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the tank-room occupies 16x4 feet of the south end, |
and its floor is on the same level with the cellar |
floor. This room has four doors in it-one wide door |
opening into the south end of the cellar; also one |
wide outside door in the south end of the building |
where we roll out the barrels of honey into the |
wagon when we ship. Then we have a door on each |
side of this room, which comes very handy to carry |
bees in and out of the cellar from the lower part of |
the bekep-yard by putting screens on these two doors; |
and by leaving them open we get a fine current of |
air through the tank-room, which has much to do |
with ripening and thickening the honey. The cellar |
also has an outside door at the northeast corner, |
where the greater number of colonies are carried in |
and out. The shop part is on the upper floor, which |
is level with the floor of the extracting-room, and is |
6x2x4 feet. |
over thing to get there quickly." we are liable to find things not quite dress-parade style for a snapshot photo. |
No. 28.--This is a partial view of the apiary of James McNelli, situated in the village of Hudson, Now York. Mr. McNelli has kept bees for many years with conspicuous success. When this view was taken he had about 460 colonies all kept in the same spiral-span condition shown in the enrar-apearance being imparted to it by the stones on the only, spring count, and this is mainly secured from white clover, with some sweet clover and password. Naturally such honey brings the highest market prices; besides, the apiary is not far away from a very fine market-albany, New York. For various reasons this may be considered a model apiary. |
No. 30.--Some years ago--yes, nearly twenty--I said to Dr. Miller, " You have a peculiar talent for making bright comments in convention, throwing in a few sentences and then sitting down. The comments always enlighten the proceedings. Now, can you not edit a department in _Glenings_ made up of short items of runnity comment, something after the style of your convention work?" |
Turning to me le said, his wontel smile vanishing for the moment into a serious expression, " Ernest, 1 could my ability to carry out your ideas, but I have confidence in your opinion. 1 will try it. If you do like the stuff, throw it into the waste basket." |
There, now you have the origin of Stray Strays. We had a department running, as we do now, called "Ileads of Grun," and I suggested "Kernels of Wheat" as an appropriate heading; but Dr. Miller very modestly preferred Stray Strays, as he was not sure that he would be able to glean very much _what_. As to the general character of the Strays, and whether they are worth binding along with the other eleganings from many fields, I don't need to say. Our renders have long since settled that by the eager way they grab at the Stray-stack in Marengo. |
Dr. C. C. Miller is probably one of the best-known agricultural writers in the world. He reads both the American and European exchanges, and his articles and comments on both sides of the Atlantic have brought him into prominence throughout all bed-dom. |
His writings are further enhanced by a ripe experience of many years, for he is now in his seventy-eighth year, having been for forty years a hee-keeper, and a good one, especially in the production of comb honey; and, if I mistake not, his crops are sold before they are off the hive. This speaks volumes, not only for his method of management but for his careful honest grading, which is all done by the members of his family. The buyers know in advance just exactly what Dr. Miller's honey is going to be, and they are usually willing to pay above the market because they know beyond any question that there will be no after-quilble over the grading, quantity, or quality. There is no reason why many others can not sell their crop in the same way.--_E. R. I. Root, in _Glenings in He Culture for Aug. 1, 1988_. |
No. 31.--The front, roof, and back of the sheds are made of corrugated iron fastened to cedar posts set in the ground two feet. |
No. 32.--This picture shows Dr. C. Miller watching the flight of bees as they fly to and from his field of sweet-clover. The tower half is a view of his home from the rear. |
No. 33.--This view was taken in Holland, and represents a bee-keeper hunting for the queen. The photograph was furnished us by Mr. Henri Meyer, |
## Description of Engravings. |
of Arnehem, Holland. He regrets the backward condition of the people there in regard to, hees while science in general is so thoroughly under-toud there. He says the bee-men kill their bees in the fall, and thus secure a small quantity of inferior honey. |
No, 3i.--Here is another fine view of comb built in the open air late in the fall. The swarm alighted on a limb of a pine-tree and built comb, even though the weather was getting cold. One piece of comb broke off before the picture was taken, so it was laid on top The combs were built thirty feet from the ground, and were secured by Mr. A. D. Stoneman, of Quasqueton, Iowa. |
