BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
The beekeeper, who is intent on bettering his stock, finds it much simpler to replace his poor stock with a better grade than does the farmer who has a herd of scrub cattle or sheep. Simply replacing the queens in his colonies shortly has the effect of changing the entire stock in the apiary, since the workers are short lived. If he is not inclined to buy enough queens to replace the poorer ones in all his hives, he can very shortly rear enough on his own account to do so, if he will give the matter a little attention. If he buys even one good queen, he can shortly improve the entire stock of an apiary of one hundred or more colonies. To do this he should rear as many young queens as there are colonies in his apiary, and use them to replace the old and inferior queens. If he does this early in the season, he need give little thought to the mating of his young queens. If the mother from which he rears his stock is pure, all the young queens will be pure. To be sure, most of them will be mated with inferior drones, but it is a well known fact that it is only the female offspring that are affected by the mating of a queen. If her mother is purely mated, all her drones will be pure, regardless of her own mating. Within a few weeks there will be thousands of pure drones, the offspring of the young queens that have been introduced. The beekeeper should then rear a second lot of queens from a pure mother to replace all the mismatched ones which were introduced early in the season. By this time, most of the drones present will be pure, and the second lot of queens will mostly be purely mated. It is thus a simple matter to replace the entire stock of a neighborhood with pure bees from the offspring of a single pure queen.
### Desirable Traits in Breeding Stock
No queen should be used as a breeder unless she is prolific, since this is of the first importance in determining the amount of honey stored. However, it is not always the most prolific colonies which store the most honey. Longevity of the bees is an important consideration, and quite possibly the difference in length of the tongues of the workers may have an important influence. It often happens that in a poor season a single colony will store a good crop, when others equally strong will get but little, or even require to be fed. The author had one such colony which made a remarkable showing for three successive seasons. The difference in production was so marked that most of the young queens reared were from this queen. A measurement of the length of the tongues of her workers showed that they possessed a slightly longer tongue than others in the apiary, or even other apiaries where measurements were made in comparison. Increased length of the tongues of the workers would place much nectar within their reach, which would otherwise be denied them. It is well worth while to have careful measurements of tongues of all colonies which make unusual showing, under adverse conditions.
In general, the breeder selects queens for breeding from colonies which store the most surplus, with little enquiry as to the particular reason therefor. Since honey is the principal desideratum of the beekeeper, he is not so much concerned in the reason why a special colony stores more, as he is in finding the particular colony.
Next to production, gentleness is a most important characteristic. It is very disagreeable to have bees that meet one half way to begin the day's work, and follow one about constantly. The fear of stings is the principal objection to beekeeping on the part of many people. While stings can largely be prevented by suitable protection in the way of veils and gloves, it is far better to select gentle stocks for breeding purposes. Where only the gentle colonies are selected for breeding stock, it is possible to very largely reduce the annoyance of stinging.
It would seem to be possible to select gentle colonies which are also good producers, and, at the same time, have other desirable characteristics.
Color should be a secondary consideration, although it is desirable to have bees nicely marked. For a time, so much attention was paid to color on the part of breeders of Italians, that everything else was sacrificed in order to get yellow bees. This was carried to such an extreme that a very general prejudice has grown up against the Goldens. While it is quite true that some strains of the Goldens are not desirable, being neither hardy nor good honey gatherers, there are strains where proper attention has been given to other points, which are very satisfactory. In general, the Goldens have a bad reputation for being ugly in disposition, yet at least one strain of Goldens is very gentle. Very much depends upon the queen breeder, and the care he uses in selecting his breeding stock. Some breeders go so far as never to use a queen for a breeder, unless the colony can be handled under normal conditions without smoke.
The non-swarming propensity is also to be favored. In many localities the honeyflows are short, and, if the colony swarms at the beginning of the flow, there is little chance of harvesting a good crop. Too much care cannot be used in selecting the colonies to use for breeders. Much more attention is given to selecting the queen from whose offspring the young queens are to be reared, than is given to the parentage of the drones. The confession must be made that few breeders give any special attention to this point, although it is equally as important as far as practical results are concerned.
### Control of Drones.
Since the queen is mated on the wing, and there is always the possibility that the young queen will meet an inferior drone from a distance, it is highly important that a queen breeder go to a good deal of trouble to insure that all bees within a radius of five miles of his breeding yards are requeened with pure stock of the race which he is breeding. Unless he takes this precaution, there will be much dissatisfaction on the part of his customers from receiving mismatched queens.
