When a laying queen is removed from a colony during the working season, eggs and larvæ of all ages are left behind. As indicated in Chapter II, any egg which has been fertilized may be made to develop into a queen. So also larva? from such eggs may, up to the third day, be taken to rear from without danger of producing inferior queens. Cells in which to produce queens will be started over some of these larvæ on the edges of the combs, or, by tearing down partitions and thus enlarging the lower portion of the cell, a beginning is obtained for a queen cell. Fig. 63 shows such queen cells constructed over eggs or larvæ originally designed to produce workers. They are known as emergency cells. The young larva is at once liberally supplied with a secretion, which is probably a production of the glands of the head, and which analyses have shown to be rich in nitrogen and fatty elements, being similar to that given at first to the worker larva. This is continued throughout the whole feeding period, while, as Dr. Von Planta has shown, in the case of the workers and drones, after the third day the proportion of the constituents of the larval food is so changed that they receive much less albumen and fat and more sugar. It is chiefly the influence of this food which causes the larva that would have developed as a worker to become a queen. The latter has somewhat changed instincts,, and its reproductive system is developed, instead of abortive as in the case of the worker. The size of the cell, and, to a less extent perhaps, its position, no doubt influence this development, but the food seems to be the main factor, for small cells built horizontally, if their larvæ are supplied with the food designed for royal larvæ, will be found to contain queens, and frequently these queens, even though small, are quite prolific, and show in all respects the instincts of a queen.
Fig. 63.—Queen cells and worker brood in various stages. (Original.)
It is believed by most queen raisers that in order to secure the best development of the young queens a colony should be allowed to build but a few cells at a time. That their belief is not well founded is shown by the facts just cited concerning the large numbers of well-developed queen cells which produce also perfect and prolific queens. It lies within the skill of the bee-master to establish conditions favoring the production of food for the queen larvæ—the so called "royal jelly"—and this having been brought about, there need be no hesitancy in permitting the construction of hundreds of queen cells in one colony if such numbers are needed.
It was formerly the plan, after removing the queen from a colony in order to secure queen cells, to trim the lower edges of the combs containing eggs or very young larvæ, or to cut out strips of comb about an inch wide just below worker cells containing eggs or just-hatched larvæ. This practice gave the bees space in which to build perfect full-sized cells, but it had certain disadvantages. Good worker combs were mutilated, often quite ruined, in order to secure the construction of the cells and also in cutting out the latter. Cells so formed are often in groups so close together that they can not be separated without injury to numbers of them, necessitating, if desirable to save all, a close watch, or at least frequent examination, for hours or even days, since all the queens are not likely to emerge at the same time.
To remedy this Mr. O. H. Townsend, of Michigan, devised a plan which is described in Gleanings in Bee Culture for July, 1880 (Vol. VIII, p. 322). It consists in cutting combs whose cells contain eggs or freshly hatched larvæ into narrow strips and pinning or sticking these on the sides of brood combs in such a manner that the cells containing the eggs or larvæ from which queens are desired shall open downward. Mr. Townsend removed the larvæ from some of the cells, believing that he secured better developed queens by limiting the number, and also because he could then cut them out more easily for insertion in separate hives. In the succeeding number of Gleanings (August, 1880), Mr. J. M. Brooks, of Indiana, illustrated a plan for securing even greater regularity. This consists in shaving off the cells on one side down nearly to the midrib of each strip of worker comb containing the eggs or larvæ selected to rear queens from, and then sticking these strips on the undersides of horizontal bars nailed in ordinary comb frames. Mr. Henry Alley, in his work on queen rearing, published in 1883, recommends sticking the prepared strips, shallow cells downward, on the lower edges of combs which have been trimmed so as to round downward. This leaves plenty of space for the full development of queen cells, the eggs or larvæ in alternate cells having been removed as in the plans previously mentioned. All conditions being favorable, many cells conveniently located are thus secured, and if the exact age of the eggs or just-hatched larvæ has been noted the time the young queens will emerge may be known beforehand, so that preparation can be made for them. Nuclei—small clusters of bees containing a quart to two quarts—are to be placed in separate hives and given combs, emerging brood, and a supply of food, and to each of these a mature cell is to be given. The nuclei thus prepared may be confined to their hives with wire cloth and placed in a cellar for two or three days, and when set out, just at dusk (p. 117), the bees will adhere to their new location. Full colonies, whose queens it is desired to replace, may also be made queenless about two or three days beforehand, and when mature the cells inserted one each in these. In cutting out the cell a small piece of comb, triangular shaped, 1½ to 2 inches long and about 1½ inches broad at the top, is to be left attached to it whenever practicable, since it will then be easy to insert it in one of the combs of the queenless colony or nucleus, by cutting out a corresponding triangular piece. Fig. 54 shows a queen cell inserted in a brood comb. It is safest not to cut the cells out until they are within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of their full maturity. In case a nucleus or colony has not been queenless long enough to make it ready to accept a queen cell, the latter may be placed in a cell protector made of wire cloth or of a spiral coil of wire and then inserted between the central combs of the hive. The lower end only of the protector is open, so that the upper portion of the cell—the part easily bitten open by the workers—is wholly covered.
Queen nurseries on the general plan devised many years ago by Dr. Jewell Davis, of Illinois, are used to hold surplus maturing cells and the young queens, after emerging, for which colonies or nuclei are not ready at once. These nurseries consist of compartments about 1½ inches square, made of wood and wire cloth, and so arranged that they may be suspended in the center of a colony of bees, a frame being filled with them for this purpose. Each compartment contains a bit of soft candy to sustain the life of the queen in case the bees fail to feed her. Spiral coils of wire somewhat longer than those used as queen-cell protectors have been arranged with a metal cup for food, so that, in principle, they are the same as the compartments of the Davis queen nurseries and are used for the same purpose.
The young queens will usually mate when from five to seven days old, flying from the hive for this purpose. If any undesirable drones are in the apiary they may be restrained from flying by means of excluder zinc over the hive entrances, permitting only workers to pass in and out. In a day or two after mating the queen generally commences to deposit eggs, and is then ready for use in the apiary or to be sent away as an "untested queen." To enable her to rank as a "tested queen" it will be necessary to keep her three weeks or a little longer in order to see her worker progeny and ascertain by their markings that the queen has mated with a drone of her own race. As both tested and untested queens are usually raised from the same mothers—the best in the given apiary—either may be obtained for honey production; but for use as breeders only tested queens which have been approved in every way should be purchased, unless, indeed, the purchaser prefers to buy several untested queens, which can usually be obtained for the price of one approved and selected breeder, and do his own testing, trusting that among them one or more may prove valuable as a breeding queen. "Warranted queens" are untested queens sent out with a guaranty that they have mated purely. If few or no drones of another race are in the vicinity of a breeder, he is tolerably safe in doing this. The proper plan is for the breeder to keep a record of the brood of all such queens and replace such as show that they have mismated.
Exact records of the ages of all queens should be kept, and notes on the qualities of their progeny are desirable, while in some instances particulars as to pedigrees are valuable.