The illustrated Australasian bee manual and complete guide to modern bee culture in the southern hemisphere by Hopkins Isaac

Author:Hopkins, Isaac
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Bees
Publisher: Wellington, N.Z., Gordon and Gotch Proprietary
Published: 1911-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII.

QUEEN REARING.

IMPORTAXCE OF REARING QUEENS.

There is no branch of commercial bee-keeping deserving of more strict attention on the part of the bee-keeper as a means of improving his bees, than that of queen rearing. It is only in the judicious selection of their breeding stock, season after season, that beekeepers can hope to make the continuous progress that is possible, and which their interests demand. The improvement of his bees should be the constant aim of each bee-keeper, he should never be satisfied with those he has, but be always striving after a better strain. That it is possible to improve the hive-bee by breeding out inferior characteristics, and breeding in more desirable ones, and so to produce a strain of a higher standard, has been proved over and over again, and no commercial bee-keeper can afford to neglect this part of his business.

choice of breeding queens.

The colonies chosen for breeding stock each season should be those that have given the most surplus honey, been the least inclined to swarm after the main honey flow has started, the gentlest bees, and the best defenders of their hives. Any of these qualities lacking at the start should be gradually bred into them. Remember that infinitely better work can be accomplished in the way of improving one's bees by the judicious selection of breeding stock in one's own apiary, than can be done by continually bringing in unknown breeding stock from outside. Even when but

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