If a breeder is so fortunate as to be within reach of a suitable place to establish a mating station where no other bees are within reach, he can do much to improve the quality of his stock. Under such circumstances, he can select his drones with the same care that he selects the mother of his queens. A colony combining as many as possible of the desirable characteristics can be carried to the isolated position where the matings are to be made and left there. A few have undertaken to rear queens on islands where no other bees are present. The broad prarities of several states offer similar isolation.
Unfortunately, however, few breeders are so situated that they can control the drones thus completely. After requesting all the bees within flying distance of the apiary, the next thing is to select the best colonies as drone breeders and supply them with an abundance of drone comb. This insures that
Figure 3: Combs built on starters only or without foundation contain a large percentage of drone cells and result in unprofitable colonies.
large numbers of drones will fly from these colonies, and thus increase the chances that young queens will meet desirable mates. Care should be used to make sure that the combs in the brood nests of other colonies than the breeders contain as little drone comb as possible, and thus reduce the production of drones to the lowest possible minimum.
Traps may be used also to catch such drones as appear in undesirable colonies. Unless the breeder is willing to go to great length to control his breeding stock and thus give his customers the best which it is possible for him to produce, he should by all means confine his attention to the production of honey or some other business. There are entirely too many indifferent queen breeders for the good of the industry.
### **Mating in Confinement a Failure.**
Some practical method of absolute control of mating has long been sought. At the University of Minnesota Prof. Jager succeeded in getting one queen impregnated artifically
Figure 4: Full sheets of foundation in the brood frames insure worker combs and a minimum of drone production.
and for a time it was hoped that enough queens could be mated in this way for use in breeding experiments. However, after numerous trials on the part of Prof. Jager, C. W. Howard, and L. V. France, at the University, no further successful instances have been reported.
The A. I. Root Company tried some rather elaborate experiments in getting queens mated in large greenhouses, but these were likewise a failure. While enthusiasts have claimed success at different times by one method or another, their claims have generally been discredited, and up to the present, there seems little prospect of artificial control of the mating. About all that now seems possible, is to select isolated situations for the mating stations, or to limit the breeding of drones as far as possible in undesirable colonies, and encourage it in the colonies from which it is desirable to breed.
## Parthenogenesis.
When the discovery was first made that unimpregnated females often are capable of producing male offspring, the public was slow to accept the fact. There was much discussion of the subject for years before it was finally accepted as a settled fact, rather common among insects. It is now well known among beekeepers that queens which fail to mate will sometimes lay a considerable number of eggs which will hatch, but all will be drones. In the same manner fertile workers produce drones which are usually smaller in size and inferior in appearance, but some very careful observers are of the opinion that they are quite capable of mating in the normal manner.
Since the mating of a queen has no direct effect on her male offspring, her workers may be hybrids, and her drones pure. It is hardly within the scope of this little book to go into detail concerning the proof of such well established facts as those above stated. These may be found in detail in several of the old text books. Those who are interested in pursuing the subject further are referred to Dadant's revision of Langstrothon the Honeybee, where a full account of the various experiments along this line are given.
The thing that we are concerned with just now is the practical effect that the facts may have upon the problems of the queen breeder, and these we have set out as briefly as possible in the foregoing pages.
## Chapter 4 Equipment for Queen Rearing.
The kind and amount of equipment necessary for queen rearing will depend to a great extent upon conditions. The beekeeper who wishes to rear but a few queens for use in requeening his own apiaries, can get along very well with limited equipment. The commercial queen breeder, who expects to send out several thousand queens each year, will do well to provide a liberal amount of equipment, for, otherwise, he will be hampered and unable to get the best results. An effort is made here to describe the various systems of management, and the reader can select what most appeals to him. In general, the simpler the system, the more efficient and the larger the amount of work which can be accomplished in a given time. Several different methods are described for doing the same thing, yet it is manifestly unwise for any individual to provide himself with all the equipment described, or to undertake the various systems outlined, unless it be for the purpose of experiment rather than for practical results. Usually it is best to use modifications of equipment used for commercial honey production so that in the event of a change back to regular beekeeping the equipment can mostly be used, or sold to other beekeepers in case of giving up the work. Second hand queen rearing equipment is difficult to sell, since there are comparatively few men engaged in commercial queen rearing.
