and if any are found not up to the standard, or in any way inferior,
they should be destroyed. If any cells containing inferior queens are
given nucleus, or inferior queens introduced, and not looked after until
they have been in the hive long enough to become fertile, it will be
found that much valuable time has been lost. I cannot afford to take
such chances, therefore I want to see and examine all queens before
giving them to colonies.
[Illustration: Figure 6]
The above is one of the reasons why I use a queen nursery; another
reason is that each nursery cage is equal to a nucleus colony.
My plan has always been to have queens ready to give nuclei in three
days after removing a laying queen. That is as soon as a virgin queen
can safely be introduced in such cases.
The queen nursery is one of the most valuable implements any 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 nursery saves about one half the
expense in money and bees, as well as much labor. I not only use the
nursery for virgin queens and cell-hatching, but for keeping a supply of
fertile queens all through the season.
The nursery illustrated in fig. 7 is of an old pattern, takes but 18
cages and accommodates only as many queens.
[Illustration: Figure 7]
FORMING NUCLEI
This part of queen-rearing reminds me of the remark made by Mr. S. M.
Locke when he returned to Wenham after spending two or three seasons
with D. A. Jones and J. H. Nellis, both of whom were engaged largely in
the queen-rearing business.
I made up a lot of nuclei while Mr. L. looked on and saw my way of doing
such things. “Well,” says Mr. L., “I never saw nuclei made up in such a
quick and easy way!” My way may be better than some others do it. I plan
to do all my work in the easiest and quickest way. I find no time to
waste in the queen-rearing business.
In forming nucleus colonies I will first give a way that all must
practice when starting in on queen-rearing. All my nucleus hives, or
boxes, are the same as is illustrated in fig. 1. I like this style far
better than any I have ever tried. Always have had the best of success
in getting queens fertilized in them, and, in fact, never have had any
trouble with these hives in any way. Some people suppose, and naturally
enough too, that where these little colonies are kept in the same yard
with strong colonies, that much robbing would be going on. 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.
If I were about to start in queen-rearing I would form nuclei in about
this way: Rather than destroy the nice straight combs of a standard hive
I would just look around the country for some box-hives. I really love
to go through those back-number things; they are an eye-sore to me.
Take the hive into the bee-room and treat the bees same as in case of
getting “bees for cell-building.”
Take off side of hive, cut out the combs and brush all the bees from
them into a hive-cap. When all are out dump the bees into the box used
for confining bees for queen-rearing. Next move is to cut the combs into
the little frames. After first nailing screens to cover entrance to the
hives in such a way that the bees will have plenty of fresh air, the
boxes should each have three combs put in them. One of the combs should
be brood, the others may be brood, honey, etc. One comb of honey may be
put in after the bees are in.
Have at hand all the covers so they can be put on quickly after the bees
are put in.
We return now to the bees in the confining box, and all is in readiness
for dividing them up in pint lots among the hives.
Next step is to get the bees in condition to be handled without flying
while they are being doled out to the several hives. Blow tobacco smoke
among them until they seem quiet. Now this does not mean to keep up a
flow of smoke until the bees drop to the bottom of the box. Use but
little smoke at any time, or until the bees stop running about the box.
In the course of 5 or 10 minutes they will be ready to handle. Strike
the bees down into the bottom of the box by dropping it on the floor.
With a light measure (tin one is best) holding about a pint and having a
handle several inches long, divide the bees among the nucleus hives in
nearly equal parts as possible. If the bees have been put in the right
condition by the tobacco, they can be handled just about the same as so
many beans.
Of course there will be a queen to look up. However, this is an easy
matter. Rather than spend the time to look her up she is allowed to go
in with the bees. When the nuclei are formed, the bees in the hive in
which the queen happens to be will be found more quiet than those that
have no queens. Unless I have some use for such a queen she is allowed
to remain with the bees and build up a prosperous colony; that is,
prosperous for such a small hive.
Sometimes I have as many as half a dozen queens caged in my bee-room.
They are placed on the bottom sash of the window and all the bees in the
room collect and cluster on the cages, attracted and held there a long
time by the queens. The bees feed and otherwise take good care of them.
Another way to do, and a thing I often do is this: I sometimes purchase
bees in box-hives, transfer the combs and then put bees and combs in a
hive that takes 13 of the frames, using two sections for a large colony.
The 26 combs give a large amount of breeding room and such a colony very
quickly builds up to a large and prosperous one. Such a hive is
illustrated in fig. 8.