No. 35.--This illustration represents the moving of four wavebands of bees by a traction-engine in Canada The load _c_onsisted of 10 twelve-frame halves with one or two supers on each, the racks being filled with straw. The trip of forty miles was made without accident under the management of R. F. Holtermann. |
No, 3i.--This represents oneclass of hives peculiar to the Holy Land, this one having been photographed at Jezecet, Pales into. While primitive, there is something about the ingenuity displayed in the construction of such hives that commands our admiration, and they still remind us that "the land which the Lord giveth theo" still flows with honey if not milk. |
No, 3i.--By means of this automobile he can carry sixty 25-section supers at the rate of twelve to twenty miles an hour. The picture shows a load of that kind. |
No. 38.--This is a view of an apirary belonging to W. Z. Hutchinson, editor of the _Bee-keepers' Ree Reeve_, and the photograph itself was taken by him. Mr. H. has probably done more to illustrate the bee world with his own camera than any other man--a work in which he delights and excels. The apirary itself is located in the wilds of Northern Michigan, where wild red susberries cover the ground for miles, yielding generously one of the finest honey's known. |
No, 39.--This cut shows the house-apirary of W. C. Sorter, Wickliffe, O. It represents the south side, the north froming on Luke Eric. It is 60 feet long, and is very satisfactory to the owner. The clothes are d. signed, being of different colors, to guide the bees to the right place. |
No, 40.--This shows the interior of Mr. Sorter's apirary. The colonies are arranged along the south wall on the left. See outer views |
No, 41.--This view represents the gasoline-engine extracting outfit of Virgil Sires, located on the Yakima Indian reservation, Washington. With this outfit he extracted in 100s twenty tons of honey. At the time of writing he was inclined to think a permanent extracting-house would be cheaper than to draw this one around. |
No, 42.--This is a view of a small apirary close to a ear-barn in Harrisburg, Pa. The hives have a trap, paper covering, and the supers are filled with chuff. They are owned by Mr. A. F. Revroth. |
No, 43.--This singular freak of nature is an outdoor colony of bees found on Sugarouf Mountain, near Bouhler, Col. These combs were built on the bought of a tree, and would accommodate a large colony. |
No, 44.--This, as will be noticed, enhances three separate views taken at the home apirary of the motors of this book. They illustrate the method of shaking bees into a swarm-box preparatory to putting them in pound cages without brood for shipment. |
No, 45.--These four views illustrate the wholesale dish Infection of foul-broody hives at the apirary of Louis H.Scholl, New Braunfels, Texas. Fig.2shows the pile of hive bodies and supers. Kerosene is poured down the stack of empty bodies, Fig. 3. A lighted bunch of straw, Fig. 4, is thrown in, which sets the whole mass on fire. A spudeful of earth below, Fig. 5, at the drift, and a cover on top, finishes the job. |
No. 46.--This exhibit received the first prize at the Canadian National Exhibition. It occupied a space I3 by 20 feet, and contained 280 pounds of honey. |
No, 47.--A view of Mr, F. W. Redfield's house made of honey for exhibition purpose. The walls are entirely of cans filled with honey; boards are used to support the cans on the roof. It was shown in Ogden, Utah, in 1999. |
No, 48.--This illustrates the bee and honey exhibit of The A. I. Root Company at the Jamestown Explosion, Jamestown, Va., in 1997. |
No, 49.--This is one of the best views of an apirary in mid-winter we have ever secured. It belongs to Mr. F. Greiner, of Naples, N. Y., one of the foremost bee-men of the country, and an interesting writer as well. Probably it would be difficult to secure a better covering for the hives in winter than that remarkable non-conductor of heat, "the beautiful snow." |
No, 50.--This picture represents a large swiram that clustered in the extreme top of a large plan, and was sent us by Mr. Frank C Peilett, of Atlantic, Ja. The bees may be seen laughter the stack and entering the hive. Mr. Peilett says this true most difficult feat in his experience in tree-climbing. |
No, 51.--This represents George II, Rex & Son's permanent bee-shot, located at Stettlerville, Pa. With this kind of shed there is no need of wintering bees in a collar, us the hives are kept here all the year. |
_Allatatative on page 3-7-10._ |
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, |
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY--BULLETIN No. 55. |
L. O. HOWARD, Estomologist |
THE REARING OF QUEN BES. |
prepared under the direction of the entomologist |
BY |
E.F. PHILLIPS, Ph. D., |
_Expert Apieultrist_, |
Washington: |
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFIOE, |
1905. |
LETTER OF TRANSMITIAL |
U. S. Department of Agriculture, |
