U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY— BULLETIN No. 55. ^ P L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist 52.3 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. PREPARED I'NDER THE DIRErXION OF THE ENTOJilOT.OfilST RY K. V. PHILLIPS, Pir. I)., I'J.r/ierl A/iiciillnri'il. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 19 5. Gass ST Lo Book 1" ^'-^ ^/ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY— BULLETIN No. 55. // « 7. 7 L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist ^fy THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST ^ 17. > E.^"r. PHILLIPS, Ph. D., Expert Apiculturid. WASHINGTON: GOVERN ME N'T I'KINTINCi OFFICE. (1. 1905. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, October 11^, 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 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. 1 therefore recommend that this manuscript be pub- lished as Bulletin No. 55 of this Bureau. Respectfully, L. O. Howard, Kntoiiiologlst and Chief of Bureau. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. P R E F A C E. Bee keeping is primarily a breeding prol)leni, for the honey surplus of a colon}' depends so much on the queen. In order to make more public some of the best methods of <|ueen rearing, this bulletin is issued. Much of the labor of manipulation can be avoided bj- the use of the sj'stems herein described. It is held by the best bee keepers that it is necessary to restock all colonies with new queens ever}^ year; but the practice is not as com- mon as it should be. It is hoped that the simplicity of the methods hereafter described will serve as an inducement to those bee keepers who have not adopted the plan to pursue it in the future. The rearing of queens has become a separate field, in that some men devote their entire apiaries to this purpose; and to these professional queen breeders must, to a large extent, be given the work of the improvement of stock; l)ut it is far from wise for the ordinary honey producer to neglect this side of the industr3^ E. F. P. COXTHXTS. Page. Necessity of reqiieeninsi 7 Natural queen rearinj; 9 Swarming 9 Supersedure 10 Queenlessness 10 Artificial queen rearing 10 Starting queen cells 11 Description of cell cups 12 Transferring larvjf 12 Method of starting cells 15 Difference in races — 15 Swarm box 15 Description of box 16 Method of use 16 Alley system of cell starting 18 The use of ' ' cocoons " 19 Completing queen cells 19 Incubators 19 Styles of nursery cages 20 Introducing queen cells 23 Mating queens 24 Comparison of different sizes of boxes 24 Phenomena in mating 27 Testing queens . 28 Necessity of pure stock 29 Selection of drones 29 ILLUSTRATIONS Page. Fi(i. 1. Standard frame with bar of coiuplett'd cells on wooden flanged vnpf and bar of Doolittle wax eells 12 2. Standard frame with bars of queen eells on wooden bases 18 ?>. Two-story hive with perforated zine honey board between the stories, the top to be used for queen rearing 18 4. Swarthmore incubator holding sixteen cells on wooden bases 14 5. Swarthmore incubator in frame 14 6. Swarm box, showing position of frames aii in cells, cut according to Alley plan of cell starting 19 9. Titoff nurseries in frame holder, showing i-onstruction of nursery 20 10. Swarthmore nursery, with queens ^ 21 11. Swarthmore nursery dissected 21 12. Swarthmore nurseries in frame, showing method of storing forty- eight cjueens 22 13. A style of cage wliich answers all the re(|uirements for convenience and usefulness as nursery and introducing cage 22 14. Swarthmore nucleus with one frame removed to show construction .. 23 15. Swarthmore nucleus with introducing cage in place ])etween the frames 28 16. Benton mating boxes 26 17. Benton mailing t;ages 26 6 THE HEARING OF QUEEN BEES. NECESSITY OF REftUEENING. In modern apiculture it is necessarj^ for the bee keeper to be able to get queens at an}' time. Many bee keepers requeen all their colonies every year; others requeen every two years; it is necessary, then, that they have some method of rearing good queens to use in this way. Even where frequent requeening is not practiced, it is nevertheless often necessary to replace queens which do not come up to the stand- ard in egg laying. Again, it often happens that a colony becomes queenless by the accidental death of the queen. Such a colonj-, if left to itself, will rear a queen, provided there are young larva? in the combs, but few bee keepers are now willing to intrust so important a matter to the bees. Frequent reciueening is a very necessary thing if the best results are to be obtained. It is a well-established fact that queens la}' more eggs during the first year than in any other, and that the number of eggs laid gradually diminishes until the queen is replaced, because of inability to keep up the colony. Every bee keeper knows, too, that, all other things being equal, the greatest amount of surplus honey is produced by the most populous colony. It is evident, then, that frequent requeening means the maximum honey production. It has not yet been shown that requeening more than every second year pays for the extra labor, but the best bee keepers hold that queens should not be allowed to live longer than that time. There are, of course, exceptional cases in which the queen will keep up the population of a colony for two or even three years longer than the time given; but unless every colony can be watched constantly it will not pay to risk keeping queens more than two years old." It is also desirable to have extra queens on hand when the number of colonies in the apiary is to l)e increased by division or by any of the methods of artilicial swarming. If a queen is provided as soon as « An exception to this rule occurs in large queen-rearing apiaries where it is desira- ble to have large numbers of choice drones always on hand. Since old queens lay a much larger proportion of drone eggs, it is often desirable to keep one or two old queens of select stock on this account. There is no evidence that drones from old queens lack anything in vitality. 