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A Beekeeper's Guide to Rearing Queen Bees - A Collection of Articles on Breeding, Laying, Cells and Other Aspects of Queen Rearing
A Beekeeper's Guide to Rearing Queen Bees - A Collection of Articles on Breeding, Laying, Cells and Other Aspects of Queen Rearing
A Beekeeper's Guide to Rearing Queen Bees - A Collection of Articles on Breeding, Laying, Cells and Other Aspects of Queen Rearing
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A Beekeeper's Guide to Rearing Queen Bees - A Collection of Articles on Breeding, Laying, Cells and Other Aspects of Queen Rearing

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This fantastic book contains a collection of classic articles on the subject of bee keeping, focusing mainly on queens and how to rear, introduce, and breed them. Written in simple, plain language and profusely-illustrated with helpful diagrams, these carefully-selected articles will be of considerable utility to those with a practical interest in bee keeping and related subjects. Contents Include: “Queen Rearing”, “Queen And Drone Raising”, “Queen Rearing”, “Hive For Rearing Queen Bees Queen-Rearing In Nature”, “Queen-Rearing. Artificial Methods”, “Queen-Rearing On A Larger Scale”, “Rearing And Introducing Queens”, “Raising Queen Bees - How To Introduce A Queen”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on bee keeping.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 29, 2013
ISBN9781447481249
A Beekeeper's Guide to Rearing Queen Bees - A Collection of Articles on Breeding, Laying, Cells and Other Aspects of Queen Rearing

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    A Beekeeper's Guide to Rearing Queen Bees - A Collection of Articles on Breeding, Laying, Cells and Other Aspects of Queen Rearing - Read Books Ltd.

    Digges

    QUEEN REARING

    WHILE queen rearing is a specialty about which several books have been written and many beekeepers follow as a source of livelihood, it is not likely to be followed very far by the average beginner. One should, however, be prepared to rear a few queens from time to time to supply special needs.

    The commercial queen breeder requires a large investment in special equipment in order to secure a sufficient volume in his output to secure profit worth while. Little special equipment is necessary for rearing a few queens along with other apiary operations. The one who wishes to follow the subject in detail is referred to the book, Practical Queen Rearing by this author.

    If only a few queens are wanted it is an easy matter to remove the queen from a strong colony and set her aside in a small nucleus with about two frames of brood and adhering bees. The colony finding itself queenless will at once start queencells. When these are sealed they can be carefully cut out and one placed in each of the hives to be requeened. If increase is desired a cell can be given to each division as described in the chapter on Making Increase. The cell should be placed in the center of the brood nest to make sure that it will not be chilled. Ripe cells must be handled with great care as even a slight jar may result in injury or death to the delicate creature.

    By this method the queens are mated from the hives in which they are to remain, and the beekeeper needs only to make sure that the colonies to which the young queens fail to return safely, are given another cell. The queens mate on the wing and are often lost by capture by robber flies, dragon flies or fail to find their way back to the hive.

    Queen rearing should only be attempted at a time when the weather is warm and the bees are gathering fresh nectar. At such times conditions are favorable for cell building, the young larvae are well fed and good queens are likely to result.

    In preparation for queen rearing it is well to remove a comb from the brood nest of a strong colony containing a queen from which it is desired to secure offspring. In place of this comb give a frame containing a full sheet of foundation. A few days later the bees will have drawn the foundation and the fresh comb should be filled with eggs. Tender new combs are best for starting queencells and the bees will build them much more readily than on old and tough brood combs.

    Where two strong colonies are side by side both should be removed to a new stand and one hive with empty combs placed between the positions formerly occupied by the two hives. All field bees from both hives will return to this position and soon a large cluster of bees will occupy the combs but they will have neither queen, or brood.

    A shallow empty super can then be set on top of the hive to provide room for the new comb with eggs which has been prepared for use here. This frame should be laid on its side instead of hanging in the usual manner. Since the bees have no brood except what may be present in this new comb and no queen, they will at once cluster and start building queen-cells. The number of cells secured in this way will vary anywhere from ten to one hundred but it is a simple and dependable way to secure good results with no extra cost. If desired the cells can be removed after sealing and another new comb be given in similar manner.

    Natural built queencells on side of comb.

    COMMERCIAL QUEEN REARING

    When large numbers of queens are wanted, artificial cells made of beeswax are prepared. These are shaped much like the embryo queencells. They are fastened in special frames to hold them in natural position in the hive of the cell building colony. The cell building colony is usually composed of a large cluster of queenless bees prepared as above described or by shaking bees from their combs into a cage called a swarm box. They are then confined in a dark cellar for a day or two until they are ready to be taken to a new location and placed in a new hive.

    Queencells built in prepared base.

    The prepared queencells are primed with a drop of royal jelly if available. Royal jelly is the milky jelly-like substance which the bees feed freely to queens in the larval stage. This richer food and the larger cells are sufficient to permit the young larva from a worker cell to develope into a queen. Queencells in which the larvae have not yet reached the time of sealing will be well supplied with this royal jelly. With a special tool which looks like a knitting needle flattened at one end the beekeeper takes a drop of the jelly and places it in the bottom of each of the queencells. If no jelly can be had he uses a small drop of honey and under favorable conditions this seems to serve nearly as well.

