iNO 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 391 



be ill a liive together, but as soon as the young queens begin to 

 emerge from their cells there must be a separate domicile for each. 

 Something like two weeks will elapse from the time the queen-cells 

 are taken until the young queens are to be used as laying queens, 

 and sometimes it may not be convenient to use them then, and during 

 that space of two weeks or more a young queen is just as well off 

 in a nucleus of two frames as in a full colony. It is not well to have 

 less than two frames of brood in a nucleus, experience showing that 

 in a weaker nucleus the young (jueen does not do so well, being more 

 likely to be slow in beginning to lay, and more often disappeaiing. 



A small hive with frames much less than the usual size may do 

 for a nucleus, but now-a-davs it is considered better to use hives and 

 frames of the regular size. The frames you have put in will be on 

 one side of the hive, and you will hang beside them a dummy, in 

 order to close them up. A dummy is merely a board of the same 

 size as a brood-frame, having a top bar of the regular length. The 

 thickness of the dummy may be anywhere from three-eighths to one 

 inch. 



You may take from any colony two frames of brood with adhering 

 bees and put thcnn on a new stand in an empt}" hive, and you have 

 a nucleus. But if you open the hive two days later you may be 

 saddened to find every bee gone from jour nucleus. The field bees 

 all go back to the old hive the first time they return from the 

 field, and as soon as the little colony discovers its queenless condition 

 there is a commotion, and all the bees that had already marked the 

 location at the old hive make their way back there. Those that 

 are so young that they have never marked the old location become 

 so discouraged and demoralized that they desert the hive, probably 

 joining some of the nearest colonies. 



So there must be some pains taken to make the bees of the nucleus 

 stay where they are put. One way is to pen the bees in the hive 

 so not a bee can escape. Stuff green leaves into the entrance pretty 

 tightly. Next day pound the hive with the fist or a heavy stick 

 for a minute or two, then open the entrance. The bees in their 

 excitement will mark the entrance, and are then all right. 



Another way. Take from a full colony three frames of brood with 

 adhering bees and the queen, and put them where you want your 

 nucleus to stand. Two days later return the queen and one of the 

 frames of brood to the old hive. Take with this frame of brood only 

 so many adhering workers as will leave the nucleus with plenty 

 to cover the two frames of brood. 



The matter will be very much simpler and easier if you have queen- 

 less bees to deal with, for such bees are quite likely to stay wherever 

 they are put, and it is not difficult to have queenless bees at any 

 time. If you do not happen to have any queenless bees, you may 