### Grafting House.
On visiting the queen breeders of the south, I was much impressed with a grafting house in common use in the queen rearing apiaries of Alabama. While it is possible to make use of the kitchen or other warm room in the house, or to do the work in the open air in warm weather, the little buildingshown at Figure 5 is far more desirable. As will be seen in the picture, the building is made of matched lumber and is very tight. A seat is provided for the operator, and in front of it a bench or table running across the building and about two feet wide. This provides ample room for combs, tools, etc., and one can work in comfort and at leisure. The entire front above the table is composed of window sash, thus providing an abundance of light. Some of these grafting houses, like the one shown, are also provided with glass in the roof like a photographer's studio. It is well to provide a shutter to cover the roof in extremely hot weather, or to protect the glass during storms. A shade is also desirable for the front, to shut out too much sunlight at times. A room four by six feet is amply large for this purpose, and, by means of a small oil stove, it can be kept warm in cool weather. This is important to prevent the chilling of the larvae while grafting. Some of the more extensive queen breeders find it necessary to graft cells
Figure 5: Grafting house in use by southern queen breeders.
every day during the season, rain or shine, and during the rush days of midsummer must prepare hundreds of cells. Not the least of the advantages of this building is the protection from robbers. Where it is necessary for the operator to be at work for several hours at a time, this little building in the center of the yard is a great time and labor saver, as well as adding much to the convenience and comfort of the operator. It merits more general use. While the one shown in the picture admits more light than is necessary on bright days, the extra glass space will be much appreciated in dark and cloudy weather.
### 1.3.2 Mating-Hives.
The honey producer who rears queens only for the purpose of improving his stock or requeeing his apiaries, seldom bothers much about mating-hives. When he has a lot of sealed cells ready for use, he simply kills off the old queens to be replaced and about twenty-four hours later gives each of the colonies a sealed cell. In this way he avoids the bother of introducing queens, for the young queen will emerge in the hive where she is expected to remain. From there she will take her mating flight, and, the only further concern necessary on the part of the beekeeper, is to take care to replace any queens that are lost on their nuptial flight or that fail to emerge properly.
The commercial queen breeder will require a large number of nuclei or small colonies to care for surplus queens, until they are mated and ready to be mailed to customers. There is a large variety of hives of various sizes used for this purpose. Where queen breeding is the prime object, the tendency is to use as small hives and as few bees as possible, so that the largest possible number of queens may be reared with the bees and equipment available. However, many of the most successful queen breeders find serious objections to baby nuclei and small mating boxes, and advocate nothing but standard frames for mating-hives.
### The Rauchfuss Mating Boxes
This is perhaps the smallest mating box ever devised which has been used successfully. Beginners or those with limited experience, are quite likely to have much difficulty from the bees swarming out to accompany the queen on her mating flight with any small nucleus. Even the most expert are never able to overcome this difficulty entirely.
The Rauchfuss nucleus consists of a small box with removable front, comb-honey sections, Figure 6. The entrance is by means of a small round hole in the front, which can be closed entirely, when moving them, by simply turning a small button. As devised by the inventor, one section of sealed honey is used, and sealed brood is removed from a strong colony and cut into squares of the right size to fill one of the remaining sections. The presence of the brood will in many cases prevent the bees from absconding when the queen takes her flight When used without the brood, there will be a larger percentage of loss from absconding. A cupful of young bees taken from a strong colony is sufficient to stock the box, when a virgin queen from a nursery cage is run in through the entrance hole. After the box is stocked and the young queen run in, the entrance is stopped. When all boxes to be stocked at one time are ready, all are carried to a point some distance from the apiary and tied in trees, set on some convenient object, or otherwise placed until the queens shall be mated. Of course the entrance should be opened as soon as conditions are favorable after reaching the destination. It will be necessary to remove the queens from these diminutive hives soon after they begin to lay. Should it be inconvenient to do so at once, the box is provided with a piece of queen excluding zinc which
Figure 6: Rauchfuss Mating Box.
can be turned over the entrance hole, thus preventing the queen from escaping, while permitting the bees to go afield.
The great advantage of this mating box is the small first cost, and the small number of bees necessary to stock the nucleus. They are listed at about forty cents each in lots of ten.
**Baby Nuclei.**
The Root baby nucleus which is quite generally used is a small double bive, each side containing two frames 5$x8 inches in size. Three of these little frames will just fill a standard Langstroth frame, and to get combs built in them it is necessary to put them in Langstroth frames, and insert them in strong colonies of bees. Some cut up combs and fit them into the little frames. Entrances to the two compartments are at opposite
Fig. 7. A baby nucleus at the Minnesota University queen-rearing station.
ends of the box. About a half a pint of bees is used to stock each compartment. This, in effect, is very similar to the Rauchfuss mating box, excepting that it is necessary to go to more trouble to get combs built especially for these nuclei. There is the same trouble from absconding, and the same danger of being robbed by strong colonies if left within reach. During a good honey flow when all conditions are favorable, it is possible to get a large number of queens mated in these little hives with a minimum of cost in bees, but during a dearth when it becomes necessary to feed to keep any kind of nucleus from going to pieces, they are likely to prove the source of much annoyance. See Figure 7.