Bureau of Entomology, |
Washington, D. C., October 14, 1905. |
Sir: I have the honor to transmit the manuscript of a bulletin on the rearing of queen bees, by Dr. E. F. Phillips, Expert Apiculturist of this Bureau. It is hoped that the explicit directions given in this manuscript governing the production of queens will be of assistance to bee bee keepers throughout the country, and that it will prove the means of saving money for those who carry on apiculture except in the smallest way. I therefore recommend that this manuscript be published as Bulletin No. 55 of this Bureau. |
Respectfully, |
L. O. Howard, |
Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. |
Hoh. James Wilson, |
Secretary of Agriculture. |
## Contents |
* 1 |
the increase is made, the new colony will gain about three weeks in brood production over a colony which has to produce its own queen. |
The question which arises in the mind of every bee keeper is: Will it pay me to rear my own queens? Very good untested queens can now be purchased for $1, or even less, it is true; but where a large apiary is to be requenced, this amount, though small for one colony, reaches considerable size when multiplied by a few score; and if this amount can be saved, and the total net receipts of each colony correspondingly increased with comparatively little labor, it would seem folly for the bee keeper to persist in purchasing queens. |
It will of course be necessary for the average bee keeper to buy some queens. The selection of fine strains of stock must be left to the professional queen breeder in most cases, and it will be well to buy the breeding stock from some such person. Where no particular improved strain of stock is desired, it may pay the extensive bee keeper to buy an imported queen to be used as a breeder. In the case of Italian bees this does not seem necessary, for very superior stock is reared in the United States, and queen bees of the Italian variety are actually shipped from this country to Italy to be used as breeders. In Carniolan, Cyprian, and other races not so much selection has been carried on in this country, and in consequence the desirability of importations is greater in order to insure purity of stock. |
Few bee keepers are so situated that they can with profit rear their own breeding stock. It is the rule in some apiaries to choose the queen from the colony with the best honey record as the breeder for the following year, but this, while seemingly good policy, leads to curious errors. Unless it is certain that the queen is of pure stock or of a fixed cross she should not be used, for it is a well-known fact that when a first cross is used as a breeder the resulting offspring are most variable. |
It is the purpose of this bulletin to outline a plan for breeding queens in the home apiary which it is believed can be used with the minimum of labor and expense, one with which good results have already been obtained. Queen rearing can not be carried on without careful attention, but the methods are not, as many believe, so complicated as to make it impossible for the honey producer to afford the time. The beginner in bee keeping can scarcely expect to rear good queens during the first year, and no one can hope to do so until he becomes well acquainted with the habits of bees. It is impossible to give directions minute enough to cover every phase of the subject, and so that every emergency will be foreseen: a great deal must necessarily be left to the common sense and experience of the apiarist. The outline herein given, however, ought to be sufficient for anyone who has had one year's careful work with bees. |
## Natural Queen Rearing. |
Before taking up any artificial methods of queen rearing, it is necessary to have well in mind the circumstances and conditions under which a colony of bees will undertake to rear a queen. It is well known to all bee bee beepers that workers are female bees, that, when a queen is to be reared, a larva which would under other circumstances become a worker is fed on a specially prepared food, and that thereby the reproductive organs are fully developed. All female larvae when just hatched from the eggs are alike in development, whether they are destined to become queens or workers. If then any female larva is chosen and so placed that this special food is given it, the resulting bee is a queen; on the other hand if the ordinary larval food is given it, a worker is the result. This discovery is generally attributed to Schirach, although the assertion is frequently made that the fact was known before his time. |
Since this change of food is exactly what is brought about in nature by the workers, in order to proceed intelligently, we must first know the conditions under which such a thing can be done; for, while bees are somewhat flexible in their instinets, too great a departure from their natural inclinations will result only in failure. The three conditions under which a colony will rear a queen in nature are (l) swarming, (2) supersedure, and (3) queenlessness. |
