BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
To secure the fertilization of queens, without having to form nuclei, has been a hobby of mine for years. By this I do not mean what is called "fertilization in confinement," as my faith in this has always been small, alto I have spent much time in this direction; and right here I wish to say, that I cannot help thinking that in all cases of success reported there must have been a mistake somewhere; else why could not such men as Prof. A. J. Cook, L. C. Root, and hosts of other practical bee-men, who have tried all of the plans ever given to the public, have had just one case of success? As nearly as I am able to learn, all who have reported success were either novices in the business or were those who conducted their experiments so loosely that there was a chance that their queens became fertilized by the ordinary way, at some time when the experimenter might have been found "napping." My hobby has been that of letting the queens fly out to meet the drones, the same as they always do, yet without despoiling colonies, by making nuclei to keep them in from the time they were hatch till they commenced to lay. My first plan was to take virgin queens from eight to ten days old, into the fields to places where I believed that drones congregated, by the loud roaring which I heard in high altitudes, between the hours of 1 and 3 o'clock p. m. I would then let them out of the wire-cloth cages which I had carried them in, leaving each one in a separate place, near some old stump or stone, from which they could mark the location of their cage. The queens would mark the place from which they went, the same as they would when coming from a hive, circling farther and farther, till lost from sight, some of them being gone a long time (longenough to meet a drone), when they would return and re-enter the cage, and if I was on hand they could be easily secured again; but I have to report only failure along this line. If allowed to do as they pleased, after returning they would fly out again and again, till they would finally go off, never to return.
My next plan was to take a very few young bees and a little piece of comb in these cages, but with this I was no more successful. Why no queen should ever come back under such circumstances, bearing the marks of fertilization, is more than I can understand, yet such has always been the case.
Through the suggestion of Mr. D. A. Jones, I next tried putting the queen over a hive of bees, keeping her in a double wire-cloth cage, the wire-cloth being so far apart that the bees from the hive below could not reach her, while an entrance was made from the cage to the outside of the hive through a tube. Here the queen would stay, with no apparent desire to go out, any more than she would if she were kept in a queen-nursery till she was too old to become fertilized.
I tried putting a few young bees and a little piece of brood in with them, but in a little while the queen, bees and all, would be gone, only to appear, perhaps, where they would do lots of damage by entering a hive having queen-cells in it, or one having a valuable queen. Then the ants were determined to reside with these isolated queens, as the few bees with them would not keep the ants away, so that, on the whole, the failure in this was even greater than the first, for all were eventually lost.
My next plan was to take the few sections from the hives, which I sometimes found with brood in them, taking bees and all, after which glass sides were put on so as to keep the bees from getting out. They were then carried to the bee-cellar, where they were left one day, when a queen was given them. They were then left till the queen was old enough to become fertilized, when they were put on a shelf on the inside of the shop, near a hole which had been made for them to go out through--a hole being cut through the section to match. In this way I succeeded in getting a number of laying queens; but as these were only nuclei on a very small scale, and as the bees bothered me by going out with the queen, the whole thus becoming lost, I gave it up as a thing not worthy of pursuing farther.
At about this time I saw in some of the bee-papers, that, by accident, a queen had become fertilized in an upper story of a hive workt for extracted honey, the same having a laying queen below, with a queen-excluding honeyboard between the upper and lower story, the queen having gone out to meet the drone through an opening which had been left between the upper hive and the queen-excluder. I was not long in seeing where my hobby might now be brought to the desired consummation, so I began experimenting.
I first tried to see if I could get a queen to laying in an upper story, the same as I had read about; so I put some brood "up-stairs," and the next day I gave a queen-cell nearly ready to hatch, the same as I would have done had it been a queenless colony or a nucleus.
In a day or two afterward, I examined the upper story, and found that the queen had hatch, and apparently as much at home as if she had been in any ordinary colony. In four days more I bored a three-fourths inch hole in the back part of this upper hive, which was left open till the queen commenced to lay, being about the usual time, taking queens as they average.
I expected that the bees would use this hole for an entrance, to some extent at least; but in this I was mistaken, for scarcely a bee was ever seen at the hole, alto a few came out on account of the disturbance when the hole was first put through.
This was late in the fall, but so confident was I of continued success that during the winter I prepared several hives, so that I could slide down a sheet of queen-excluding metal, three and one-half inches from either side, at any time that I wish during the next season. This space gave ample room for handling the two frames that it was designed to contain, manipulating them the same as I would in a nucleus hive.
When the season for tiering-up arrived, the next year, these hives were put on as upper stories, over queen-excluding honey-boards; and when the colonies became strong enough to fully occupy them, a frame having a little brood was substituted for one of the combs at each end, and the queen-excluding metal placed in the grooves made for it.