[Illustration: Figure 8]
The bees thus treated soon repair the combs and get into fine condition
to be transferred to the small hives. When nuclei are formed as above,
they should be kept confined in the hives from 24 to 48 hours before
being released, then remove the screens at night when too late for bees
to fly. The next morning the colony will be found ready for business.
By this time the bees will have more or less queen-cells, or cell-cups
started, and fully reconciled to the new state of things, and only a few
of the older bees will return to the stand they had previously occupied.
The only thing that can be done with these hives is to set them on the
ground in any place in the apiary. Still, it is a good idea to take them
away from home for several weeks when they may be returned to the home
yard and no bees would return to the old location.
I sometimes have several queen-rearing yards two miles apart where my
nuclei are kept during the entire season—several hundred nucleus
colonies are made up and at once taken away and in this way our apiaries
are established, but for nuclei only.
If more convenient to do so bees may be brought from a distance for
forming nucleus colonies, and when this method is practiced the bees can
be placed in the home yard. This plan works nicely as I have found when
forming nuclei.
INTRODUCING QUEENS
We have now come to one of the most interesting parts of apiculture, and
that part of queen-rearing that has been the cause of much trouble and a
great deal of discussion for many years. When it comes to the
introduction of queens, either fertile or unfertile, nearly all
bee-keepers, whether experts or novices, are all at sea.
In the case of introducing unfertile queens, one thing should be kept in
mind, namely, the older the virgin queen the more difficult and
dangerous it is to safely introduce them. Virgin queens, so far as bees
are concerned, cease to be “baby” queens when they are three days old;
after that it is very difficult to introduce them, though I have no
trouble in introducing them successfully by using tobacco smoke.
I cannot say which is the most difficult to introduce, virgin or fertile
queens. It requires in either case some little experience in order to be
successful. Some times bees will destroy a strange queen even when she
is introduced under the most favorable conditions. No one can introduce
a virgin queen successfully unless the bees to receive her have been
queenless at least three days.
In all my experience I have practiced but one method of introducing
queens. It is what I term the three-day plan. I seldom lose a queen by
it. No doubt other bee-keepers have as good methods of introducing
queens as I have. But the first and last queens I have introduced were
by the system given below. I cannot think of giving up a sure thing for
something I know nothing about.
HOW TO INTRODUCE VIRGIN QUEENS
My plan is to let colonies, whether full stocks or nucleus, remain
queenless three days, or not far from 72 hours. Then just before dark
the queens are given the bees by this process: I generally have from 25
to 50 virgin queens to introduce at one time. The cages are placed in a
convenient box having a handle. Then as many plantain leaves as there
are queens to introduce are pulled and put in the box ready for use.
These leaves are for closing the entrance to each hive in which queens
are to be placed. Armed with the pipe before mentioned, all is in
readiness for introducing the queens. The feeder used at the top of the
hive is removed, a good dose of smoke is blown in among the bees and
combs. The feeder replaced until the stopper in the cage is removed, and
then the queen by a quick motion is thrown out and into the feeder hole.
Then the feeder is again quickly put in position, and no further
attention is given the bees.
I have introduced successfully as many as fifty virgin queens in thirty
minutes.
The art of introducing unfertile queens requires more experience to be
successful than it does to introduce fertile queens. In fact, one must
be very apt, possess a good deal of tact, and I can almost say, must be
very scientific. However, most any bee-keeper can learn how to perform
such work successfully. One may read how others do these things, but
practical knowledge, in order to know all the little details of such
intricate and delicate work as introducing queens can only be had by
long practice and experience. Just how much tobacco smoke to give the
bees when introducing a queen is a point that requires more or less
practice and good judgment.
I never have been so unfortunate as to give bees too much smoke at such
times. Am not certain that bees can be killed by tobacco smoke if they
can get fresh air soon after smoking them. The effect of the smoke soon
passes off and the bees resume a normal condition.
Bear in mind that unless the work of introducing queens by using tobacco
is done very late in the day, or on some cool day when bees cannot fly
very much, your apiary will be ruined, as robbing may be induced.
Tobacco smoke puts the bees in such a condition they cannot defend their
stores from robber bees, and once robbing is commenced among the small
nuclei it is almost impossible to stop it. Should such a thing happen it
would be necessary to remove the entire nuclei to a distant location.
INTRODUCING FERTILE QUEENS
It requires some experience and practice to introduce fertile queens.
