BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
**194**. The worker-larvae are fed with milky food for three days, and with coarse food for the three following days. Not only does this coarse food change their organism, but it retards their growth, since the queens are mature in sixteen days, from the time that the eye is laid (**197**), while the workers do not hatch before twenty-one days, on average. Thus the three days of coarse food have prolonged the growth five days, or in other words, each day of coarse feeding has delayed the maturity forty hours. Therefore, if we suppose that bees could, and would use, larvae four and one-half days old, queens thus produced would hatch two and one-half days later than those raised from larvae three days old. They would consequently hatch in eleven and one-half days instead of ten as usual.
**495.** If some Apiarists have noticed that their best queens were reared during the swarming fever (**155**), it is because the colonies are then in the best conditions to produce healthy queens. They have pollen and honey in abundance; as they are numerous, they keep the combs very warm; and, in addition, they have a large number of young bees, or nurses, to take care of the larvae.
**496.** The following accidental experiment has proved to us that most of the old workers are unable to aet as nurses. Years ago, one of our neighbors moved three colonies of bees about half a mile, in the Sunner, without taking proper precautions; we were informed the next day, that quite a number of the oldest bees had returned, and had clustered under an old table. We brought a hive there, with a comb containing eggs and young larvae. They took possession of it, but neglected to raise a queen, and soon dwindled away.
**497.** By placing the colonies, intended to raise queens, in the same condition as to food, heat, and nursing, as during the swarming fever, we will raise as good queens as are then raised. If, to these conditions, we add the selection of brood, from our best queens, we will greatly improve the quality of our stoek.
For many years, we have used all the precautions described above, and, although our queens have never been reared from the egg, they are very prolific and long-lived. Using hives with ten or eleven large frames, we are enabled to ascertain, beyond doubt, the prolifeness of our queens. Our preventing swarming (**159**) enables us also to reekon their longevity.
**498.** The interposition of the Apiarist, in queen-rearing, may be necessary.
_1st._ To supply the loss of a queen in a colony that has not the means of raising another.
_2d._ To breed a superior raee of bees, or improve the present stoek.
_3d._ To provide for the artificial increase of colonies.
We will study the rearing of queens, in view of these requirements.
Loss of the Queen.
**499.** That the queen-bee is often lost, and that her colony will be ruined unless such a calamity is seasonably remedied, ought to be familiar facets to every bee-keeper.
Queens sometimes die of disease, or old age, when there is no brood to supply their loss. Few, however, perish under such circumstances; for, either the bees build royal cells, aware of their approaching end, or they die so suddenly as to leave young brood behind them. Queens are not only much longer-lived (**157**) than the workers, but are usually the last to perish in any fatal casualty. As many die of old age, if their death does not occur under favorable circumstances. it would cause, yearly, the loss of a very large number of colonies. As they seldom die when their strength is not severely taxed in breeding, drones are usually on hand to impregnate their successors.
**500.** Young queens are sometimes born with wings so imperfect that they cannot fly; and they may be so injured in their contests with each other, or by the rude treatment they receive when driven from the royal-cells, that they cannot leave the hive for impregnation (**123**).
**501.**_More queens, whose loss cannot be supplied by the bees, perish when they leave the hive to meet the drones, than in all other ways._ After the departure of the first swarm, the mother-colony and all the after-swarms have young queens which must leave the hive for impregnation; _their larger size and slower flight_ make them a more tempting prey to birds, while others are dashed, by sudden gusts of wind, against some hard object, or blown into the water; for, with all their queenly digitiy, they are not exempt from nishaps common to the humblest of their race.
