542 
INTRODUCING 
The statement was made that old queens 
would stop laying in the fall if no honey 
was coming in. It should be noted that 
young queens will lay, flow or no flow, if 
there are sufficient bees and stores. 
HOW LONG SHALL A COLONY BE QUEENLESS 
BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO INTRODUCE ? 
Colonies that have not been queenless 
more than two days are to be preferred — 
just long enough to determine whether 
cells are started, and just long enough so 
the bees begin to recognize their loss, but 
not long enough for them to get cells under 
way. Cells nicely started or capped over 
are quite apt to make the colony act as if 
it wanted something of its own; and when 
a laying queen is introduced to them they 
take a notion sometimes that they won’t 
have anything but their own raising. 
The worst colony to introduce a laying 
queen to is one that has been queenless 
long enough so that there is a possibility 
of one or more virgin queens being in the 
hive. It is hard to decide definitely in all 
cases when such colonies are queenless. 
Most virgins, after they are three or four 
days old, are very apt to be mistaken for 
workers, especially by a beginner. 
what to do if bees ball the queen. 
Very often when the bees decide they 
will not accept the queen let loose among 
them they will begin to pull at her, pile on 
her in such numbers that they form a ball 
around her. Every bee in the ball will seem 
intent on pulling her limb from limb. Un¬ 
less the owner comes to her rescue she may 
be stung to death or be suffocated. 
When queens were introduced in the old- 
fashioned way — that is, before cages were 
constructed so as to release queens auto¬ 
matically—much trouble was encountered 
by bees balling queens. If they were not 
ready to accept her when she was released 
by the apiarist, they were pretty sure to 
ball her. Right here is a point that it is 
well to observe: When the bees let out the 
queen they very rarely ball her. But when 
it is necessary for the apiarist to perform 
the work of opening the hive, and making a 
general disturbance, there is danger of ball¬ 
ing. Suppose she is balled. The ball should 
be lifted out of the hive and smoke blown 
on it until the bees come off one by one; 
but hot smoke must not be blown on the 
queen. When the queen is found, get hold 
of her wings and pull the rest of the bees 
off from her by their wings. Cage her 
again as at first, and give her another trial. 
The advice has been given to drop the 
queen, when she is balled, into a vessel of 
lukewarm water. The angry bees will im¬ 
mediately desert the queen, when she can 
be easily taken out of the water, and re¬ 
caged. 
Another way of saving the queen with¬ 
out having to recage her is to carry a small 
oil can with a spring bottom, such as is 
used on a sewing machine, filled with thin 
syrup. When the bees are found balling 
her, saturate the ball thoroly by pressing 
hard upon the bottom of the can, causing 
the syrup to penetrate thru the ball. Close 
the hive and the bees will turn their atten¬ 
tion to cleaning themselves and the queen, 
when she will be a'ccepted without further 
trouble. 
WHAT TO DO WHEN THE QUEEN FLIES 
AWAY. 
Sometimes a beginner is very nervous, 
and by a few bungling motions may man¬ 
age to let the queen escape from the hive 
where he expects to introduce her. Or this 
may happen: The queen may become a 
little alarmed because there are no bees 
about her, take wing direct from the frame 
and fly. In either case, one should step 
back immediately after opening the hive, 
and in 15 or 20 minutes she will be like¬ 
ly to return to the same spot and enter 
the hive. If she is not discovered in the 
hive in about half an hour, she may be 
found in one of the other hives near by. 
If a ball of bees somewhere down among 
the frames is found, it may be surmised 
that here is the queen that flew away, and 
that she has made a mistake, and entered 
the wrong hive. 
INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS. 
As previously explained, a young virgin 
just emerged, generally weak and feeble, 
can usually be let loose in a queenless col¬ 
ony without caging, and be favorably re¬ 
ceived; but one from two to six days old 
is, as a rule, much more difficult to intro¬ 
duce than a laying queen; and one ten 
days old, more than old enough to be fer- 