    When the cells are thus prepared the beekeeper takes the tool already mentioned which he calls grafting tool and lifts a very young larva from its place in the brood comb of his breeding colony and places it in each. This is a delicate job and one which is likely to require a bit of practice to enable one to do without injury to the young larvae. The younger the larvae used the better results are expected although it is possible to produce queens with larvae up to about three days old. Experienced queen breeders advise the use of larvae not to exceed twelve hours old.

    This prepared frame with its newly grafted queencells is now given to the queenless bees known as the cell-starting colony. From this point there is great variation in the common practice. Some permit the queencells to remain in this hive until they are sealed and ready to remove to mating hives. Others take them out after about 24 hours and give to another queenless colony known as the cell-finishing colony.

    Queencells in special frames by artificial method.

    A young queen completes her growth in sixteen days from the time the egg is laid. On the eleventh day after the young larvae are placed in the cells, the queens will be nearly ready to emerge, and it will be necessary to remove the ripe cells to mating hives. The author has several times lost nice lots of young queens by a mistake in his timing. The first queen to emerge will at once start searching for others not yet out and will destroy them one after another until she is left alone as queen of the hive.

    It is at this point that the commercial queen breeder finds much equipment necessary since he must provide a nucleus for each young queen to enable her to continue normal activity until she is needed. Some divide ordinary hives into three parts with tight divisions which prevent the bees from passing from one to another. A flight hole for each division is on a different side of the hive to prevent mixing of the bees or the returning queen to get into the compartment of her neighbor.

    INTRODUCTION OF LAYING QUEENS

    When queens are brought from a distance they will come in small cages with one compartment supplied with candy for food. There will be about a dozen nurse bees to care for each queen. Queens which have been long outside the hive and have come through the mails will often prove rather difficult to introduce to her new environment. The bees are hostile to a stranger and a period of adjustment is needed before she is released. The colony to which she is to be given must, of course, be queen-less. It is better if the former queen be removed just before the new one is given to prevent the bees from becoming demoralized. On the cage will be found a card with printed directions. The instructions will suggest that the cage containing the new queen be placed between the frames in the center of the hive and the bees be permitted to eat away the candy and thus release her. If the compartment containing candy still be well filled, it will require a day or two for them to remove it and by that time they are likely to accept the newcomer.

    Cage for shipping queens.

    The author has found that the queen is more likely to be introduced successfully if the nurse bees which come with her are removed from the cage before it is placed in the hive. Often the bees are more hostile to these strange workers than to the queen herself.

    BREEDING BETTER BEES

    Good stock is as important to the beekeeper as to the poultryman or cattleman. It is simpler to make an improvement in the strain of bees than to make similar changes in a herd of livestock. The life of the individual bee is short and by placing a pure queen at the head of the colony we soon replace the entire working force. If the queen is replaced in spring or summer the former stock will be replaced within a few weeks. In late autumn many of the old bees will remain in the hive until the following spring.

    Since all the eggs in a hive are laid by the one queen she must be enormously productive. It is highly important to breed from the most prolific queens. Next to production, gentleness is the most desirable trait, although disease resistance is perhaps equally important. Non-swarming is also greatly to be desired.

    QUEEN AND DRONE RAISING

    Introduction

    General

    140. Volumes have been written on this subject, it being one of the first importance to successful beekeeping. The essential details of the numerous methods are here reproduced in such a way as to minimize repetition, the whole being brought into convenient compass by the omission of all that is mainly historical, of much argument and unnecessary description of details which can be seen in any Catalogue of Appliances and by the orderly arrangement of the parts. Some repetition has been necessary mainly for the sake of the worker on a small scale who has no occasion to master the details of methods employed by the professional. In connection with this, and indeed any, section of the work, the author will be glad to hear from anyone able to add information of importance in the practical art, furnishing any improvement or useful addition to what is here given.

    Attention to Detail

    141. It will be understood that in such a condensed account every detail matters. The beekeeper who substitutes six days for three through some other engagement, or omits to feed where feeding is advised, or who in fact fails to observe any of the numerous details given, will deserve the results he will get, but they will not be the best, and no beekeeper can afford to have any but the best queens.

    Small Scale Working

    142. At the same time, let not the small beekeeper hesitate, if he so desires, to raise the few queens he requires, let that number be half a dozen or less, for he can raise them by simple measures in his own hives without special appliances, adding greatly to the interest of his hobby and his reasonable pride in his results. He has the advantage over the. professional queen breeder that his queens do not have to suffer the common handicap of more or less detrimental internment in cages at a critical period, and transit by post, but the disadvantage that his results may be largely influenced by his neighbour’s drones.

    The subject is first treated in a simple way for the small man, and is then developed in full detail.

    Queen Raising Without Interference

    General

    143. Queens are raised by bees (a) under the swarming impulse; (b) to supersede failing queens; and (c) to replace queens lost from any cause.

