Improved Queen-Rearing: How to Rear Large, Prolific, Long-Lived Queen Bees

In the year 1857 I had very little knowledge of apiculture, yet I had seen bees in hives apparently working, “making honey” as it was called in those days by all who kept bees; had heard all the talk about the “king bee,” and had seen hives draped in mourning when a member of the bee-keepers’ family died. I had also seen the bee-keeper and his family out in the apiary pounding upon tin pans, ringing the dinner bell, and raising a hub-bub generally when a colony had cast a swarm. Then I had seen bees “carry wax” on their legs, etc., etc.

Well, I did not require very much experience with bees to find out that all the above performances were indulged in only by ignorant and superstitious bee-keepers. With all the literature we now have concerning apiculture, some bee-keepers may be found who know no more about bees than those who kept them 50 years ago.

In the month of July, 1857, I found a fine swarm of bees hanging upon a limb of a tree in my garden. The bees were hived in a small packing box, and at once commenced to build comb and store honey. When fall came the box was well filled with bees and stores, and the colony went into winter quarters in fine condition, and came out in the spring strong in numbers, proving to be a first-class colony in all respects.

In the spring of 1858, I purchased another colony which was in a box-hive that had a 7 × 9 glass in the back side through which I watched the bees many hours. Well do I remember the great interest I took in bees at that time. One day while watching the bees through the glass, I saw the queen pass around one of the combs, and had really seen the great “king bee.” Before winter set in, I had not only seen other queen bees but had actually reared a few. Then I got an idea that I had learned all there was to know about bees and queen rearing. But this little bit of egotism was dispelled by each year’s experience, and I soon found that there was much to learn about bee-keeping. And now, after my long experience in queen rearing, I find that no one can live long enough to learn all there is to know about the subject of bees and apiculture generally. Surely no one can learn the art of bee keeping in one year as many bee-keepers of the present day claim.

Well, at the end of one year’s experience, I was seized with a desire to go into queen rearing extensively. By this time I had learned that every colony of bees had a queen and that drones were male bees; and also found out hundreds of things about bees that I never before had known. I had discovered that when a colony of bees was deprived of its queen it would at once commence to construct queen cells, and rear several young queens.