(1) _Swarming,_--In the spring of the year, as a rule, but at any time when the quarters in which the colony is located are too small, bees acquire what is known as the "swarming impulse." In spite of all the work that has been done on the habits of these insects, just what brings this about and the exact physiological conditions leading up to it, are still unknown. Many weird and wild guesses have been made at various times, but it may be said, almost without fear of contradiction, that we are as far as ever from knowing the true cause of swarming. It does not always hold true that cramped quarters produce the phenomenon, nor that sufficient room will prevent it. |
At any rate, when the swarming impulse is aroused the bees begin to build queen cells, and in these eggs are often laid by the queen. The queen cell is larger at its base than the worker cell and projects, when completed, beyond the outside line of the comb, hanging down in an acorn-shaped projection with irregularly pitted walls. The number of such cells which are produced depends on many things, among which may be mentioned temperature and the race of bees. In colonies of Italian bees the number is usually not great, but in Cyprians there are often from 30 to 60 queen cells, while in Tunisians there may be several times that number. When the queens are about ready to emerge from the cells, the old queen and part of the colony leave to establish a new one. |
(2) _Supercedure.--_When a queen on account of age or other cause ceases to lay eggs enough to keep up the strength of the colony, the workers build queen cells and rear queens. When the first one of these emerges, an encounter ensues between the young queen and the old one, and almost invariably the latter is killed. |
(3) _Quencelessness.--_It may happen that the queen in a colony is killed, and in that case, if there are young larvae in the combs, the workers will rear queens, one of which later becomes the mother of the colony. While in nature this is probably a more rare condition than is either of the two preceeding, it is a normal and natural circumstance under which queens are reared. |
In the rearing of queens by the so-called artificial methods it is necessary to follow rather closely one of the three natural conditions. As will be shown later, queens can be reared in colonies with a laying queen, provided a perforated zinc sheet be used to prevent the latter from tearing down the cells, but in such cases we probably approach the swarming condition. |
In practice the bee keeper can, if he wishes, take queens from normally constructed cells. By making a colony queenless a considerable number of these will be reared, and by very careful watching almost all of them can be captured and caged before they kill each other or destroy other queen cells. To do this, however, it is necessary to look over the entire colony several times a day for several days, and thus it is far from a time-saving method. The plan is not to be recommended except where it is impossible to use some of the better methods. In the same way queens emerging from cells built in swarming time or during supersedure may be captured. There are, however, better methods of queen rearing; for, by modern appliances, the work is not only made much more simple, but also gives better results. A description of these methods may seem rather complicated to one who has not tried them, but the manipulation is easily learned, and after a brief acquaintance with the appliances the whole subject of queen rearing becomes very simple. |
## Artificial queen learning. |
The methods to be described here are not those of any one system, but are the result of many investigations in this field. It is impossible to give credit to every one who has offered valuable suggestions on this subject, and no such attempt will be made; for it is often difficult to learn with certainty who first used and recommended any particular plan. The bee-keeping journals are full of valuable hints on this work, and methods long ago in use are repeatedly rediscovered and given as new. To prevent any injustice, then, it seems best to avoid giving credit in all cases, except where there is no doubt as to the origin of the plan. The author disclaims all credit of originality in this bulletin, but can say that all the methods described have been tried successfully by him, either in the upiracy of the Bureau of Entomology or before entering the service of that Bureau. The object in writing such a bulletin is that the successful methods may become better known. In most cases the plans given are somewhat modified and are not exactly as used by the originators of the various systems. These modifications may not appear to overbody to be improvements, but they are such as have seemed desirable either in the work of the injury of the Bureau, or in the experience of other queen breeders. In giving directions for each part of the work of queen rearing, several methods are described; for it is realized that not all bee keepers can conveniently use the same system. Where a particular appliance is known commercially under a certain name, that name is used; for in such cases no dispute as to originality can arise and no injustice can be done. The author disclaims any responsibility in giving these names, but employs those in current use in apicultural literature. None of the appliances which are mentioned in this bulletin are patented and any bee keeper is at liberty to make them, either in the style described or with any modifications which he sees fit to make. |