Allow all full colonies to be queenless three days before giving them a
strange queen. Even a queen removed from a colony but twenty-fours, if
returned would be received as a strange queen. Now when the colony has
been queenless seventy-two hours, give the bees tobacco smoke and let
the queen in; or allow the bees to eat the candy-food out and liberate
her. The smoke from a cigar or pipe will do to introduce fertile queens,
but not virgin queens.
Never put a queen near the bees of a colony she is to be given to until
ready to introduce her. Many make this mistake. Toward dark is the time
to introduce queens whether or not tobacco is used. Certainly this has
been my experience.
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.
I once tried a “chew” of tobacco. Was on my way to school. In a short
time I didn’t care whether school kept or not, in fact, I hardly knew
anything about it I was so sick. That was my first and last “chew” of
tobacco. Now I imagine the bees feel somewhat in that way when they are
made sick by tobacco.
Bees cannot be killed by tobacco if they are given the air. The plantain
leaves by which the entrance hole is stopped is thrown out, or so
loosened before the next morning that the bees get all the air they
need. One passing by the hives in which queens were introduced the
previous evening cannot discover that such work was done by any
indications about the hive or bees.
OBJECTIONABLE DRONES; HOW TO CATCH AND DESTROY
If black bees, hybrid bees, or, in fact any bees that are to be used in
queen-rearing have undesirable drones among them they can be easily
caught and destroyed. The most effective way of doing this is when the
bees are put to work building queen-cells. My way of doing it is as
follows: At the time the hive for cell-building is prepared and is ready
to place over the bees as given on page 23, a metal division-board is
put on the box and then the hive containing the prepared strips, combs,
etc., is quickly placed on the metal. Nearly all the worker bees at once
go up into the box above, leaving the drones below.
[Illustration: Fig. 9]
[Illustration: Fig. 10]
In placing the bees on the stand it is not necessary to use smoke of any
kind. First, place a bottom-board in position and quietly raise the box
containing the bees, letting the rear end strike the bottom-board in
such a way that the combs will not be disturbed and gradually lowering
the hive so as not to crush any bees.
The box of drones may be so placed against the front end of the
bottom-board that all the young bees, if any are left in the box, may
run out, leaving the drones below the metal to perish.
Just such a frame as is used for the wire screen cover may be used to
nail the metal to, as the entire top of the box should be covered in
order to catch all the drones.
How to catch and destroy drones in full colonies will be explained under
the head of “Drone and Queen-traps.”
DESCRIPTION OF QUEEN-CELL FRAME
In my early experience in rearing queens I used combs in standard L
frames to attach the strips of comb containing the eggs for queen-cells.
While such an arrangement worked well in 3-frame nucleus colonies, there
are disadvantages in so doing when used in full colonies and by my
present system of queen-rearing; therefore I adopted the all-wood frame
and in combination with the wood-strips as shown in fig. 5 and it works
nicely.
[Illustration: Figure 11]
The frame is a standard L style into which are nailed two pieces of wood
A A. There are four notches cut in on the inner edges two inches a part,
into which the four pieces of wood are placed and are thus held firmly
in position.
By examining the queen-cells illustrated in fig. 5, it will be seen that
they are long and pointed, also very heavily waxed and corrugated. They
do not much resemble the row of queen-cells lately illustrated in one of
the bee-papers.
The heavy waxing and large, long cells are the strongest indications
that such cells contain very hardy and perfect queens. Fig. 9
illustrates a perfect queen-cell, while fig. 10 shows a queen-cell that
always contains inferior queens.
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.
The cells shown in fig. 5 were built in a powerful queenless colony late
in September, 1902, and were the last lot of cells built in my apiary
that season, consequently not as many cells were built as would have
been the case had the season not been quite so far advanced, yet the
number of cells are as many as the strongest colony of bees should be
allowed to build or finish up from the 24-hour cell-cups. The mistake
many queen-breeders make is in permitting one colony of bees to build so
many cells in one batch.
[Illustration: Figure 12]
A colony that has cast a swarm seldom leaves over eight or ten
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.
For instance, let us take up the way bees construct queen-cells when
left to do it in their way, or, in the natural way. Fig. 11 illustrates
how bees build queen-cells when they have their way in the matter. Now
how can cells built in that manner be cut out without destroying many of
them? It cannot be done. The cells are built in a cluster and all
fastened to each other. Some of them could be patched up as described on
another page, and many good queens would be reared. The very best queens
are produced by the cells built as shown in the cluster, nevertheless.
