144 



tun BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



a previously prepared colony. For this 

 purpose find a strong colony preparing to 

 swann, or supersede a queen, and remove 

 all queen-cells. If there is no such col- 

 ony, remove the queen and all the brood 

 from a strong colony, and confine the 

 bees to the hive for about twelve hours, 

 ventilating and shading well to prevent 

 smothering the bees. Just at night, too 

 late for bees to fly, put in the prepared 

 cells. This method will so alarm the 

 bees that they will be very anxious to 

 rear queens, and will usually rear very 

 good ones. Most of the cells will be ac- 

 cepted, but, for the best results, not over 

 ten should be left for the bees to mature. 

 All above this number should be de- 

 stroyed before they are far advanced. As 

 soon as the cells are capped, they may be 

 removed and another lot of cells given 

 the colony; but not more than two lots 

 should be given to one colony, for the 

 bees are apt to become tired or discour- 

 aged, and fail to raise the best of cells. 



The frame of capped queen-cells may 

 be placed in any strong, queenless col- 

 ony that has no other capped queen-cells; 

 or in the super of a strong colony, above 

 a queen-excluder. Careful records should 

 be kept of all operations, and frequent 

 observations made to verify them, else 

 some of the young queens may emerge 

 from the cells and destroy the others. 

 The cells will be capped, usually, in five 

 days after the eggs hatch; and the young 

 queens emerge eight days later; but, for 

 safety, the cells should be placed in 

 nuclei on the seventh day. Nurseries 

 are sometimes used to receive the hatch- 

 ing cells, and the young queens from 

 them introduced where they are wanted; 

 but it is usually difficult to introduce un- 

 fertile queens successfully, and it will be 

 more satisfactory, generally, to put the 

 ■early-ready-to-hatch cells in nuclei. 



In putting a queen-cell into a nucleus or 

 hive some advocate putting it into a hole, 

 cut into a comb, but that plan is trouble- 

 some, and mutilates combs unnecessarily. 

 If the cell is pressed between the top- 

 bars, in a perpendicular position, over the 



middle of the cluster, it will do as well. 

 vSometimes the bees will tear open the 

 cell and destroy the young queen. To 

 avoid this possibility, use the West 

 queen-cell protectors (sold by supply 

 dealers ) ; or cages may be made cheaply 

 at home. Bore a hole with a three- 

 eighth bit, one and one-half inches deep 

 in a hardwood block. With a sharp 

 knife cut the hole funnel shape, and 

 about three-fourths of an inch across at 

 the outer end. Cut a piece of common 

 wire cloth about three inches sc[uare, and 

 with the square end of a led pencil on the 

 middle of it, crowd it to the bottom of 

 the hole in the block of wood. Then 

 force the pencil, sharpened end first, 

 through the small end of the cage, and it 

 is ready for use. Put the queen-cell in 

 the cage, the small end to the hole, twist 

 the flaring corners together, and the bees 

 will not destroy the cell. Never shake 

 or handle queen-cells roughly. 



Usually, in seven to ten days after this 

 the young queens will be found to have 

 commenced laying, and are then ready to 

 use or sell. If we wish tested queens it 

 will be necessary to wait three to four 

 weeks longer to see if the hatching bees 

 are pure Italians. 



For nucleus hives, where man}- queens 

 are to be reared, small boxes to hold four 

 small frames are desirable. These small 

 frames should be of such size that two of 

 them, minus top-bars, will fit snugly in- 

 side of the regular brood frames. Top- 

 bars may be tacked to these frames in 

 such a manner as to be readily removed; 

 then the nuclei are readily united for 

 winter. Some advocate killing nuclei in 

 the fall, but this seems too cruel; although 

 the bees from nuclei are apt to winter 

 poorly in hard winters. Two good nuclei 

 may be put in a standard hive with a close- 

 fitting division-board between them. 



To put bees into nuclei, and keep them 

 from returning to the parent hive, is 

 quite a problem. When formed from 

 queenless colonies, the bees will usually 

 stay quite well, if queen-cells are given 

 them. The surest way, however, is to 