7 5 thp: rearing of queen bees. the increase is made, the new colony will oain at)Out three weeks in brood production over a colony which has to produce its own queen. The question which arises in the mind of ever}' bee keeper is: ^Yill it pa\' me to rear my own queens^ Very good untested queens can now he purchased for $1, or even less, it is true; but where a large apiary is to be requeened, this amount, though small for one colony, reaches considerable size when multiplied ])y a few score; and if this amount can be saved, and the total net receipts of each colony corre- spondingly increased with comparatively little labor, it would seem foil}' for the bee keeper to persist in purchasing queens. It will of course be necessaiy 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 necessaiy, 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 countiy, and in consequence the desirability of importations is greater in order to insure purity of stock. Few bee keepers are so situated that the}' 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 compli- cated as to make, it impossible for the honey producer to afford the time. The beginner in ])ee 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 out- line herein giv(Mi, however, ought to ])e sufficient for anyone who has had one year's careful work with bees. THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. NATURAL aUEEN REARING. Before taking up any aititicial methods of queen rearing, it is nec- essary 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 keepers that workers are female bees, that, when a (jueen is to be reared, a larva which would under other circianstances become a worker is fed on a speciall}' prepared food, and that thereby the reproductive organs are fully developed. All female larva? 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 frequentl}- 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 instincts, 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 (1) swarming, (2) supersedure, and (8) queenlessness. (!) 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 contradic- tion, that we are as far as ever from knowing the true cause of swarm- ing. 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 pro- jects, 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. 11251— No. 55—06 2 10 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. (2) SuperHedure. — When a queen on account of age or other cause ceases to lay eggs enough to keep up the strength of the colon}-, 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. (8) Queenlessness. — It may happen that the queen in a colony is killed, and in that case, if there are young larva> in the combs, the workers will rear queens, one of which later becomes the mother of the colony. While in nature this is probabl}'^ a more rare condition than is either of the two preceding, 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 lay- ing 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 nor- mally constructed cells. By making a colony (jueenless 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 recom- mended 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 supeisedure may be captured. There are, however, better methods of (pieen rearing; for, b}^ modern appliances, the work is not only made umch more simple, but also gives better results. A descrip- tion 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 aUEEN REARING. 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 ofl'ered 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 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 11 this bulletin, but can say that all the methods described have been tried successfully by him, either in the apiar}^ of the Bureau of Ento- mology or before entering* the service of that Bureau. The object in writing such a bulletin is that the successful methods may l)ecome better known. In most cases the plans given are somewhat modified and are not exacth" as used by the originators of the various systems. These modifications may not appear to everybody to be improvements, but the}' are such as have seemed desirable either in the work of the apiar}' 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))e done. The author disclaims any responsibilit}' in giving these names, but emploj^s those in current use in apicultural literature. None of the appliances which are mentioned in this bulletin are patented and any ])ee 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 lit- erature 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 apicul- ture would be regarded with more respect by beginners and outsiders. An efi'ort 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 beekeeping, 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 (jueen l)reeders vary greatly. Natural queen cells are sometimes used in (jueen rearing by cutting them from the comb and fastening them 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 larva?, are ready to use by simph^ remov- ing the larva? already in them and replacing them with larvse 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 jell}^ than is necessary; in most cases they are not easil}^ 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 necessi- tates the hunting for young queens, which is a waste of time. 12 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. DESCKIPTION OF CELL CUPS. 