lo Nov., 1 910.] .Y/icIci for Mating Queen Bees. 697 



A swarm may also be divided into nuclei. It is best to allow it to 

 cluster somewhere j then hive it in an empty box and about sunset divide 

 it amongst a number of nuclei hives, each containing a comb of the brood 

 from which the swarm issued and one or two combs without brood. As 

 bees which have swarmed and clustered will stay in any new stand, a 

 greater number of nuclei can be made out of a swarm than a swarmed 

 stock. The queen of the swarm should, however, be removed, otherwise 

 the bees are likely to crowd to the particular box she is in. 



By any one of these methods from four to ten nuclei may be made out 

 of a single stock, and thus brood-rearing is interrupted only to the extent 

 of one queen for four to ten new queens. In order to still further 

 economize, American bee-keepers some years ago adopted a system of 

 very small nuclei with miniature frames and only a tea-cupful of bees 

 in each. These are known as Swarthmore nuclei. Owing, however, to 

 the liability of such very small hives being robbed out when near an 

 apiary, and the erratic behaviour of these small communities in frequently 

 swarming out, the few Australian bee-keepers who experimented with this 

 system have abandoned it. For the raising of the best type of queen, it 

 is essential that from the first start of the queen-cell to the commence- 

 ment of laying of the young queen, the most favourable conditions should 

 exist. In the case of very small nuclei these conditions are absent during 

 part of the chrysalis and the adult stage of the queen's life. Even in 

 nuclei on standard combs in thin walled boxes holding two or three frames, 

 the period between the hatching and laying of the queen is often unduly 

 extended by climatic influences and the vigour of the voung queen 

 impaired. 



The influence of extremes of heat and cold may be reduced to a mini- 

 mum by having three or four nuclei in an ordinary hive body, as shown by 

 the uncovered hive in the centre of the photograph. A ten-frame body 

 will hold four, an eight-frame three nuclei of two combs each. The com- 

 partments are made by thin, tightly-fitting division boards, extending up- 

 wards to the level of the top of the hive. Each has a separate entrance 

 facing in a different direction and a separate thin cover board independent 

 of the ordinary hive roof. 



As it is always desirable to have some spare queens at the end of 

 winter, to make good any losses of queens, these nuclei grouped together in 

 one hive may be carried through the winter, provided there are enough 

 bees in each to nearly cover the combs. When queens have been removed, 

 the divisions may be withdrawn and the bees united under one queen. 



Nuclei may ue grouped in yet another way by standing, close together, 

 two boxes of two compartments each, as shown in the second hive from the 

 right in the illustration. The advantage of this method is that, after one 

 queen is removed from each box and the bees united, a four-frame super 

 may be put on each, allowing an extention of the brood-nest upwards, 

 as shown on the left. When all combs are occupied, an ordinary hive 

 with entrance in the same position may be substituted for the four-frame 

 boxes, the hives moved apart by degrees, and run as independent colonies. 



For convenience the nuclei are numbered, the numbers being painted 

 on tablets secured by a nail in the centre and used to indicate the state of 

 each. The number is in normal position for queen laying ; upside down, 

 for queenless ; diagonal upwards, for queen-cell; horizontal, for virgin; 

 and for queen-fertilized but not laying yet, diagonal downwards. 



