Improved Queen-Rearing; or, How to Rear Large, Prolific, Long-Lived Queen Bees / The Result of Nearly Half a Century's Experience in Rearing Queen Bees, Giving the Practical, Every-day Work of the Queen-Rearing Apiary

by Henry Alley

THE DRONE-TRAP IN CONNECTION WITH QUEEN-REARING

The reader’s attention is called to the utility of the drone-trap in queen-rearing. It’s a wonder to me how it is that any queen breeder can produce queens that can be called pure in the same apiary where there are anywhere from ten to forty full colonies of bees sending out their millions of drones every fine day throughout the season. It has always been my practice to use the drones from only one colony for mating young queens to. How else can any queen-breeder know by what strain of bees his young queens are mated to? Drone-traps are kept at the entrance of my hives the entire season, excepting on the hive from which the drones are allowed to fly. I do not like a haphazard way of mating queens. There is no way by which the queen breeder can have absolute control of the fertilization of his queens as can be done by using the trap. If you come into my apiary between May 20 and Oct. 1, you will find traps on every hive in the yard. The trap in controlling swarming and catching the thousands of useless drones has a world-wide reputation as all practical bee-keepers well know.

Figure 17

I regret very much to have to say that few if any of the supply dealers are sending out queen-traps that are of any value. About all who use the traps have an idea that they can improve its construction. Few of these people realize that all those supposed improvements were tested in my yard years before they ever saw the trap. Yet many of these useless and needless improvements have been attached to the trap by those who are selling them, rendering the trap almost worthless.

An improved queen and drone-trap is illustrated in fig. [16]. This trap is so constructed that no bees are destroyed by smothering. The trap does not clog and the bees have a clear and easy way through it, in and out of the hive. Three sides are covered by perforated metal, thus affording abundance of ventilation to the hive at all times.

The trap prevents any bees from decamping either before or after a swarm has issued or has been hived. When a swarm issues, all that need be done is to move the hive the bees issue from to a new location, and put an empty hive in its place; take the trap and place it at the entrance of the new hive; the swarm soon returns, and while the bees are running in, draw the top slide to release the queen, and she will enter with the bees. Then stand back and see the swarm rush in pell-mell and take possession of the hive. Whew! what fun on a hot day to have all this work done without any effort on your part; no climbing trees, fretting, worry or loss of bees.

Last season I saw a trap in Boston that was put up by one of the largest supply dealers in the world. I was amazed when informed that any man who ever kept bees would send out such a thing. The dealer who had it called it the “Alley” trap. I said I invented the Alley trap, but I would not own up as the inventor of a thing like the one in question.

I have not dealt in the traps for many years. But I am so disgusted by what I have seen of the worthless things manufactured by other people, I shall take up the manufacture of them again. Fig. [17] represents old style trap.