Henry Alley

“ I do not like a haphazard way of mating queens. There is no way by which the queen breeder can have absolute control of the fertilization of his queens as can be done by using the trap. If you come into my apiary between May 20 and Oct. 1, you will find traps on every hive in the yard. The trap in controlling swarming and catching the thousands of useless drones has a world-wide reputation as all practical bee-keepers well know. ”

“ FEEDING WHILE QUEEN-REARING IS GOING ON It should be understood that when queen-rearing is going on and no forage in the fields, feeding must be resorted to; a syrup composed of honey and granulated sugar will answer all right for food. Feeding not only keeps up the excitement, but the interest in the work the bees are doing. Keep up a liberal supply until the cells are capped. ”

“ The combs of all cell-building colonies should be well filled with honey and pollen. It would be the merest folly to attempt to rear queens when the whole or even a part of the apiary is in a state of semi-starvation. So you see queen-rearing should not be commenced in the spring until the weather is quite warm and the bees have had a chance to breed up, fill all combs with brood and gather nectar from the early bloom. Give the bees time enough on the early bloom to get the swarming fever on. ”

“ If the observation hive contains a small colony of bees and an unfertile queen, it will be seen that the bees do not take the least notice of her. Apparently she is of no more consequence before becoming fertile than other bees in the hive; yet should she be removed from the colony, the bees would soon miss her, and make as much fuss over her loss as they would had she been a fertile queen. The fact that bees pay no attention to a queen, is the best evidence that she is not fertile. ”

“ If you desire to practice and experiment in queen-rearing, do not be afraid to try it. It is a good way for the novice to start in on rearing queens.
Removing the queen from a full colony of bees is practically the same method as above given; the difference is, however, that no more queen’s cells are likely to be made than in a three-frame nucleus, and I hardly think one could get any better results by the full colony plan in the end. I very much prefer the nucleus system for rearing only a few queens, and it will be found much less trouble and much less expensive. ”

“ WHEN, WHAT AND HOW TO FEED NUCLEI I think I can save all who use my system of nuclei very much trouble by giving instructions how to care for such colonies, and to make the method a success, and prevent robbing in the apiary. Under no circumstances ever feed anything but plain sugar syrup to the small colonies. If you use honey your entire nucleus apiary will be ruined within a few hours, providing there are any full colonies of bees near them. Sugar syrup is all that is needed to keep the nuclei up to the highest standard of prosperity. ”

“ It’s a wonder to me how it is that any queen breeder can produce queens that can be called pure in the same apiary where there are anywhere from ten to forty full colonies of bees sending out their millions of drones every fine day throughout the season. It has always been my practice to use the drones from only one colony for mating young queens to. How else can any queen-breeder know by what strain of bees his young queens are mated to? Drone-traps are kept at the entrance of my hives the entire season, excepting on the hive from which the drones are 47allowed to fly. ”

“ A colony that has cast a swarm seldom leaves over eight or 40ten queen-cells. In rearing queens it seems to me the breeder might be governed somewhat as to the number of cells a colony should build by the judgment of the bees when working as Nature designed them to work. However, bees do not do things as we think they should, therefore many try to improve matters, and I freely admit that I think in some cases man has made the bees do many good things they would not have done had they not been compelled to, or been assisted to do in their work. ”

“ It is not so, and I never have had any robbing in my apiary. No good bee-keeper, it seems to me, so does his work in the apiary that robbing is induced. Of course when putting up queens the nuclei must be opened in the middle of the day. Sometimes robbers come around to see what is going on. The work of removing a queen is quickly performed and if strange bees appear the hive is closed; that is, combs replaced, cover put on and a handful of grass is thrown against the entrance. While the bees of the colony can find their way out of and into the hive, no strange bee dares to try to enter. ”

“ One doing a large queen-rearing business will need several queenless colonies at all times. Not only must queenless bees be used in caring for queen-cells, but for queens confined in the queen nursery.
When the bees are removed from a hive for the purpose of starting more cell-cups, the bees that have just completed a batch of cells may be put on the combs and a queen given them at once, and in a short time, say two weeks, such a colony will be in as good condition as any in the yard. ”

“ FORCING QUEENS TO MAKE THE MATING FLIGHT AND TO COMMENCE TO LAY PROMPTLY The queen dealer is anxious to have his queens mate as soon as possible after they arrive at the proper age. No special pains need be taken while there is a flow of honey to force the queens to take a flight, as they readily do so themselves. After the honey harvest is over, it is quite another affair. At this time a young unfertile queen will not leave the hive, unless encouraged to do so by feeding, when under ten or twelve days old. ”

“ Get the winter hive ready, give it a stand near the nucleus the queen is in that is to be given the united colonies, and then take the queenless nuclei to that stand and at once place bees, combs and all in the large hive. ”

“ Good queens is the main point in queen-rearing. Never mind about the cost. If the right methods are used in rearing queens, good queens will cost no more than poor ones.
29Bee-keepers the world over are interested in the subject of better queens. We all know that queens to supply the demand must be reared by what is called artificial methods. The best methods must be put in practice if the bee-keeping public is to be satisfied. Cheap and inferior queens have had their day, and those who rear the best will get the business and they should have it, too. ”