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 whicli is filled wnth 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 (pieen cell, is very good and was proba- bly the Hrst 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 larvai (see tig, 1). ri'iG. X. — Standard frame with bar of completed cells on wooden flanged cups and bar of Doolittle wax cells (orig-inal ). Cups with wooden bases are now widely used and have manv advan- tages over the wax cups, in that they can be transfernnl f lom one bar to another without dangei- of breaking and can more readily be used again after the queen has emerged. Tliese cups are usually made of a (•ylindrical piece of wood with a concave depression in one end which is lined with wax. There is a nail 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 the}^ can be jjut through holes bored in the bar (see figs. 1 and ti). TRANSFERRING LARV^. Having procured the cells to be used, with the requisite bars, the bee keeper is ready to transfer larv« to these cells. Before being THK KEAK1N(} OF QOEKN BEE?i. 13 used for the tirst time, each cell should be thorouj^'hly daubed on the inside with royal jelly. This seems to give to it the odor of a queen cell; at any rate the bees are nnich more ready to accept it. A small amount of royal jelly should then be put at the bottom of the concave Pig. 2. — Standard frame with bars of queen cells on wooden bases. The top bar holds cells of the Root pattern (origfinal). depression, and a larva from the colony of the l)reeding- (|ueen placed on it. The larva must not be more than three days old, and it is far better to use one which has not })een hatched from the egg for more than one day. This transfer from the worker cell to the artificial queen cell ma}" be done with a match or toothpick which has l)een cut thin and bent on the end to an angle of about 4.5 . No special tool is necessarA^ although when this procedure is to be re- peated f requentl}" it may be desirable to use a steel rod or some similar instrument, shaped as above described. The bar is then placed in a queenless colony, and the bees will build down on the cells until they complete Fig. 3.— Two-story hive with perforated zinc honey board them, at the saiUC time f-eecl- between stories, the top to be used for queen rearing ing the larvte witll roval jellv ^^''sine.1). ^^j^^.j ^j^g ^jjj^g comes for the cell to be sealed. As a rule not all the cells are accepted, but just as many will be accepted in the case of artificial cells as when natural cells are fastened to a bar, as previously described. If a two-stor}' hive is 14 THE REARINd OF QUEEN BEES. to be used, the bar should be placed in the upper, and the queen con- lined in the lower, story. For the latter purpose a perforated zinc honey board (see tig. 3) should be used. In a one-story hive the bar should be surrounded by a perforated zinc incubator. A larger pro- portion of cells are usually accepted in a queenless colony. In case Fi,j. -4._".S\va,rthmore" incubator holding sixteen cells on wooden bases (oriKinnl). 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. Fig. 5.- ' Swarthmore " incubator in frame. The metal supports at the upper ends of the side pieces of the frame do not show (ori,y:inal ) The chief diffic;ulty in rearing queens by this 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 :. Fig. 10. — "Swarthmore" nursery, with queen.s. Two cells removed to show construction (original i. very well, provided it is modified so that it can be used as an intro- ducing- cage, but it is awlvward and not easily handled in a hive. The long West cell protector is also good, except that it is not so conven- ient for introducing and does not fit into any bar, but must be stuck on a comb, it may also be added that any cell protector is worse than j^cs^rxr iiL^si^*mL,4^ -^ta:^ ' ^ ^ifciri^ Fig. 11.— "Swarthmore" nursery dissected (original). useless where artificial cells are used. Where the old method of cut- ting natural cells from colonies and transferring these cells to queenless colonies is practiced, a cell protector is desirable and almost necessary, since the workers in repairing the cut edges of comb often gnaw entirely into the cell and kill the queen. The author has never known this to happen on artificial cells. The Titoft' cage (tig. 9) is also very 22 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. good. I)iit lui.s the disadvantage of being awkward to handle in a frame and of being made for use without flanged cell cups. It is a con- venient cage for introducing, however. The Alley nursery, consisting of a block of wood with a large hole })ored through it, is excellent. The openings are covered with wire Fig. 12.