**502.**_In spite of their caution to mark the position and appearance of their habitation, the young queens frequently make a fatal mistake, and are destroyed, when attempting to enter the wrong hive._
This accounts for the fact that ignorant bee-keepers, with forlorlorn and rickety hives, no two of which look just alike, are sometimes more successful than those whose hives are of the best construction. The former\(-\)unless their hives are excessively crowded\(-\)lose but few queens, while the latter lose them in almost exaet proportion to the taste and skill which induced them to make their lives of _uniform size, shape_ and _color_ (**356**).**
**503.** We first learned the full extent of the danger of crowded apiaries, in the Summer of 1854. To protect our hives against extremes of heat and cold, they were ranged, side by side, over a trench, so that, through ventilators in their bottom-boards, they might receive, in Summer, a cooler, and in Winter, a much warmer air, than the external atmosphere. By this arrangement\(-\)which failed entirely to answer its design\(-\)many of our colonies became queenless, and we soon ascertained under what circumstances young queens are ordinarily lost.
From the great uniformity of the hives in size, shape, color, and height, it was next to impossible for a young queen to be sure of returning to her hive. The difficulty was increased, from the fact that the ground before the trench was free from bushes or trees, and no hive\(-\)except the two end ones, which did not lose their queens\(-\)could have its location remembered, from its relative position to some external object. Most of the hives thus placed, which had young queens, became queenless, although supplied with other queens, again and again; and many, even of the workers, were constantly entering hives adjoining their own.
**504.** If a traveler should be carried, in a dark night, to a hotel in a strange city, and on rising in the morning, should find the streets filled with buildings precisely iike it, he would be able to return to his proper place, only by previously ascertaining its number, or by counting the houses between it and the corner. Such a numbering faculty, however, was not given to the queen-bee; for who, in a state of nature, ever saw a dozen or more hollow trees or other places frequented by bees, standing close together, precisely alike in size, shape, and color, with their entrances all facing the same way, and at exactly the same height from the ground?
On describing to a friend our observations on the loss of queens, he told us that in the management of his hens, he had fallen into a somewhat similar mistake. To economize room, and to give easier access to his setting hens, he had partitioned a long box into a dozen or more separate apartments. The hens, in returning to their nests, were deceived by the similarity of the entrances, so that often one box contained two or three unamiable aspirants for the honors of maternity, while others were entirely forsaken. Many eggs were broken, more were added, and hardly enough hatched to establish one mother as the happy mistress of a flourishing family. Had he left his hens to their own instinets, they would have scattered their nests, and gladdened his eyes with a numerous offspring.
Every bee-keeper, whose lives are so arranged that the young queens are liable to make mistakes, must count upon heavy losses. If he puts a number of hives, under circumstances similar to those described, upon a bench, or the shelves of a bee-house, he can never keep their number good without constant renewal.
**505.** The bees are sometimes so excessively agitated when their queen leaves for impregnation (**120**), that they exhibit all the appearance of swarming. They seem to have an instineting perception of the dangers which await her, and we have known them to gather around her and confine her, as though they could not bear to have her leave. If a queen is lost on her wedding excursion, the bees of an old colony will gradually decline; those of an after-swarm, will either unite with another hive, or dwindle away (**1S2**).
**506.** It would be interesting, could we learn how bees become informed of the loss of their queen. When she is taken from them under circumstances that excite the whole e colony, we can easily see how they find it out; for, as a tender mother, in time of dauger, is all anxiety for her helpless children, so bees, when alarmed, always seek first to assure themselves of the safety of their queen. If, however, the queen is very carefully removed, several hours may elapse before they realize their loss. How do they first become aware of it! Perhaps some dutiful bee, anxious to embrace her mother, makes diligent seareh for her through the hive. The intelligence that she cannot be found being noised abroad, the whole family is speedily alarmed. At such times, instead of calmly conversing, by touching each other's antennae, they may be seen violently striking them together, and by the most impassioned demonstrations manifesting their agony and despair.
We once removed the queen of a small colony, the bees of which took wing and filled the air, in search of her. Although she was returned in a few minutes, royal-cells were found two days later. The queen was unhart, and the cells untenanted. Was this work begun by some that did not believe the others, when assured that she was safe? or from the apprehension that she might be removed again?
