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 QUEEN NURSERY AND HOW TO USE IT

One would naturally think that when a lot of ripe queen-cells are at hand the thing to do would be to form nuclei for the reception of the cells or young queens. It is not so in my case. I never allow queens to hatch in nuclei. My reasons for this are many. I like to secure a large number of queens, say 50 or 100, and critically examine each one to see that they are all right before making up nucleus colonies.

All of my queens are hatched in nurseries and in such cages as illustrated in fig. [6]. The size of these cages is such that 35 of them just fill one standard Langstroth frame having a thin top bar. These cages are sawed and fitted so nicely that they will stay in the frame without fastenings of any kind.

It will be seen that there are two holes in the edge of the cage. One is for a queen-cell, the other for a small piece of sponge which is filled with honey slightly diluted with water. The water prevents the sponge drying too quickly and the honey furnishes food for the young queens some two weeks. When the cages are ready, and the cells in them, a frame is filled and then is placed in the center of a large colony of bees, and between two full combs of brood. This sort of hive-incubator works splendidly and in the course of 48 hours all the young queens will be hatched out, when the nursery should be removed and placed in a queenless colony or in a colony nursing unhatched queens.

Before any young queens are introduced they should be closely examined, and if any are found not up to the standard, or in any way inferior, they should be destroyed. If any cells containing inferior queens are given nucleus, or inferior queens introduced, and not looked after until they have been in the hive long enough to become fertile, it will be found that much valuable time has been lost. I cannot afford to take such chances, therefore I want to see and examine all queens before giving them to colonies.

Figure 6

The above is one of the reasons why I use a queen nursery; another reason is that each nursery cage is equal to a nucleus colony.

My plan has always been to have queens ready to give nuclei in three days after removing a laying queen. That is as soon as a virgin queen can safely be introduced in such cases.

The queen nursery is one of the most valuable implements any queen breeder can have in his apiary. Nothing has ever been devised that equals its usefulness. I surely could not rear and ship the large number of queens I do every year without using a nursery, or going to the expense of running double the number of nucleus colonies to take the places of the nursery cages. The nursery saves about one half the expense in money and bees, as well as much labor. I not only use the nursery for virgin queens and cell-hatching, but for keeping a supply of fertile queens all through the season.

The nursery illustrated in fig. [7] is of an old pattern, takes but 18 cages and accommodates only as many queens.

Figure 7