— "Swarthmdie " nurseries in frame, showing method of storing forty-eight queens (original). cloth, and a hole for the queen cell and one for the candy plug are bored to meet the central hole. It will be found that a cage made with a wooden frame will be better than an all-metal cage, since it is Fig. 13. — A style of cage which answers all the requirements for convenience and usefulness as nur- sery and introducing cage (original). more easily placed in the hive in aii}^ desired location, and is held in place with propolis. These nurseries can be placed in an empty frame, and left until the frame is filled solid with them; and in this way a colony will keep a good many cells warm until the queens emerge. THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 28 The Swiirthmore mirserv, .shown in tigurcs 10, 11, and 12, is excellent also, but it is unfortunate that when this form is used the queens must be removed to introducing- cages. This nursery is more valuable when used for keeping- queens on hand for some time after mating. Queens can be re- moved from the mating col- onies and stored in them for several weeks even, without an}' harm; and the mating- colon}" can be used several times in that period for mat- ing other quc(»ns. The size of this nursery is very con- venient, and ■18 queens may be kept in a frame, as shown ir. +;-^iii^,^ 10 1^ 4-U^ ;u,. Fig. 14. — "Swarthm ore" nucleus with one frame removed in ngure i2i. In tne illus- . , .,.,..,, => to show construction (original). tration these queens were actually Caucasian virgins, and the nursery had been used for emerging- queens. This is not the most convenient nursery for virgin queens, and the author understands that the originator, Mr. E. L. Pratt. does not so use it. A nursery, then, should be so constructed that the queen will be separated from the workers by wire cloth; should be of such a form that any style of artificial queen cell may be placed in it; should contain a place for candy as food for the young queen; and should above all be useful as an introducing cage. The use of a special introducing cage of any type is not generally recommended. Even in introducing- queens re- ceived by mail the shipping cage is as good as any "'improved" intro- ducing cage and saves time. INTRODUCINCJ QUEEN CELLS. Fig. 15. — "Swarthmore" nucleus with introducing- cage (as in fig. 13) in place between the frames (original). But it may be asked, " Why not introduce queen cells directly to the colony where the queen is to stay until mated ? " This method is all right where time is no object; but the queens might just as well be kept in a nursery until three to five days old, and thus they need not 24 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. be in the mating colon}^ more than four or five days. If a queen cell be placed in a mating colony it means that for a day or two before the queen emerges, and for at least five days })cfore she mates, the colony is unproductive; and commercial (jueen breeders can not afi:'ord such a loss. Such a method of introduction is easier, it is true, but certainl}^ is not economical. In introducing from a nursery it sometimes hap- pens that queens are killed, but even this loss is not great enough to justify the method of introducing cells, especially since queens from cells are sometimes rejected also. The practice of putting a little honey on the tip of the queen cell when in a nursery, so that the emerging queen may have something to cat while gnawing her way out is not necessary, and has, when prac- ticed, sometimes led to the death of the queen by sufi'ocation. MATING QUEENS. The best method of mating queens has perhaps been more discussed by bee keepers than any other phase of queen rearing, the bone of contention l)eing the size of the colony which shall ])e used in mating. Some bee keepers insist that queens should be mated only in full colonies, while others go to the opposite extreme and claim that only a handful of bees are necessary to care for a queen during this period of her life. COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT SIZES OF BOXES. A comparison of the cost of the two methods will help to solve the difficulty, for bee keeping is a business proposition, and bee keepers desire the most return for the least expenditure of either time or money. Mating in a colony means that that colony is without any new brood for about a week; and since during the summer season the life of the average worker is about six weeks, the loss resulting is about equal to one-sixth the cost of the colony used. This is to some extent made up ))y the increased activity in brood rearing after such a period of rest; but at any rate a colony can make no increase in size when queens are being mated, and there is almost always a loss. From this standpoint, then, the smaller the colony, the cheaper this part of the rearing will be; and if this were the only point to be considered there could be but one answer to the (juestion. The time spent in manipulation is an important item, especially where large numbers of queens are to be reared. It is more difficult to introduce a queen into a large colony tlian into a small one, and this is a factor to be considered, since the chances for occasional losses of queens which may result in considerable loss of time are much reduced by the use of small colonies. In looking over mating colonies to see whether the (jueen is laying, there is everything to be said in favor of the small colony or "nucleus." There is less comb area to THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 25 be cov'ered, and, if any eggs are present, it is easy to see them at a glance: but tiie chief gain is in the time spent in tinding