**507.** As soon as the bees begin to fly briskly in the Spring, a colony which does not industriously gather pollen, or accept of flour (**267**), is almost certain to have no queen, or one that is not fertile--unless it is on the eve of perishing from starvation.
A colony is sure to be queenless, if, after taking its first Spring-flight, the bees, by roaming, in an enquiring manner in and out of the hive show that some great calamity has befallen them. Those that eone from the fields, instead of entering the hive with that dispatchful haste so characteristic of a bee returning, well loaded, to a prosperons home, usually linger about the entrance with an idie and dissatisfied appearance, and the colony is restless, late in the day, when others are quiet. Their home, like that of a man who is eursed in his domestic relations, is a melanicholy place, and they enter it only with reluctant and slow-moving steps.
**508.** And here, if permitted to address a word of friendly advice, we would say to every wife--Do all that you can to make your husband's house a place of attraction. When absent from it, let his heart glow at the thought of returning to its dear enjoyments; as he approaches it, let his countenance involuntarily assume a more cheerful expression, while his joy-quiekened steps proclaim that he feels that there is no place like the cheerful house where his chosen wife and companion presides as its happy and honored Queen.
"The tenth and last species of women were made out of a bee; and happy is the man who gets such a one for his wife. She is full of virtue and prudence, and is the best wife that Jupiter can bestow."-->spectator, No. 209.
**509.** The neglect of a colony to expel drones (**192**), when they are destroyed in other hives, is always a suspicious sign, and generally an indication either that it has no queen, or else a drone-laying one (**134**), or drone-laying workers (**176**). A colony, in these circumstances, will not even destroy the drones of other hives, which may come to it, until a healthy queen has been raised in the hive, and is fertilized, and laying worker-eggs.
**510.** In opening a queenless hive, the planitive hum of the bees, the listens and intermittent vibrating of their wings, and the total lack of ears, or young worker brood, tell their condition.
A comb, with hatching bees," should be given to it from a stronger colony, together with another comb, of eggs and larvae, from the best colony in the apinary; and the number of its combs should be reduced to suit the size of the cluster.
A better way yet to supply the loss, is to give the colony a queen-cell (**103**) or a young queen raised in the manner to be now described.
## Rearing Improved Races.
**511**. We will show (**550**) that some races of bees are superior to others. Even in the same apiary, some colonies are better than others, in prolifiness, honey-gathering, endurance, gentleness, etc. It is very important to improve the apiary by rearing queens from the best breeds, for the increase of colonies, as well as to replace the inferior ones.
To this end, the bee-keeper should select two or more of the best colonies in his apiary, one for the production of drones, the others for the production of queens. Italian (**551**) bees are universally preferred; and as they are now almost as easily found as common bees, and are very cheap, we advise the novice to begin with at least two queens of this race.
A slight mixture of Cyprian or Syrian (**559**) blood is good, provided the issue be gentle and peaceable. Hybrids of common bees and Italians are often inferior, both in quality and disposition, and their characteristics are not fixed.
**512**. In selecting a colony for drone production, the color and size of the drones should not be considered so much, as the prolifiness of its queen, and the qualities of its workers, unless you wish to breed for beauty, in preference to honey-production.
Place two drone-combs (**224**) in the center of the brood-chamber of this colony, as soon as it has reeuperated from its winter losses. If the colony is kept well supplied with honey, enough drones will be raised to impregnate all the queens in the neighborhood; otherwise, they might destroy these early drones after having raised them.
If our directions on the removal of.drone-comb (**675**) are followed, but few drones will be raised outside of those colonies specially intended for drone-breeding. As soon as they begin to hatch, we may make preparations for queen-rearing, the best time being at the opening of fruit-blossons. Some queen-breeders begin earlier, but early breeding gives much trouble and little pay, and our advice to Northern Apiarists, who want early queens, is to buy them from some reliable Southern Apiarist, as they can be raised earlier in the South, much more cheaply than in the North.
