THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 25 



be covered, and, if any eggs are present, it is easj^ to see them at a 

 glance: but the chief gain is in the time spent in finding the queen 

 to remove her from the colony. To go over 8 or 10 or even 3 or 4 full 

 frames requires ten times as much time as to open up a small nucleus 

 and pick off the queen almost at the first glance. This much is in 

 favor of small colonies, certainly. 



There are, on the other hand, certain disadvantages in the use of 

 ver}^ small nuclei in the hands of the inexperienced. Queens can be 

 mated from small boxes with a comb area not greater than that of a 

 1-pound section of honey, and with a mere handful of bees; but 

 experienced bee keepers have failed to make these work successfull}^ 

 merely through ignorance of the special manipulation necessary for 

 the smaller colonies. The complaint is also sometimes made that these 

 nuclei are robbed out because the small number of bees will not defend 

 the hive against invaders and that the colony will "swarm out" or 

 leave the box because it is too small. It is also claimed that the 

 nucleus will not be a success unless there is unsealed brood in the comb 

 to hold the bees. All of these general statements are too broad, for 

 such colonies are not more easily robbed than large ones, do not swarm 

 out if properly made, and brood is unnecessary under some circum- 

 stances. However, there is a foundation for these complaints, every 

 one of which comes from experienced men. 



The entrance to a nucleus of the smallest size should be very small, 

 so that one bee can protect the hive from several robbers. If, by any 

 chance, a small colony without brood becomes queenless, it will almost 

 invariably swarm out, and to this must be attributed most of the cases 

 so reported. Unsealed brood undoubtedly helps to hold the bees in the 

 colony, and certainly should be used in most cases. After the first 

 laying queen is removed from a nucleus, this brood will be present; 

 and from that time on there is no difficulty. To prevent the bees 

 from swarming out with the first queen, brood ma}^ be given to them. 

 If, however, the bees are confined in the colon}^ for some time (to 

 which there is no valid objection), they will rarely swarm out, even 

 without brood, and to remove them to an out yard lessens this difficulty 

 still further. 



Nuclei with not more than a few dozen bees will mate a queen, and 

 this has been done, and is being done repeatedly. There is objec- 

 tion, however, to the use of the smallest nuclei in the hands of the 

 inexperienced, for they will die out unless watched, and often require 

 restocking. In a large queen-rearing yard, this frequently amounts 

 to considerable labor, and to avoid that feature a somewhat larger 

 nucleus is desirable. Bee keepers are not always adepts at handling 

 small nuclei, and in actual practice a colony should be in such condi- 

 tion that it can be handled quickly, safely, and sometimes even rather 

 roughly. 