the queen to remove her from the colony. To go over S or 1<> or even 3 or -t full frames requires ten times as much time as to open up a small nucleus and pick off the queen almost at the first glance. This much is in favor of small colonies, certainly. There are, on the other hand, certain disadvantages in the use of very small nuclei in the hands of the inexperienced. Queens can be mated from small boxes with a comb area not greater than that of a 1-pound section of honey, and with a mere handful of bees; but experienced bee keepers have failed to make these work successfully, merely through ignorance of the special manipulation necessar} for the smaller colonies. The complaint is also sometimes made that these nuclei are robbed out because the small number of bees will not defend the hive against invaders and that the colony will "swarm out" or leave the box because it is too small. Tt is also claimed that the nucleus wil! not be a success unless there is unsealed brood in the comb to hold the bees. All of these general statements are too broad, for such colonies are not moi-e easily rol>l)ed than large ones, do not swarm out if properly made, and brood is unnecessary under some circum- stances. However, there is a foundation for these complaints, everj^ one of which comes from experienced men. The entrance to a nucleus of the smallest size should ))e very small, so that one bee can protect the hive from several robbers. If, b}^ any chance, a small colony without l)rood becomes queenless, it will almost invariably swarm out, and to this nuist be attril)uted most of the cases so reported. Unsealed brood undoubtedly helps to hold the bees in the colony, and certainly should be used in most cases. After the first laying queen is removed from a nucleus, this brood will be present; and from that time on there is no difficulty. To prevent the bees from swarming out with the first queen, ])rood ma}^ be given to them. If, however, the bees are confined in the colony for some time (to which there is no valid objection), they will rarely swarm out, even without brood, and to remove them to an out yard lessens this difficulty still further. Nuclei with not more than a few dozen bees will mate a queen, and this has been done, and is being done repeatedly. There is objec- tion, however, to the use of the smallest nuclei in the hands of the inexperienced, for they will die out unless watched, and often require restocking. In a large queen-rearing yard, this frequently amounts to considerable labor, and to avoid that feature a somewhat larger nucleus is desirable. Bee keepers are not always adepts at handling small nuclei, and in actual practice a colon}" should be jn such condi- tion that it can be handled quickl}-, safely, and sometimes even rather roughly. 26 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. A size of nucleus which has proven to save both time and labor in the apiary of the Department of Ag-riculture is one having a comb area somewhat less than one standard Langstroth frame. The hive bodies were originally made large enough to hold five frames, as shown Fig. 16.— Benton mating boxes, showing method of combining frames to make a standard .'sized frame, and jiositions of feeders (original). in figure 1(>; l)ut, m practice, three or even two are used, ana the exira room is an advantage in moving the frames cjuickly. The construction of the fi-ames is shown better in the illustration than could be done by a written description. Any frame u.sed in a nucleus should be so made that it can ))e used as part of a standard-sized frame, or so that a num])er of them fit into an empty frame; for other- wise it is difficult to get them filled with honey and brood before making up the nuclei. The frames of this particular nucleus box are one-third standard size, and two full ones and one only partl}'^ built out have given most satisfactory results. If the ))eesare ready to ])uild, some j)lace should be left for new comb; otherwise they will build small coml)s to the cover. A feeder is attached either to the back of the hive body, or in front over the entrance, and these can be filled ver}^ rapidl}^ when feeding is necessary. A colony of this size requires nuich less attention in this regard than the smaller size, and is correspondingly better. F[(;. 17.— Benton mailing cages, showing construction. The larger size is for shipment to distant conntries. The smaller cage may he used for shipments to Europe (original). THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 27 The coml) area is small enoui>h in tiiis hiv^e for the queen to be veiy quickly found, and. unless too many hees are put in, this part of the manipulation is very sinqjle. The original cost of the hive is consid- erably more than that of the smallest sized nuclei, but the body is much more dura])le, and the cost as compared with that of the full- sized hive, which some breeders use, is small. This mating- box was designed b}^ Mr. Frank Benton, of the Bureau of Entomology. It is not intended that the inference shall be made that this nucleus box is the best in use. It is described merel}" as a guide to queen rearers, and any other style of box which combines the good features of this one will do equally well. No one can deny that queens may be mated in hives smaller than a full colony, but a question sometimes arises as to whether the queens are as vigorous and prolitic after being mated from small boxes. To this, it may be answered