Fig. 12 illustrates the improved way of compelling bees to construct
queen-cells. It will be seen that all the seven cells can be separated
without destroying any of them when necessary to cut them out to place
in the nursery or in nuclei.
TRANSFERRING CELLS TO NUCLEI OR TO THE QUEEN-NURSERY
As queen-cells are now built so that they are easily cut out and
separated without destroying any of them, the work of transferring them
to nuclei or to the queen-nursery is not difficult, nor does it require
much time or labor to complete the work. Put all the cells in the
nursery and allow them to hatch and then after selecting the best queens
introduce them to nucleus colonies prepared as given on another page.
Sometimes there is difficulty in separating all the cells without
cutting into the side of a few of them. Excepting the time required to
patch them up, no great harm is done.
When the cells are ripe, and that is on the twelfth day from the day the
cells were started, remove from the hive, brush the bees from them and
at once take them into a warm room, providing the weather is cool, and
’tis most always cool in the months of May and June.
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 foundation,
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. 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. Doing light work and temporary use the tin pipe can be
made to work all right. As I am constantly working in my queen-rearing
apiary, I find tobacco smoke much the handiest, as well as the most
convenient.
I do not wish any reader to think I recommend the filthy weed because I
am a tobacco fiend. Although I have used the vile stuff in my apiary
more than forty years, I have not been able to acquire the tobacco
habit. So it will be seen that in order for me to use tobacco about my
bees, I must have some special device to burn the stuff in.
I devised the pipe illustrated in fig. 13 many years ago. Body of pipe
is about 6 inches long × ⅞ in. in diameter and made of tin. At each end
is a wooden stopper, one a mouth piece, the other has a ¼ in. tin tube
running through it and projecting about an inch beyond the wood through
which the smoke is directed among the bees.
[Illustration: Figure 13]
The pipe is filled with fine, dry tobacco, and is lighted by placing the
small tube in the mouth and puffing away the same as any old smoker does
when he puts fire to his old T. D. When the pipe is well fired up, the
mouth piece is put in and all that is needed to break up a town meeting
is to blow the breath through the pipe.
Full colonies of bees can be handled by using tobacco smoke, but they do
not take kindly to it, and sometimes resent the insult with a vengeance.
A good bellows smoker filled with dry, rotten wood is much the best
thing to use when opening a hive of bees. But in introducing queens and
light work, in the apiary, the tin pipe will be found very valuable. Of
course no one would think of using tobacco when extracting. In putting
up queens I find the pipe very handy. It is held between the teeth, the
cage in the left hand and the queen and bees handled with the right
hand, as both hands are at liberty. Well, how handy!
WHAT TO DO WITH SMALL NUCLEI IN THE FALL
If the queens are allowed to stay in the little hives late in the season
and long enough to fill the combs with brood, and the colonies are well
fed, there will be a fine lot of bees in the fall when all the queens
have been taken away, and they may be united and wintered in good
condition.
Make hives in two sections same as illustrated in fig. 8. These hives
are the same in every way as the little boxes excepting they are made to
take 13 combs instead of four combs. Use two sections in winter as this
gives sufficient capacity for wintering a large numbers of bees. In
three days after the queens are removed from the nuclei, they are in
condition to be safely united with little or no trouble. 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. Put in as
much brood as possible, placing it in the center of the hive.
Now the tobacco pipe described above comes in here pretty handily. Just
give each small colony a puff of smoke before starting them, and all the
bees and queen will at once adapt themselves to their new home. Few if
any bees will return to the old stand. Feed the newly formed colonies
about 20 lbs. syrup to which several pounds of good honey has been added
to prevent granulation.
[Illustration: Above illustration gives a partial view of the author’s
queen-rearing apiary. The person on the left is S. M. Locke, former
editor of the American Apiculturist; on the right is the author. This
photo was taken in the summer of 1882. There has been but little change
in my apiary since the picture was made.]
When cold weather sets in, put the colonies in the cellar. In the spring
when placed on the stand, put on outside cases, fix them up warm and if
need be feed more syrup, and my word for it, you will have some fine
colonies with which to form early nuclei when needed.
I had nuclei enough in the fall of 1892 to form 21 strong colonies of
the kind above mentioned.
TO GET DRONES AND PRESERVE THEM THE ENTIRE SEASON