(_Continued from July Number, page 11._)
In early spring, or at any time desirable, proceed to stimulate a
selected colony with liquid feed. “Warm syrup or strained honey, is the
best for the purpose;” placing alternately empty combs or combs full of
brood, from other hives, until your hive is full; or by the removal of
one or more colonies, on each side of the selected one, the worker bees
from one or more hives, can be thrown into the selected hive, and so
stimulate the swarming fever or impulse. Proceed now as recommended in
the July number, page 11, when the bees will commence building queen
cells. The bee-keeper will thus secure from ten to sixty queen cells per
week. During my experiments, each weekly robbing only stimulated the
bees to greater exertions to secure a queen. Proceed thus until the
desired number of queen cells are secured, or the bees swarm. If they
should swarm before a sufficient number of queen cell’s are secured,
and it is desirable to still breed from the same queen, secure her and
introduce her to a colony that has not swarmed, and proceed as before.
Or, better still, introduce her to a colony making preparations to
swarm. Before introducing her, destroy all queen cells that have eggs or
larva in them; then cell building will proceed as before. A swarm under
the swarming impulse will communicate it to a strange queen introduced
to them; or a queen under the swarming impulse, “and not satisfied,”
will communicate it to any populous colony to which she may be
introduced.