that the successful mating of a queen depends on the drones which fly in the air; and this is in no way influenced b}^ the size of the hive. It takes very few workers to feed a queen — wit- ness the mailing boxes — and this is the onl}" function of the accompa- nying bees. If then a queen is herself strong and vigorous, and meets an equall}^ vigorous drone, she will be successfulU' mated, will be just as prolitic, and will lay just as long, when kept in a small colon}' to mate as in a full-sized one. From a practical standpoint it ma}- be answered that queens mated in small nuclei when put to the test have actually proven as good as those mated under other circumstances. This is after all the true test to be used. php:nomena in mating. In from tive to ten days after the emerging of the 3'oung queen from the queen cell, she leaves the colony for her mating flight. The flrst flights of a queen from the hive are very short, and, like 3'oung workers, she flies in circles near the entrance, as if flxing the location. Several such flights may l)e taken before she really takes a long one. Finalh', however, she leavers the entrance and flies in ever-increasing circles upward, and, if there are drones in the apiary or near by, she is usually mated. The height to wdiich she flies and the distance from the hive at which she meets the drone depend entireh^ on circum- stances; it ma}" be near at hand or even a couple of miles away. This is a matter very difficult of observation, naturally, but the mating has often been observed by chance. It is a very simple matter to see the first circles of the virgin on leaving the hive entrance, and if drones are plentiful it is not hard to see that many of them start after her. Anyone can verify so much; the rest depends on chance observations. From dissections of virgins and fertile queens, it has been found that, in mating, the spermatheca or seminal receptacle is filled with spermatozoa or male sex cells. The spermatheca is a very minute sac 28 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. opening into the oviduct down which the eggs must pass in going from the ovaries to the outside of the body. As each egg is laid, if it is to be fertilized, it receives one spermatozoon from this spermatheca, and the male cell is received into the egg and unites with it. More than one spermatozoon may adhere to the outside of the egg^ but no normal Qgg will admit more than one through the micropyle or opening in the end of the egg covering. In mating, the queen receives an enormous number of these sperma- tozoa, the number having been estimated at from two to twenty million. Since mating usually occurs but once, it is evident that these spermatozoa must be capable of independent existence for five years or more, for they are not capable of dividing or increasing in number in any way, and the queen is of course unable to produce new ones. Frequent cases have been reported of queens which have mated more than once, and this probably accounts for irregularit}- in the markings of the offspring of some queens. It is claimed by some that obviously the first mating must have been unsuccessful, but there seems to be no ground for that view, and there is no reason to believe that both matings were not complete. There is no reason whatever, so far as is known, why a queen can not receive a supply of spermatozoa from two drones, and some of the arguments to the contrary, with no basis of observation or knowledge of the anatomy, are not worthy of con- sideration. Cases have even been reported in which queens which have actually begun to lay have gone out for a second mating; but the evidence is as yet meager, and it will be well to wait for further obser- vation before considering such a possibility. Usually, however, a queen takes but one mating flight, and thereafter never again leaves the hive except with a swarm. The ovaries develop to such an extent that flight is impossible, without a previous stoppage in egg laying. TESTING aUEENS. If the honey producer is rearing queens for his own use, they may be introdu(;ed into full colonies as soon as they begin to lay. A fair idea of the value of the queen ma}'' be formed from the number and regularity of the eggs laid in the nucleus box, and if later she is found to be mismated, or not up to the standard in egg laying in a full col- ony, she should be discarded. A queen may be tested as to the purity of mating by allowing her brood to emerge in a small nucleus, but no estimate can be made in this wa}^ concerning her proliflcness. In test- ing for pure mating, however, the entrance should be covered with perforated zinc to prevent the colony from swarming out. If a queen is to be sold as "untested," she may be shipped as soon as she begins to lay after mating. Tested queens are those which have been kept until their progeny show the markings of pure mating. THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 29 Tested queens which have been kept in full colonies to observe purity of mating, and which after one season show that they possess abilit}' to produce strong colonies, are sold as "select tested,'" How- ever, it is to be feared that some queen breeders are not careful enough about this test and that queens are often sold under this guarant}- which are simpl}' tested queens one year old, which simply means that their life of usefulness is thereby shorter by one year. For breeding, nothing but the very beist of " select