on emerging 
brood, only in this case the frame, brood, 
queen, and all are put in a large wire cage 
which is then set down in the center of the 
upper story of a strong colony. The brood 
is thus kept warm, until it emerges. When 
the young bees are all out, the cage is 
removed and taken to a separate hive. The 
* The entrance can be opened in four or five days. 
frame, bees, and queen are then removed 
and set in the hive. A comb of honey or 
a division-board is put next when the hive 
is closed and the entrance is contracted. In 
cool weather this is the only way a queen 
can be introduced to emerging bees. 
The California Introducing Cage. 
This same method can be used for intro¬ 
ducing to a strong colony. But in that case 
the cage is left in the hive for five days, at 
the end of which time it is lifted up high 
enough to slide off the cover when it is set 
back, and the queen will mingle with the 
bees. The cage, not at this time but later, 
is removed. This plan will not work, of 
course, if there is a possibility of a virgin 
or a cell in the hive. 
INTRODUCING TO YOUNG BEES. 
There is another way that has proved to 
be good. In order to describe it an extract 
is made from an editorial in Gleanings in 
Bee Culture, page 539, Vol. XXI.: 
We have just received a consignment of 
30 imported Italian queens, direct from 
Italy, by express. Every queen came thru 
in good order, and they are now introduced 
into the apiary without the loss of one. Our 
method of introducing with this lot was 
something we had not tried before on so 
large a number of queens. We took four or 
five strong colonies, and divided them up 
into 30 one-frame nuclei. This was done in 
the forenoon. In the afternoon we trans¬ 
ferred the imported queens, without any at¬ 
tendants, to Miller introducing-cages, placr 
ing one in every nucleus above mentioned. 
Most of the queens were out at the expira¬ 
tion of two days, in good order, and they 
are now all out. 
You see, the point is here: These newly 
divided nuclei will have old and young bees, 
and more or less emerging brood. Before 
the imported queen is released, the old bees 
will have returned to the old stand, and it 
is these old bees that always make trouble 
in introducing. By the time the queen is 
released, there are none but young bees, in¬ 
cluding those that were brought to the nu- 