**513.** In an apiary composed of several colonies, there are always some which are not expected to yield much crop, either because their queens are old, or because they are not prolific. Sueh queens are of very little value, and should be replaced. Select one of these colonies--not the poorest, _unless it is populous enough to raise good queens._ Kill its queen, and exchange its brood-eombs, after having brushed the bees off, for a less number of combs, containing eggs and larvae, from your best queen. It may be well to feed the colonies containing the select queens beforehand, so as to incite the laying of eggs (**15**-**1**) and nursing of the brood.
**514.** If you desire to raise queens from eggs (**490**), or larvae just hatehing, prepare for it, by giving your select colony some frames of dry comb, or comb foundation, (**67**-**1**) a few days ahead, for the queen to lay in. In this case, only those combs that contain eggs and young larvae should be given to the queenless colony. It is always better to give but a small number of brood-combs to the colony intended for queen-raising, and to reduce its space with the division-board (**3**-**19**); as they can best keep it warm, in this manner, and raise better queens.
We should bear in mind that the nearer we get the colony that raises queens to the condition of a hive preparing to swarm, the better the queens will be. In a word, the hive in which queens are reared must be well supplied with bees, brood and honey, so the young queens may be well fed and kept warm.
**515.** The largest number of queen-cells can be obtained by cutting holes into the combs under the cells containing young larvae or eggs, and feeding the bees plentifully. Some Apiarists hold that, by leaving them without brood of any kind for a few hours, they will raise more cells afterwards.
**516.** Nine days after the furnishing of the brood to the queenless colony, count the number of queen-cells raised, remembering that one has to be left to the colony that raised them. On the same day, make swarms, (**175**) or _nuclei_, (**322**) or destroy worthless queens (**155**) which you desire to replace next day.
**517.** The next day, with a sharp penknife, carefully remove a piece of eomb, an inch or more square, that contains a queen-eell (Fig. 100), and in one of the brood combs of the hive to which this cell is to be given, cut a place just large enough to receive and hold it in a natural position. (Fig. 101.)
Each queenless stock can thus,be supplied with a queen, ready to hatch, from the best breeding mother.
Unless _very_ great care is used in transferring a royal cell, its innate will be destroyed, as her body, until she is nearly mature, is so exceedingly soft, that a slight compression of her cell--especially near the base, where there is no coeon--generally proves fatal. For this reason, it is best to defer removing them, until they are within three or four days of hatching. A queen-eell, nearly mature, may be known by its having the wax removed from the lid, by the bees, so as to give it a _brown_ appearance.
**518.** If the weather is warm, and the hive, to which a queen-cell is given, is very populous, the cell may be introduced by simply inserting it in its natural position between two combs of brood. _It is very important to have the qaccum-cell in or near the brood, or the bees might neglect it._
Sometimes, the bees so crowd they royal cells together his method, given further on (**52S**), found a remedy for this. If many queens are to be raised, it is well to have a new supply of cells started every week or even oftener.
**519.**\(\lambda\) day or two after introducing the queen-cells, the Apiarist can ascertain, by examination, whether they have been accepted. If they have not been accepted, the cells will be found torn open, on the side (fig. 103), instead of on the end, and the colonies will have begun queen-cells of their own brood. These queen-cells must be destroyed and replaced by others from the next supply. In removing them, the greatest care should be taken not to pass the deceptive queen-cells, if any are there (fig. 101), which, although less apparent, would disappoint the end in view.
**520.** When queens are raised ahead of time for artificial increase, italianizing, or for sale, it is more profitable to use _nuclei_ instead of full colonies to hatch these queens. The word nuclei (plural of _nucleus_), from the Latin _nucleus_ a nut, a kernel, was first applied by Mr. Langstroth to diminutive colonies of bees. This term is now universally adopted on both continents.