    Under Swarming Impulse

    144. When the colony has expanded in the spring and drone cells are reached or built, following the commencement of a spell-of milder weather, drone eggs are laid. This is a necessary first step because the drone takes longer to mature than the queen (4). In latitude 50° to 55°, except in severe climates, this generally occurs in the beginning of April in the northern hemisphere, October in the southern hemisphere, and may occur even before this.

    145. Queen cells are next started, and, in good weather, eggs may be laid in them when drone brood is well advanced, but this may be deferred any time up to about midsummer. This depends upon the weather, the strength of the hive and the swarming tendency of the strain. Swarming occurring later than this is due to bad conditions such as excessive heat and overcrowding (1408). Swarming is most likely to occur in the normal course shortly after the maximum brood production is reached (1345).

    146. Queen cells built under the swarming impulse are built out on the sides or bottom edges of the expanding combs, but if frames full of comb are used, places may be made for them by the bees by cutting away comb on the face or edge. The cell is commenced as a cup resembling a small acorn cup, opening downwards and outwards, and the completed cell hangs downwards. Several are started in succession. The egg is laid in he cell after the cup has been formed and the presence of such newly formed cups is a sure indication that any neighbouring completed cells have been prepared under the swarming impulse. Say six to twelve are generally built, but some bees build fewer and some fifty or more.

    Under Supersedure Impulse

    147. When a queen is found to be, or thought (148) to be, failing, arrangements are made to supersede her. This is done by the worker bees, new queens being raised from selected larvæ of suitable age in the cells in which they are growing, these cells and their surroundings being suitably modified. A few cells here and there are cut down at about the same time and then opened out and neighbouring cells cut away and emptied, so as to leave room for the depending portion of the queen cells. Thus the base of these cells is the thin mid-rib of the comb, whereas the base of queen cells built under the swarming impulse when located on the face of the comb is a substantial cup located, say, half an inch from the midrib.

    Queenright Supersedure

    148. If a portion of the brood becomes separated from the remainder where the queen happens to be, by a substantial barrier, such as combs of honey or a queen excluder, such portion including eggs or young larvæ, the bees in that portion are likely to raise queens from young larvæ in the manner above described. Such a colony is clearly not queenless. The queen may be in full lay and able to continue so. It is not clear, therefore, whether the partially isolated portion of the bees consider themselves queenless or to have a failing queen. It is difficult to believe the former, as the bees do not have to search even the outside of the hive to find her, and in the writer’s opinion the bees in the portion of the hive in question conclude that the queen is failing, and he calls the impulse queenright supersedure. The apiarist discovering such a case must not be misled into concluding either that the queen is failing or that swarming is the impulse, although there is a risk of swarming occurring, as there is with normal supersedure.

    149. Bees disinclined to swarm sometimes tolerate a failing queen while her daughter is becoming fertilized, and even after she commences to lay.

    To Replace Lost Queens

    150. A queen lost in swarming, or through careless or ill-advised manipulation, will be replaced by the bees by one raised from young worker larvæ, as in supersedure. While such queen bees are maturing no young brood or eggs will be found in the hive. Such queens are sometimes raised in too much of a panic from larvæ over the suitable age (8). The beekeeper should be suspicious of any queen in an undersized cell, or taking a day or two more than the usual 15 days to mature, or failing to show the characteristic small head, large thorax, relatively short wings, large abdomen and plain legs of a good queen (6).

    How to Distinguish the Impulse

    151. Queen cells raised under the swarming impulse are new cells with a thick acorn bottom formed generally on the edges of the combs; they are started in succession so that they are found in various periods of development. Drone brood is present. Egg-laying is generally reduced.

    Supersedure cells are extensions of existing worker cells and have no thick bottom. They generally consist of a batch started at one time, though not all on one comb. Drones are usually already flying some time before they are started.

    Queenright supersedure cells are laid under conditions described in 148.

    Supersedure cells to replace lost queens are found in hives without eggs (other than those which may be laid by laying workers), with diminishing brood, and, of course, absence of queen.

    Queen Raising to Plan on a Small Scale

    General

    152. For queen raising the apiarist may utilize queen cells raised under either impulse above mentioned, destroying those he does not require, but to do so requires as much supervision and involves as much disturbance as does any well-considered plan and is less certain in its results, save in the case of one who encourages swarming and relies on this, with his system of management, for the production of queens as well as the production of honey.

    For such a one the main requirements are a prolific strain, regular but not excessive swarming, and disposition to make one large swarm. He will raise a new queen in the parent stock where required, and from his best stocks may take further queens by removal of cells. For further management of the removed cells see 220–4.

    Reducing the Swarming Instinct

    153. The majority of beekeepers, however, desire to suppress or, at least reduce, the swarming instinct, and such should not raise queens under the swarming impulse, because thereby they will eliminate, by breeding out, the very bees having, or tending to have, the very characteristic they desire to retain and strengthen. They should utilize the queenright supersedure or queenless impulses (147–51).

    They should not await the manifestation of these impulses by the course of nature, but choose times and seasons profitable to themselves, and bring

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