“ In introducing queens by using tobacco it is not necessary to give the bees a powerful dose of smoke. Give enough smoke so that the bees will feel the effects of it pretty well. The tobacco sort of odorizes the combs, bees and queen, so that all are scented alike. When the bees recover from the effects of the smoke they really don’t remember whether they were ever without a queen, so they take kindly to the new queen and no trouble ensues. ”

“ While queens that are fertilized early in the season will at once make preparations to deposit eggs, the late fertilized queens do not. That is, the late fertilized queens will not as quickly increase in size after becoming fertile, as they do earlier in the season. Now to decide positively that a queen is fertile I have tested the matter in this way: About half a pint of bees are taken from a colony having an unfertile queen and allowed to run in the hive of the fertile one. ”

“ As for gentleness I find almost any strain of bees docile enough to be handled with the use of a good bellows smoker. However, bees that have vigorous dispositions are usually good honey-gatherers, and no queen need be rejected as a breeder on account of the vicious disposition of her worker progeny. Only an occasional queen breeds vicious bees, and this trait is but seldom transmitted to offspring. ”

“ TO INSERT A QUEEN-CELL When a cell is introduced, it is not necessary, nor is it practical, to cut the comb to insert the cell in, as recommended by some bee-keepers. When a queen has been removed and the combs replaced 49in the hive, just thrust your little finger down between the combs near the top-bars, and thus make room for the cell and immediately place it in the opening made. The bees will not destroy the cell if it contains a healthy queen. ”

“ The queen nursery is one of the most valuable implements 31any queen breeder can have in his apiary. Nothing has ever been devised that equals its usefulness. I surely could not rear and ship the large number of queens I do every year without using a nursery, or going to the expense of running double the number of nucleus colonies to take the places of the nursery cages. ”

“ The fact that I spend all my time during the queen-rearing 50season in the yard among my nucleus colonies, and that every means is used to force the young queens to fly and become fertile at the earliest moment possible, should be sufficient to satisfy the reader that I am making no wild statement in this matter. ”

“ Other nucleus colonies must be made up for each cell or queen, as the case may be. The cells may be transferred at once without danger of destruction from the bees, provided the bees have been queenless for twelve hours. While bees might not destroy queen-cells if given them before they miss their queen, I find that they cannot be trusted in this respect, and that it is much safer to give queen-cells to bees that have been queenless at least 24 hours. ”

“ The knife used to separate the cells should be very thin, sharp and warm. If a cell is cut into, just take a piece of thin 41foundation, slightly warm it, place it over the aperture and at once smooth it down with a warm knife so that it will be perfectly air-tight, if not so done, the queen might not hatch out, and she certainly would not if she is not within six hours of being ready to. If a patched cell is given to a nucleus colony, and not made perfectly air-tight, the bees would quickly destroy it. ”

“ That is what is needed in the queen-rearing business. Experiment and practice are as much needed in queen-rearing as in any other occupation one is at work at.
A piece of nice worker comb 5 × 5 inches square will furnish all the eggs a large colony of bees should be allowed to work into queen-cells. Such a piece of comb if carefully cut will make about ten strips containing a dozen or more eggs. Always give eggs in proportion to the quantity of bees that are to do the work of cell-building. ”

“ The screen is first removed from the top, the bees shaken from it, then the combs are taken out, one at a time, and all the bees brushed from them into a hive-cap. While doing this work some of the bees may attempt to fly, or crawl up the sides of the cap, if they do, more smoke is blown among them, when they soon quiet down and remain so for quite awhile. When all the bees have been removed, the queen should be hunted up. If the work of finding the queen is rightly done, it will not require but a few minutes to find her. ”

“ A large queen-dealer cannot do a successful business on a small scale. He must branch out and have queens by the hundreds on hand at any time during the season from which he can draw a supply of fertile queens when orders are to be filled.
PREPARING A COLONY OF BEES FOR QUEEN-CELL BUILDING I think I have made the matter of getting eggs for queen-cells so clear that all may understand how to proceed, and now will give several methods for preparing colonies of bees for queen-cell building. ”

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“ Always place the hive in such a position that the rear end is slightly elevated. This keeps the water from running in at the entrance, and if any water gets in at the top it quickly runs out.
The success of my nucleus system depends largely upon the manner of feeding. These little miniature colonies are unlike large colonies. They can only care for themselves when forage is abundant. Feed them liberally and success will follow.
Figure 16
THE DRONE-TRAP IN CONNECTION WITH QUEEN-REARING The reader’s attention is called to the utility of the drone-trap in queen-rearing. ”

“ Bees will not accept any inferior work about queen-cells. Perfection is their motto. Nevertheless, I sometimes think bees lack in judgment in many things; such for instance as in destroying a fine young queen when they seem badly in need of one. But they lack in judgment very much when they use their stings to their own destruction.
DESCRIPTION OF PIPE FOR BURNING TOBACCO I have always used tobacco smoke for light handling of bees, but more particularly for introducing queens.
I shall state here that for general use in the apiary tobacco is not the thing to burn. ”

“ Queen-cells that are short, blunt-end, thin-walled and thinly waxed, as shown in fig. 10, contain very inferior queens, and all such cells should be destroyed. They are just such queen-cells as bees make when they have a queen of any kind in the hive. ”

“ If a comb containing eggs is removed every day and a clean comb inserted in its place, cell-building can go on every day in the week; and that is the right way to do if a supply of queens is to be kept up to meet the demands of customers whose orders come by every mail. ”