**521.** When we were raising queens for sale, we had contrived \(a\), hatched cell; b, sealed cell; a divisible frame (figs. 104-105) to \(c\), rudimentary cell; \(d\), cell make these _nuclei_ of combs taken from full colonies. Our combs could be thus separated in two, and used in smaller hives, and in the Fall, these same combswere returned to the full colonies. Two small frames are more advantageous than one large frame, as they give more compactness to the cluster.
Besides, these small colonies can be built up easily afterwards \(\eta\) coupling the frames, and uniting the combs of 3 or 4 nuclei into one large hive.
It is not necessary to have many of these frames in an apiary, as a few are sufficient to make a number of nuclei, if they are placed in the centre of full colonies early in Spring.
Two frames thus made from one standard Langstroh frame measure about \(8^{1}\).\({}_{-}\) by \(8^{1}\).\({}_{2}\) inches each, a very convenient size for nucleus frames.
In the Fall, a number of nuclei may be united, in a full sized live, on their own limbs by this method.
**522**. To make a nucleus, take from a colony, as late in the afternoon as there is light enough to do it, a comb containing worker-eggs, and bees just gnawing out of their cells, and put it, with the mature bees that are on it, into an empty hive. If there are not bees enough adhering to it, to prevent the brood from being chilled during the night, more must be shaken into the hive from other combs. If the transfer is made so late in the day that the bees are not disposed to leave the hive, enough may have hatehed, by non-ing, to supply the place of those which will return to the parent stock.
**523**. In every case, when a swarm has left its hive for another quarter, each bee, as she sallies out, flies with her head turned towards it, that by marking the surrounding objects, she may find her way back. If, however, the bees did not enigmate of their _own free will,_ most of them appearing to forget, or not knowing, that their location has been changed, return to their familiar spot; for it would seem that,
"A 'bee removed' against her will,
Should the Apiarist, ignorant of this fact, place the nucleus on a new stand without providing it with a sufficient number of young bees, it would lose so many of the bees which ought to be retained in it, that most of its unsealed brood would perish from neglect.
If the comb used in foreign such a _nucleus_ was removed at a time of day when the bees would be likely to return to the parent stock, they should be confined to the hive, until it is too late for them to leave; and if the number of bees, just emerging from their cells, is not large, the entrance to the hive should be closed, until about an hour before sunset of the next day but one. The hive containing this small colony, should be properly ventilated, and shaded\(-\)if thin\(-\) from the intense heat of the sum; it should always be well supplied with honey. The space unoccupied in the hive should be separated from the nucleus by a division board (**319**).
**524.** Beginners must remember that it is better to have these small nuelei strong with bees; but, in giving them young bees, care should be taken not to give them the queen. If a nueleus is made at mid-day, nearly all the bees given to it will be young bees, as the old bees are then in the field.*
The best manner to add young bees from strange colonies to weak nuclei, is to shake or brush then, on the apron board in front of the entrance, as is done in swarming (**428**). \(\dagger\)
**525**. Hives, or nuelei in which queen-cells are to be introduced, should be aware of their queenless condition before a queen-cell is given them. Hence the neeessity of preparing them \(\stackrel{{\mbox{\scriptsize\it 2}}}{{\mbox{\scriptsize\it 4}}}\) hours previous.
**526.** A vigilant eye should be kept upon every colony that has not an impregnated queen; and when its queen is about a week old it should be examined, and if she has become fertile, she will usually be found supplying one of the central eombs with eggs. If neither queen nor eggs can be found, and there are no certain indications that she is lost, the hive should be examined a few days later, for some queens are longer in becoming impregnated than others, and it is often difficult to find an unimpregnated one, on account of her adroit way of hiding among the bees.
As soon as the young queen lays, she may be introduced to a queenless colony, or sold, and if queen-cells are kept on hand, another one can be given to the nueleus the next day. Thus, nuelei may be made to raise two queens or more in a month.
**527.** If the queens are to be multiplied rapidly, the nuclei must never be allowed to become too much reduced in numbers, or to be destitute of brood or honey. With these precautions, the oftener their queen is taken from them, the more intent they will usually become in supplying her loss.