**Small Hives.**
At Figure 8, we show some small hives formerly popular with queen breeders, but which have almost gone out of use. As will be seen in the picture, one is single and the other is double. The double one has entrances opening in opposite directions to avoid danger of the queen entering the wrong compartment.
Figure 8: Small mating hives in Strong queen yard. This type of hive was once quite generally used but is now going out of use. [From Productive Bekeeping.]
These little hives hold three, and sometimes four, small frames. They are large enough to hold a nice little cluster of bees, and once established they can sustain themselves very nicely under favorable conditions. Mr. J. L. Strong, formerly extensively engaged in queen rearing in Iowa, used these mating hives for about twenty-five years with satisfaction. However, since the frame is an odd size, it is necessary either to cut up combs and fit into them, or get them built in the nucleus, so there is sometimes difficulty in getting them properly fitted out to begin with. There is really nothing to be said for them in preference to a standard hive divided into two or three compartments, and the latter can be used for any other purpose as well.
A few queen breeders use a shallow nucleus which is of the same length as the standard hive. In this they use shallow extracting frames. Although the frames are of the same size
Figure 9: Mating hives using shallow extracting frames. Achord queen yards in Alabama.
as those used in the apiary, the top, bottom and body must be made especially. Nuclei of this type as used by W. D. Achord, of Alabama, are shown at Figure 9. Instead of the usual hive record, short pieces of different colors are placed at the front end of the cover. The position of these pieces, which can be moved to any position at will, indicate the conditions within the hive.
**Divided Standard Hives.**
By far the greater number of queen breeders use the standard Langstroth hive, divided into two or more parts. J. M. Davis, of Tennessee, divides the ordinary hive into four parts. This makes use of standard hive bodies, tops and bottoms, but requires a special frame as shown in Figure 10. The two division boards that are running lengthwise are easily removed, thus leaving the hive in only two parts. In this way it is possible to unite two of the clusters at the close of the season, and leave them strong enough for wintering in that mild climate. There is an entrance at each of the four corners, each facing in a different direction. The four compartments are lettered A,
Figure 10: Langstroth hive body adapted for four-compartment mating hive, used by J. M. Davis of Tennessee.
B, C, and D. In opening the hive he makes it a point always to begin at A and examine each division in regular order to avoid overlooking any one of them.
At the apiary of Prof. Francis Jager where the queen breeding work of the State of Minnesota is carried on, an eight frame hive is divided into three parts, each part taking two standard frames. There is one entrance at each side, and one at an end. All that is necessary to make an eight frame hive into three nuclei, is to have two tight fitting division boards which fit into saved slots at the ends. These must reach to the bottom to prevent the mixing of bees or the queens from passing from one compartment to another. It is necessary of course to fit the bottom board for the special purpose with entrance openings in the proper place. Our illustration (Figure 11) shows a small cover just the right size to cover one of the three compartments.
Figure 11: Eight-frame hive divided into three parts; each with two standard frames, at the Jager apiary.
This is placed over the middle division when the regular cover is removed, to prevent the mixing of bees while the hive is open.
Figure 12: Ten-frame hive divided into two parts as used for mating hives by Ben G. Davis of Tennessee.
Both the eight and ten frame hives arranged in this manner are in general use.
Ben G. Davis, of Tennessee, the well known breeder of Goldens, is an advocate of strong nuclei which are capable of passing through a dearth or other unfavorable season without much fussing on the part of the queen breeder. With five hundred or a thousand weaklings, the queen breeder finds it a very difficult matter to carry on operations under adverse conditions. Mr. Davis feels that the extra cost of these stronger nuclei is cheap insurance against a poor season. Figure 12 shows his big nuclei, where a ten frame hive is divided into two parts, each with four frames. These nuclei are strong enough to store sufficient honey to winter them successfully under normal conditions, and the time saved from fussing with daily feeding and constant attention more than repays the larger investment. Then there is no trouble whatever in stocking nuclei formed in this manner. All that is necessary in order to increase the number, is to remove one or two frames of emerging brood from a strong colony, for each nucleus, give them a queen or ripe cell and let them build up slowly during the summer, as one young queen after another is mated and permitted to begin laying.
**Feeders.**