14 



THE BEARING OF QUEEN BEES. 



to be used, the bar should be placed in the upper, and the queen con- 

 lined in the lower, story. For the latter purpose a perforated zinc 

 honey board (see lig. 3) should be used. In a one-story hive the bar 

 should be surrounded by a perforated zinc incubator. A larger pro- 

 portion of cells are usually accepted in a queenless colony. In case 



Fig. 4.— "Swarthmore" incubator holding sixteen cells on wooden bases (original). 



there is a colony with an old queen which is about to be superseded, a 

 large number of cells may be started, and this is also tine in a colony 

 preparing to swarm. Here, too, for safety the queen of the colony 

 should be kept away from the cells by perforated zinc. 



Fig. 5. — "Swarthmore " incubator in frame. The metal supports at the upper ends of the side pieces 

 of the frame do not show (original) 



The chief difficult}^ in rearing queens b}- this method is to get the 

 cells accepted. Once started, they are usuall}" completed, even if 

 transferred to a colony which does not readily accept cells. In many 

 cases it is customary to start cells in a queenless colony, and in twenty- 

 four hours to transfer the bar to a hive with a queen, putting the cell 



