The procedure in clipping is to cut off with sharp small scissors the wings as shown in the illustration so that there will be no mutilation. Clipping of laying queens is considered essential by some in the partial control of swarming. However, many operators consider it a waste of time. It is almost an essential in the production of comb honey, hut may be omitted with extracted honey production where the apiary instead of the colony is considered as a working unit, particularly where the management gives a minimum of swarming.

Clipping the wings of the queen.

(Photo by J. C. Hogg)

For marking queens, acetate varnish combined with color is often preferred to clipping. A queen should be marked on the thorax the first time she is seen after being mated. A good fingernail polish in any color obtainable is entirely suitable. To mark the queen, pick her off the comb, place her on the ball of the index finger of the left hand, grasping her feet gently with the thumb and second finger. (Do not try to hold her by one foot. ) Using a small brush daub the thorax of the queen with a neat drop of the color. Hold the queen for a moment until the color has partly dried and release her on the comb from which she was taken. A variety of colors may be used for record purposes to suit the individual.

One great value of clipping or marking is that the operator, while looking for the queen, becomes familiar with the character of her work and the quantity of brood she is producing, and also with the differences between good and poor queens.

Clipping is of particular importance where the single story clear-brood nest is used and the apiary visited every eight or ten days during the swarming season. Then, with only clipped queens in all colonies, swarms will not leave if they come out between visits, and when the behavior of a colony indicates it has attempted to swarm in the absence of the operator, he will take precautions to prevent further disorganization of the colony and consequent loss of honey.

Queens may be clipped or marked at the time of the general spring "round up" when colonies are being standardized; when damaged or inferior equipment is being replaced; when imperfect combs are being removed from the brood chamber; when inferior queens are detected and replaced; when brood combs are cleaned of propolis and burr combs; or at any time when the apiary is being put into such a condition that the operator can do rapid and efficient work on later visits.

At clipping time in the spring, with a minimum of bees in the hive, it is easy to make a thorough examination for foulbrood without disturbance. Finding and burning cases at this time minimizes its spread later in the season.

Clipping all queens each spring gives an age record, and as one wing is clipped each year, the operator knows how many and what colonies were requeened previously either by himself or by Supersedure. If colony conditions at the time of clipping indicate the presence of two queens, both must be found.

The labor of clipping or marking during the spring "round up" may be less than is required to keep records giving the same information. In a system of management requiring that all colonies be kept in standard condition, records are usually kept by apiaries rather than by colonies, and clipping is an easy way of recording the age of the queen.

Unless old and inferior queens are consistently replaced, there will be no uniformity of colonies because many will have poor queens and will produce little honey, lowering the average production which should nearly equal the production of the best colonies.

Uniform colonies are essential if labor is to be kept at a minimum and it is a matter of observation that maximum production is not secured unless the age of queens is recorded and poor ones replaced systematically. Annual spring clipping, with attention, at the same time, to the items properly included in a spring "round up", is a safe way for anyone managing a large apiary business to prepare for uniform colonies of standard honey-producing strength.