I now had in each end of these upper hives, one comb like the rest in the upper story, and one having some brood in it, to which the queen after hatching would be confined, while the bees were at liberty to roam over the whole of both stories of the hive at pleasure.
This is a singular freak, and one which I do not know how to account for; but I do know, that so far every virgin queen that has succeeded in getting from the upper story into the lower one has superseded the queen reigning there, whether that queen was young or old. Why they should think more of a virgin queen than of a laying one, under these circumstances, is the mystery; for in all other cases it is almost impossible to get a colony, having a laying queen, to accept of a virgin, as thousands of bee-keepers are ready to testify.
If it is desired to have more than two queens fertilized from one upper story, it can be done by making more queen apartments with the perforated-zinc, and inserting the cells so that they will hatch at different times, when, by keeping the buttons over the holes where the queens are too young to be fertilized, several can be allowed to go out on the back part of the hive, as they are ready to mate. If many upper stories are used in the apiary probably the plan as I have given it will yield all of the queens required, except for those doing a large business at queen-rearing.
These holes in the upper hive do not materially injure the same, for, if at any time they are wanted to be closed permanently, all we have to do is to cut some plugs of the right size, with a plug-cutter (such as is used by wagonmakers, in cutting plugs to put over the heads of screws), and put them in the holes, when one or two coats of paint will make the hive as good as ever.
By using the above plan, nuclei never need be formed, except by those who want to rear early queens for market, or by those who rear queens by the thousand for sale; in which case more or less nuclei would doubtless have to be made; for we could not get our colonies strong enough for the upper stories, very early in the season, and unless the apiary was a very large one there might be a limit to the upper stories in which to have queens fertilized.
I think no one will deny that the plan as given in this book, of rearing queens at pleasure, and having them fertilized in the same hive with a laying queen, is quite a step in advance of what we were 25 years ago, in this part of our beloved pursuit. The doing of this, without in the least interfering with the working of any colony, must, it seems to me, commend itself to every apiarist.
## Chapter 23.
### 23.1.
In all of the work of queen-rearing it is essential, if we would produce good queens, to feed the queen-rearing colonies when honey is not coming in from the fields, whether the queens are reared in upper stories or in queenless colonies; even where a frame of prepared cells is placed in a colony which is preparing to swarm (as I frequently do in the swarming season, when conducting new experiments), the bees will do nothing with them, unless they are getting sweets from some source.
Many, undoubtedly, have bee-feeders of their own which they think work well, and no doubt they do in general feeding, for at such times almost any feeder will answer; but for feeding during queen-rearing I am satisfied that there is no feeder that will compare with the division-board feeder, after having tried nearly. every feeder in use. By using this feeder, the food is near the bees, being in the same department with them, and in such way that where even small nuclei are fed there is no more danger of robring than there would be were so much stores in the comb placed in the hive.
The engraving on page 28 represents one of the division-board bee-feeders now in use, but I prefer one made as follows:
Make a frame, just as you would make one of the frames for a hive, except that for the bottom-bar you are to use a piece of wood one inch thick, and of the same width as the side-bars. In making this feeder, it will be enough better to pay, if the joints are put together with white lead; for, by so doing, there is no danger of its ever leaking.
Having the frame made, nail on each side (nalling quite thickly with wire-nails three-fourths of an inch in length) a piece of one-eighth inch stuff, as wide as the frame is deep,lacking three-fourths of an inch. Having this nailed on, take off the top-bar (which should have been only slightly nailed on at first), and slip down in the centre of the feeder a side-bar of a frame, having previously bored some holes through it, so that the food may flow freely from the side where it is poured, into the opposite side, through this centre-piece. Now nail through the side of the feeder to this side-bar, thus fastening the thin sides to it, so that, should you ever wish to entirely fill the feeder, when doing rapid feeding, the sides would not spring out against the combs.
Next, heat some wax or paraffine quite hot (paraffine is preferred), so that it will penetrate the wood thoroughly, and pour it into the feeder till the same is nearly full, allowing it to remain for about one minute. By this time it will begin to come through the thin sides, thus showing when it should be poured out. In this way, the wood is so filled with paraffine, or wax, that the feeder will never soak up the food so as to become sour. After pouring out the paraffine, when the feeder becomes cold, nail on the top-bar, which should have a hole (of the right size to fit the funnel that you may have) bored through it near one end, to place the funnel in when pouring in the feed.
Now hang the feeder in the hive the same as you would any frame, only let it be next to one side or the other of the hive, touching the same, so that the bees cannot go on the rear side of it. Here it can be always left, unless you want it out, for some reason. The reason for placing it close to the side of the hive is, that less heat will be wasted in this way than otherwise, and that the bees will have no loafing-place behind it, should you ever want to leave it in full colonies.
