Queen rearing books

[Barry Tolson]

Does anyone know where one might find a copy of Jay Smith's book "Better Queens" published by the author in 1949? Or his book "Queen Rearing Simplified" from 1923?
Thanks
Barry
Indianapolis

[Jim Fischer]

> Jay Smith's book "Better Queens"?

ABEbooks shows a copy for sale:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Smith&y=15&tn=Better+Queens&x=69
$93.00 !!!! Ouch!


> "Queen Rearing Simplified" from 1923?
These folks have it in their list of books for sale:
http://www.gobeekeeping.com/bookstore.htm

But one would be well advised to check with
Larry Connor [larry@wicwas.com] before buying
ANY old bee book. He has a knack of finding
the most obscure stuff, and has very reasonable
prices on "non-collector, non-mint" condition
books.

[Barry Tolson]

Thanks Jim. Ouch is right! Maybe I'll see if I can find it through interlibrary loan first to see if I want to spend that much money.
Barry

[tecumseh]

This was a book (if memory serves very small) I read years ago when I first started thinking about raising queens. Jay Smith was a somewhat famous beekeeper and queen breeder in Florida. He essentially made a case and created a process for rearing queens without grafting. I suspect many of the current graftless kits that you see in the bee catalogs are reinvention of the Smith method of queen rearing.

[George Fergusson]

Can anyone suggest a couple of good books on queen rearing for someone looking to get started?

George-

[Michael Bush]

Jay Smith's Better Queens and Queen Rearing Simplified are actually my favorites. smile.gif

Here's the short version and it's FREE:

http://www.ohioqueenbreeders.com/queen_rearing.htm

Follow these instructions to the "T" and you should have good luck.

[tecumseh]

Michael sezs:
Follow these instructions to the "T" and you should have good luck.
tecumseh muses:
I am not certain that this is exactly the Jay Smith method since it appears grafting was utilized. Interesting method none the less, although I would associate this technique more with a Texas beekeeper by the name of Gunter (sp). Think I will try this method on my next round of cells. Thanks for the link Michael.

[Michael Bush]

>tecumseh muses:
I am not certain that this is exactly the Jay Smith method since it appears grafting was utilized.

I assume you mean the LATTER Jay Smith method. His early method, and the one by which he raised thousands upon thousands of queens was grafting. This is the one put forth in Queen Rearing Simplified.

The one you refer to is the method in Better Queens. He simply used new comb and got the queen to lay in it and then cut a strip three cells wide (with the edges of the outside cells cut off in the process) and waxed it to a top bar and then poked a hole in two cells and then left one, all the way across (similar to the Hopkins method: http://www.beesource.com/pov/hayes/abjmay91.htm) except with the comb attached to a cell bar.

[tecumseh]

Michael Bush adds:
I assume you mean the LATTER Jay Smith method.

tecumseh replies:
You know I really thought he had only one book. Well that will certainly be another jewel to be on the look out for. Thanks for the clarification Michael.

[drumgerry]

Just in case anyone's interested I have a copy of Queen Rearing Simplified by Jay Smith on Ebay right now at

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=250349054366

Cheers

Gerry
Scotland

[Michael Bush]

And both his books are free here:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesoldbooks.htm

[Michael Palmer]

Can anyone suggest a couple of good books on queen rearing for someone looking to get started?

George-

Well, there are plenty of them out there. Page and Laidlaw, Larry Connor, And all the ones mentioned above.

I've just been re-reading Brother Adam's work. If you want to read about the beginnings of the nuc wintering stuff... Anyway, he keeps mentioning Friedrich Ruttner, an Austrian or German queen breeder, as a type of mentor to him. That peaked my interest.

Oldest daughter Sayer just gave me a copy of Ruttner's "Breeding Techniques and Selection for Breeding the Honeybee," translated by Ashleigh and Eric Milner. Looks good. Yay Daughter.

[Aspera]

Yes, I have also been reading much about the early Slovenian beekeepers. Its seems that they invented and began using most forms of artificial swarming, queen rearing, and movable frames when the rest of the world barely understood than the queen was female. Brother Adam devoted an inordinate amount of time to collecting the fruits of their labors (the "Carniolan" queens which he extols).