The Italian Alp-bee; or, The gold mine of husbandry / short and practical instructions to breed genuine prolific Italian queens; to multiply them by hundreds in a few months and how to change German hives into Italian

by H. C. Hermann

Food must not be spared with brood-hives, as that will induce them to continue breeding.

So prepared, commences now the proper culture of queens.

For that purpose small queen-breeding-boxes are required for it is troublesome to single out a queen in a large and populous hive and otherwise not advantageous to disturb a strong hive by ill-treatment.

The ground-rules for the certain pure-keeping of the Italian race, consist always of this: to destroy the black drones, and to increase the Italian ones.

Therefore, it is better to take care that the Italian bees are placed on a stand where no black drones are allowed. And if now German people are brought to strengthen the Italian colony then let them pass in review first and kill the black drones.

The work can be made much easier by letting the bees run into any weak hive, and only through a narrow slit, when only working-bees can pass through, but is too narrow for drones, so that the drones can all be kept back. The next day the bees can be taken out of the hive again and used.

Not only is the object gained to put away the drones, but the bees are also discouraged, so that they can be joined with others without difficulty. Should they have run into a hive deprived of the queen, or only provided with queen-cells, they will be heartily glad that a queen is given them and will not leave her. The bees generally become anxious and tame if the drones and drone-brood are taken away. Endeavouring now, on the one hand, to permit no black drones on the Italian stand, which is kept for the improvement of the races, and to destroy them with their drone-brood and cells, care must be taken, on the other hand, that the Italian bees breed the largest possible quantity of drones. Some assert that the Italian queens lay more drone-eggs than the Germans, but that is not right; they lay them in the same proportion as the black bees but it can be forwarded by the placing of drone-breeding-combs in the breeding-nest; for the queen to fill them, it is above all things, necessary that the hive be populous and the weather favourable.

As soon as a drone-breeding-comb is filled, it should, without delay, be placed in a hive deprived of the queen, because those hives in their queenless state, seize the opportunity to bring up drones as if they were aware that they would be necessary for the impregnation of their future queen.

Such a hive seldom destroys drone-brood; while hives with queens, as a general rule, on the approach of bad weather, tear out the drone-brood and turn the drones away.

But as soon as the queen, intended for the drone-breeding hive, is again impregnated, the drones would be in danger of being turned out again, for in particular, fresh impregnated queens do away with the drones very quickly, therefore the impregnated queen must be taken from the drone-hive; in that way drone hives may be kept until late in the autumn. The queens intended for drone production, particularly in bad weather, must be stimulated with food; so that they do not relax in laying eggs.