BEEKEEPERS' NOTES.

Shannon News, 9 January 1925, Page 1

BEEKEEPERS' NOTES.

HQW TO REAR QUEENS.

Those wishing- to. divide colonies or rear new queens should do so as early as possible, and not leave it until the season is too far advanced and the colonies-are short of honey and brood. Personally, I would not recommend dividing - colonies unless one really wants to increase the number of htveu, and, further, this is .preferably done when one has the new queens ready at hand to introduce into the subdivided colonies. Therefore, it is best first of all to start rearing your queens.

The rearing of queens should only be undertaken where there is a good honey flow on, and queens, if they are to be good, should only be reared from colonies that are almost on the point of swarming. The rearing- of really good, prolific queens is no easy matter;; in fact,, it is the highest point in scientific beekeeping, and one has to have a thorough knowledge of bees.

The rearing of a batch of queens means that at least two colonies of bees will have to be coasiderably depleteoMn "numbers, so much so that often'one is left - with two practically useless colonies' on hand. One strong colony is required for rearing the new batch of queens, a'nd at least one other, for. making nuclei for the mating of the queens when they hatch ou't.. If a large number of queens are to be reared, as many as four or five colonies will have to be broken up for this .purpose. Very often, through on e cause or another, one fails to get the queens, mated; sometimes a queen enters the hive in which the queen cells are being built, and the whole batch of cells are torn down and the young queens destroyed.

I have several times had a swarm come and take possession of a queenrearing hive and the queen has destroyed all the cells. This is one of those ; unavoidable accidents • that sometimes occur when one has to maintain a large force of drones in the hives and is unable to, keep a queen excluder across the entrance," Even after every care and attention in rearing a large number of queens o'n e finds that after mating them a great many do not come up to expectations and are not worth keeping. l't is surprising what a difference one often finds in a batch of queens reared from the same bees. Some are more ;lavishly fed by the young bees and turn out to be very large- in size and good layers, while others which have not received as much attention are small in stature and very po'pr. ~layers. ■ ; ; : : Scientific queen-rearing iis, there-'' fore, no amateur's job, hence the reason why there are so many failures and so few queen bee breeders in this country. *

Before.anyone can safely undertake queen-rearing he must be in possession of a queen-rearing outfit. This 'consists of a nursery frame fitted with a number of small nursery cages, a quantity of wax cell-cups and holders, a set of transferring needles, and a jelly;'spoon. Most queen-rearing outfits are supplied with a small book of instructions, and the whole outfit can be purchased for a,bout £2. It will be advisable to state for what type of hive one requires the outfit.