THE APIARY.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 43, Issue 5, 20 November 1931, Page 376

THE APIARY.

Simple Methods for Requeening.

By this time the beekeeper should be able to decide which of his queens are. fit to carry on through the season, and which should be destroyed and replaced by new ones. During the swarming season it is a simple matter to obtain good ripe queen-cells for requeening purposes. A few nucleus hives are a' valuable asset in any apiary, and may be utilized throughout the summer for the purpose of hatching and mating relays of young queens. In addition to the employment of queen-cells produced under the swarming impulse (and such cells are usually of the best quality), there are several methods of artificial queen-raising in practice among commercial beekeepers. Most of these are described in any , text-book, but are sometimes regarded as too intricate for the. average man.

A simple method, and one frequently very successful if only a small number of cells is required at once, consists in raising several frames of eggs and very young brood above an excluder, confining the queen to the bottom story. At the end of ten days or so there should be several good queen-cells on the frames above the excluder, ready to transfer to nucleus colonies. These cells should be carefully cut from the combs without any jarring or shaking, and grafted on to combs in the nucleus hives. On no account should the queen-cells be removed before the tenth day. They would really be better left in the parent hive for a longer period, except for the fact that the bees may have raised them from young larvae, in which case they will be due to hatch on the eleventh or twelfth day. This method is even more likely to ensure success if the combs containing eggs, &c., are placed in the third story with a super of sheets of foundation or empty combs between them and the brood-chamber. It must be borne in mind that no dequeening is required by this method.

Another simple method, and one more easily controlled by the beekeeper, consists in placing a frame of eggs horizontally over the frames in the brood-chamber. This is best arranged for by placing an empty worker-comb in a strong colony and marking the date on the frame. As soon as the queen has laid in the comb the colony which is to be utilized for queen-raising purposes must be dequeened, and it is best at the time

to remove all unsealed brood. This will ensure that all queen-cells will be raised on the specially prepared frame of eggs. If every second and third row of cells is pared down to the midrib, and only one in four of the cells in the remaining rows allowed to contain an egg, a greater number of queen-cells will probably be procured. However, the frame will usually be found quite satisfactory just as it comes from the hive, without any paring or cutting. An empty frame must be procured and laid on top of the brood-chamber. On this the frame of eggs is laid, and the whole covered with two or three mats. An empty super must be placed on the hive, so that the frame of eggs will not be crushed when the roof is put on. The bees will draw the queen-cells downward, the empty frame allowing room for them to be developed to their full length. If only eggs are used, as suggested, the queen-cells may be safely left on the hives for thirteen or fourteen days after the introduction of the frame of eggs, by which time they will be ready for the nuclei. As soon as the young queens in the nuclei have laid a fair number of eggs they should be removed to replace a failing queen, and their places filled by more ripe queen-cells, until a sufficient number of young queens have been produced to renew the stocks in the apiary.

Forming Nuclei.

With the approach of the main honey-flow and the prospect of more settled weather the beekeeper can turn his attention to the question of forming nuclei, either with an eye to artificial increase or for queen-raising purposes. Whatever the object for which they are produced, the simplest method of forming nuclei is as follows : From the strongest colonies in' the apiary take combs of sealed brood with adhering bees. Place two of these combs in each nucleus hive, together with one comb of honey and an empty comb. It is as well, if the size of the hive will permit, to add a feeder. Close the entrance of the nucleus hive by tacking over it a piece of perforated zinc or wire cloth, and place the newly formed colony in a cool place for twentyfour hours. At the end of this time, the hive may be placed on its permanent stand and the entrance opened. Some of the field-bees will return to the parent hives, but in the meantime much of the sealed brood will have hatched, and thus the absconders will hardly'be missed. The small colony can at any time be given a ripe queen-cell, and under favourable weather conditions will soon possess a laying queen.

Nuclei can be built from one or two strong colonies, each of which should produce four or five small colonies ; or several hives in the apiary may each be robbed of a frame of brood, thus providing increase while leaving the full colonies practically undiminished. When the young queen commences laying in a nucleus hive she should be left in possession until she has filled two frames with eggs, when she may be removed and given to a colony which requires requeening. The nucleus should at the same time be supplied with a ripe queen-cell, and the process repeated as long as young queens are required. .

Finding Black Queens.

It is a very difficult matter, even for experienced beekeepers, to find a Black queen in a thickljr populated colony by the usual method of looking over the frames. ‘ Much time and labour may be saved by adopting the sifting method. To do this tack a queen-excluder on the bottom of an empty half-super ; then nail on the excluder a piece of board about 4 in. wide and the length of the hive, so that its edge is flush with the side of the half-super. Now remove from the bottom-board.the hive containing the queen to be found, placing it to one side. Put an empty super in its place on the stand, then over it the sieve or super with excluder. This should be placed so that the board on the bottom overlaps the hive below by about 4 in., which will leave a gap at the opposite side in which to replace

the frames. Now place the hive over the sieve, lift out each frame with the adhering bees, starting from the nearest side, and quickly give each frame a sharp shake over the hive on the sieve so as to dislodge the bees. As each frame is. done, place it in the hive below, sliding it along under the excluder ; it' will be gradually pushed along until it occupies its former position in the hive. When all have been done the remaining bees in the now empty hive may be dumped into the sieve. The bees will soon find their way down to the brood below, leaving the queen and the drones above the excluder, as they cannot get through the small holes.' A little smoke will, hasten the descent of the worker-bees. ' The queen can then be found trying to get through to the brood below.

—E. A. Earp,

Senior Apiary Instructor Wellington.