Whatever is used to cover the hive (whether honey-board enameled cloth, or a quilt), should have a hole in it to match the hole in the feeder. I prefer to use enameled-cloth, as it is always removed easily, during the many manipulations which must be performed, with any colony that is rearing queens. Then all we have to do to feed, when such cloth is used, is to cut a slit in it over the hole in the top-bar of the feeder, through which the end of the funnel can be inserted. When the funnel is removed, the hole closes up so as to exclude all bees, besides keeping the warmth in, which is also quite an advantage. If a honey-board is used, then a little block must be provided to place over the hole.
In feeding, I use a common watering-pot, minus the "rose" (such as is used in watering plants), to carry the * [15] J. M. C. Collins, and R. J. C. Collins, "The \(\ell\)-\(\ell\)-\(\ell\) transition in the \(\ell\)-\(\ell\) transition", _Phys. Rev. Lett._**108**, 120801 (2008).
give $500 for a plan by which I could mate the queens that I rear, to selected drones as I wish, and do this with the same ease and assurance that our other work about the apiary is carried on. As we cannot as yet, do this, I find that the next best thing that I can do, is to set apart two or three of my very best queens for drone-rearing, causing them, as far as may be, to rear all of the drones in the apiary. I do this by giving these colonies a large amount of drone-comb, and keeping up their strength, if need be, by giving them worker-broad from other colonies. The other colonies are largely kept from rearing drones, by allowing only worker-combs in their hives, and by giving them a comb of drone-brood occasionally from one of the colonies rearing drones, just when they want drones the most; for if this is not done, they will have drones anyway, even if they have to tear down worker-comb to build such as is needed to rear them in. As soon as the major part of the drones from this comb have hatch, it is taken away, before the inferior drone-brood (if any is placed in the comb) has time to mature. In this way I get all the drones reared from my best queens, and only fail in not being able to sort out the weak and feeble ones, or, in not being able to select the most robust drones for the queens. To be sure, we can use the drone-traps now before the public, to keep the drones of the poorer colonies from flying; but to me, this causes more work and more disturbance with the bees than the plan outlined. Again, the rearing of drones causes a great consumption of honey, and it seems foolish to be wasting honey in rearing drones only for the sake of killing them after we have them reared. Beside knowing how to rear mostly good drones, we want to know how to get them early in the spring. This is something not often spoken of, but it is one of the things which must be done by the queen-rearer who would please his customers. To do this, I place drone-comb in the centre of the hives having my drone-rearing queens, doing this in the fall, so that whenever the bees have any desire for drones, such comb will be handy for the queen. If these colonies are not very strong in the spring, I make them so by giving hatching brood from other colonies till they are running over with bees, while in addition to this I often insert a drone-comb full of honey, right in the centre of the brood-nest; for in the removing of a part of all this honey, the bees coax the queen to lay in this drone-comb to a degree that otherwise could not be attained.
* [78] In this way I usually succeed in getting drones from one to three weeks earlier than I otherwise would. To keep drones late in the fall, I make a strong colony queenless at the close of the honey-harvest, and in this colony I put all of the drone-brood that I can find in my drone-rearing colonies at this time. As much of this brood is in the egg and larval form, when given to the queenless colony, I have them hatching after all the other drones are killed off, for queenless colonies which are strong are very choice of drone-brood. In this way I generally have a hive full of nice drones as late as I desire to rear queens, keeping them frequently into October. As soon as I am through with such drones, I introduce a queen to the colony, when the bees will destroy them at once, if feeding is withheld. I always feed a colony keeping drones when honey is not coming in, for they need much food to make them fly freely, and that is what we want them to do on every warm day at that season of the year. One other item that I wish to notice at some length, before closing this chapter on drones, is this: From the fact that worker-bees can lay eggs that will hatch drones, and that virgin queens can also lay eggs which will also produce drones, the theory has obtained very largely among bee-keepers that the drones from a fertile queen must of necessity be of the same blood as they would have been had this queen produced drones before she was fertilized. In nearly every book written on bees, that I have read, where this subject is toucht upon, we find words to the effect that, "a pure queen, however mated, must produce a pure drone of her own variety." Mr. Alley's "Queen-Rearing" is an exception to this, I am happy to note. Now I am not prepared to say how, nor wherein, the drones are changed by the mating of the queen; but this I do know, that drones are contaminated, to a certain extent, by the mating of a queen of one blood with a drone of another blood. Any one can prove this, for in four generations, by mating the queen each time to these pure (?) drones, a bee can be produced which no man can tell from a hybrid. That this contamination does not show in the first cross, is the reason, I believe, that the theory has been accepted, by nearly all, as the truth. To illustrate: Take a pure black queen, and after she has mated with a fine, yellow Italian drone, let her rear all of the drones produced in an apiary containing only black bees. Of course, the drones from this queen will all be black to look at, the same as they would have been had she mated with a drone of the same blood as herself. Now