The use of some terms which are rather current in bee-keeping literature has been avoided, since several of the more common terms are not only useless but misleading. If the writers on apiculture were to be more careful in the nomenclature of the science, it would do much toward making their descriptions clear, and at the same time apiculture would be regarded with more respect by beginners and outsiders. |
An effort has also been made to exclude all discussion which does not have a direct bearing on queen rearing. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the principles of bee keeping, and consequently it has not seemed necessary to discuss other phases of the work of the bee keeper. |
## Starting Queen Cells |
The queen cells used by various queen breeders vary greatly. Natural queen cells are sometimes used in queen rearing by cutting them from the coub and fastening then with wax to a bar the length of the top bar of the hive. These cells already stocked with royal jelly, the food of the queen larvae, are ready to use by simply removing the larvae already in them and replacing them with larvae from the breeding queen. There are, however, several objections to such cells. They are far from uniform, and are not easily put into nursery cages when sealed; they are supplied with more royal jelly than is necessary; in most cases they are not easily obtained in sufficient number; and, finally, they can not be handled and removed, as can artificial cells. Where such cells are used it is often customary to allow the queens to emerge on the combs of the hive, but this necessitates the hunting for young queens, which is a waste of time. |
## Description of cell cuts |
It is much better to use a cell base artificially produced. These cells can be made of wax, or on wooden bases with a depression which is filled with wax. They are just as readily accepted by the bees, and because of uniformity and ease of handling are much preferable. |
The Doolittle cell, made by molding wax on a stick with rounded end of the exact diameter of a queen cell, is very good and was probably the first artificial cell used in commercial queen rearing. The molding stick is dipped in hot wax, and when one layer of wax is cool, the process is repeated, each time the stick being dipped a shorter distance. The result is a cup with thin edges and heavy base. Such cells are also made by pressing out the wax in a mold. The cells are then fastened to a bar with wax preparatory to introducing the have (see fig. 1). |
Caps with wooden bases are now widely used and have many advantages over the wax cups, in that they can be transferred from one bar to another without danger of breaking and can move readily be used again after the queen has emerged. These cups are usually made of a cylindrical piece of wood with a concave depression in one end which is lined with wax. There is a tail point in one end which allows them to be fastened to a bar by pressure (see fig. 2), or, better, there is a flange at the upper end so that they can be put through holes bored in the bar (see figs. 1 and 2). |
Having procured the cells to be used, with the requisite bars, the bee keeper is ready to transfer larvae to these cells. Before being |
to be used, the bar should be placed in the upper, and the queen confined in the lower, story. For the latter purpose a perforated zinc honey board (see fig. 3) should be used. In a one-story hive the bar should be surrounded by a perforated zinc incubator. A larger proportion of cells are usually accepted in a queenless colony. |
In case there is a colony with an old queen which is about to be superseded, a large number of cells may be started, and this is also true in a colony preparing to swarm. Here, too, for safety the queen of the colony should be kept away from the cells by perforated zinc. |
The chief difficulty in rearing queens by thus method is to get the cells accepted. Once started, they are usually completed, even if transferred to a colony which does not readily accept cells. In many cases it is customary to start cells in a queenless colony, and in twenty-four hours to transfer the bar to a hive with a queen, putting the cell in an incubating cage of zinc (see figs. 4 and 5). This gives the advantage of starting the cells under the most favorable conditions for their acceptance, and at the same time makes it unnecessary to have so many queenless colonies in an apiary, which is obviously not economical. |