tested" queens should be used. Great care should be exercised in choosing such queens by watching purity of mating, proliticness, hone}' production of workers, disposition of bees, tendency to keep a very large colony of bees at all seasons ; and especially, care should be taken that brood rearing does not cease as soon as the honey flow slackens in midsummer. Some bees, otherwise good, will stop brood rearing with the tirst sign of a decrease in honey, with the result that the colony enters the fall flow with old bees, and that scarcely an3^thing but old l^ees are in the colony at the beginning of winter. This is probably the essential cause of the excessive death of bees in early spring, known as "spring dwindling." NECESSITY OF PURE STOCK. The necessity of purely -mated queens for breeding can not be too emphatically urged. The so-called " hybrids," or mismated queens, produce young queens of so much variability in ever}^ character that it is verv unwise to use them. There is one phase of queen breeding which would doubtless prove useful, but which has not yet been tried to any extent. The first crosses of various races have proven very useful; as, for example, the cross between Cyprians and Carniolans, but no breeder to the writer's knowledge has ever undertaken to flx the type. That this could be done seems very probable, reasoning from what we know of crosses in other animals, and by careful selec- tion of prolittc queens whose workers showed all the characteristics of the first cross, these crosses would doubtless prove valuable as breeders. Under no other circumstances, however, should mismated queens be used. SELECTION OF DRONES. The selection of drones i.s one of the things in which the vast majority of bee keepers are notoriously careless. Queen ]>reeders will select a breeding (jueen with great care and allow her progeny to mate with drones from any hive in the apiarj?^, and just as long as this is done there can be no advance in the tjq^es. Drones should not be allowed to fly except from colonies where the queens are prolific and the bees good workers, and just as much care should be exercised in the choice of colonies for the production of drones as for breeding 30 THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. queens. The mere fact that mating takes place in the air, out of the control of the bee keeper, is no reason why care should not be taken in the selection of drones which are allowed to fl}^ in the yard. When breeding any race, Italians for example, it is not enough that all the drones be Italians; they should be selected as to honey production of the workers, proliiicness of the queen, or any other quality which is considered in choosing a breeding queen. Selection of drones may be accomplished by the use of drone traps or by cutting out drone comb. For absolute safet}" the drone trap is preferable, since some drone brood may escape observation. When most colonies are requeened every season, only queens of breeding value should be kept, since old queens produce larger numbers of drones. INDEX. Page. Artificial cells ,. 12 queen rearing 1 0-24 Age of female larvse, for transfer tn artificial cells 13 Alley nursery cage 22 plan, modified 18 system of cell starting 18 Benton mating box 26-27 Breeding queens, mating 24-28 buying. . 8 Carniolan bees 8, 1 5, 29 Caucasian queens 23 Cell bases 12 cu]is, artificial ! 12 introduction 23 Cells, artificial 12 ' ' Cocoons, ' ' use in transfer of larvaj 19 Colony, size in mating of queens 24 Cyprian bees 8, 9, 15, 29 Doolittle wax cups 12 Drone comb, use in queen rearing 19 production, desirability of old queens for 7 traps, use in selection of drones 30 Drones, selection 29 Eggs, queen's age as factor in production 7 Female larvte alike in early development 9 Flight of queens 27 Hive, full, use as mating hive 24 small, use in mating 26-27 two-story, for queen rearing 13 Koney board, for queen rearing 14 Honey production, frequent requeening for 7 Hybrids, danger from use 8, 29 fixing types 29 Importing queens, desirability 8 Incubators 19 Introducing queen eel Is 23 Italian bees 8, 9 Larvse, female, age for transfer to artificial cells 13 alike in early development 9 Mailing cages 26 Mating boxes, styles and sizes 24-27 queens 24-28 storing in nursery ^ , 23 31 32 indp:x. Page. Mating, second 28 Natu'-al queen cells, description and number 9 objections 11 rearing 9-10 Nomenclature in queen rearing 11 Nucleus, small, advantages, disadvantages, and use 24-25 Nursery cages, different styles compared 20-23 Odor of queen cell ., 13 Patents on appliances - 11 Perforated zinc for protecting cells 14 Phenomena in mating 27 Pure races, necessity 29 Queen buying 8 cells, completion 1 9-24 introduction 23 starting 11 natural, description and number 9 disadvantages 11 rearing, artificial 1 0-24 natural 9-10 Queens, death in introduction into hive 24 importance in honey production 7 second matings - 28 Queenlessness 10 Requeening, frequency and necessity 7 Royal jelly, effect on larvae 9 in transferring larvae 13 supply - 11, 17 Selection of drones 29 Spermatheca filled on mating 27 Stanley cage . . . : 21 Supersedure, natural method of replacing queen 10 Swarm box, description and method of use 16 schedule 18 Swarming 9 ' ' Swarming impulse " 9 Swarthmore nucleus box 23 nursery cage 23 Testing queens 28-30 Titoff nursery cage 21 Transferring larvie, methods and appliances 1 2-1 5 in swarm box 17 Tunisian bees 9 West cell protector 21 o LBFe'07 ^