* [75]**DOUBLE ON QUEN REARING.****75**
**scientific breeder of queens, if he could select just the drone he wanted, and then have a valuable virgin queen mated with that drone. In this way we could accomplish as much in securing the "coming bee," in two years, as we now accomplish in a life-time.**
**Let no one be longer deceived about pure drones from a mismated queen; for if such drones are allowed to fly in your yard you cannot expect any satisfactory degree of purity from queens reared therein. I have been forced to this conclusion by many carefully-conducted experiments, as already described.**
**CHAPTER XVI.****.**
**TER INTRODUCTION OF QUENS.******
**Perhaps there is no one subject connected with bee-keeping that has received so much notice in our bee-papers and elsewhere, as has the introduction of queens; yet all who have read the methods and discussions given, must have plainly seen that success does not always attend the efforts in this direction. On the contrary, many losses have been reported, and these losses are not confined to the inexperienced altogether, for we often hear of our most practical apiarists occasionally losing a queen.**
**The reason for so many losses, it seems to me, arises from the fact that bee-keepers in general do not understand that a discrimination should be made between queens taken from one hive and placed in another, and those which have come long distances by mail or express. In introducing queens, it should always be borne in mind that a queen taken from one hive in the apiary, and introducing into another, does not require one-half the care that must be given to a queen coming from a distance. The reason for this seems to be, that a queen taken from a hive in the same yard, is still heavy with eggs, and will not run around, provoking the bees to chase her, as will a queen after having had a long journey.**
**In introducing all ordinary queens coming from my own apiary, I generally adopt one of the two following plans:**
To introduce a queen that has come to me from abroad, or one which I consider of more than ordinary value from my own apiary, I proceed as.follows: First, I take the cage containing the queen and her escort of bees to the little room where I handle queen-cells, and open the cage before the window, so that if the queen takes wing she will not be lost. I then catch the queen and clip her wings (as given in the chapter on that subject), when she is placed in a round, wire-cloth cage; but I allow none of her escort to go with her, as I consider such bees when left with a queen one of the prime causes of the many losses which occur to the purchaser of queens.
Having the queen's wings clip, and in the cage, I next take a piece of wire-cloth, containing 14 to 16 meshes to the inch, and cut it four-and-one-half by eight-and-one-half inches in size. Now cut a piece three-fourths of an inch square out of each corner, and bend the four sides at right angles, so as to make a box, as it were, three inches wide by seven inches long, and three-fourths of an inch deep. Next, unravel the edges down one-half way, so that the points can be pressed into the combs, and if the corners do not stay together as they should, they can be sewed together with one of the wires which were unraveled (Fig. 5, page 35).
Having the cage ready, and the queen to be introduced, in your pocket, proceed to look for the queen to be replaced. and after removing her, examine the combs until you find one from which the bees are just hatching, or where you can see them gnawing at the cappings of the cells, which comb should also have some honey along the top-bar of the frame above the hatching brood.
Now shake and brush every bee off this comb, and place on it the queen that you have in your pocket, by putting the open end of the cage near the comb over some cells of unsealed honey, when she will go to the comb, and as soon as she comes to the honey she will begin eating. While she is doing this, put the large cage over her and the hatching brood, as you wish, taking all of the time that is need ed, for as long as she continues eating she will not go away, nor be disturbed by any of your motions.
Having honey in the cage is necessary, for the bees outside of the cage cannot be depended upon to feed a queen when she is being introduced. Some claim that if the cage is made of wire-cloth having large meshes, the bees will feed them; but after losing many queens by depending upon the bees to care for them, I say always provision your introducing-cage in some way, so that the queen is not dependent upon the bees for her food while in the cage.
Even when keeping queens in the queen-nursery, where placed in queenless colonies, I find that the bees often refuse to feed them; so I now provision all cages of all kinds, notwithstanding the claim put forth by some of our best bee-keepers that several caged fertile queens will be fed by a colony having a laying queen, if they are put between the combs in a hive having such, for safe keeping. Finding a whole queen-nursery full of dead queens, after trusting them to the care of a colony of bees having a laying queen, is generally more convincing than many words given in support of an untruthful theory.
But to return: Fit the cage so that it comes over three or four square inches of honey, and as much of the hatching brood as possible; for these hatching bees have much to do with the speedy introduction of the queen. Having all fixed, leave the hive from 12 to 48 hours, according as your other work will allow you, when the hive is to be opened and the cage examined.