May, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



299 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



flown. A pint of young bees will make a 

 thrifty nuchnis, while a peck of old ones 

 will desert ami so ruin one's plans. Making 

 up the nucleus from about 10 o'clock till 

 noon will ensure a good proportion of young 

 bees. Toward evening peep at the nucleus 

 to see that sufficient bees have remained, 

 and, removing the cover from the colony, 

 gently place the nucleus body on the top of 

 the plain sheet of tin and excluder, taking 

 care that the llight-hole of the nucleus faces 

 the way opposite the entrance of the colony 

 beneath, and that the combs of brood and 

 honey of both the nucleus and the colony are 

 in both cases on the same side of the hive 



FRAMES OF 



BROOD OR 



HONEY 



FRAMES OF 

 rOU/MDATION 



COMBS or FRAMES OF 



BROOD AND HONEY. FND, AND 



EMPTY COMBS 



Hillman's plan for fertilizing a queen from an up- 

 per story. In addition to the equipment shown in 

 the diagram, a flat piece of tin or zinc covers all but 

 a few inches on the right side of the excluder. 



and separated by the queen-excluder covered 

 with the plain sheet of tin. 



The laying queen beneath has no oppor- 

 tunity of getting thru the excluder imme- 

 diately beneath the nucleus, and little in- 

 ducement to try to pass where the excluder 

 is not covered with the plain zinc, as the 

 combs beneath have no brood. The virgin 

 above can not be worried, nor will she try to 

 get thru the covered excluder immediately 

 beneath her. Moreover, she has no induce- 



ment to leave the combs of brood and honey, 

 which are her domain, and go past bare 

 sheets of foundation to the uncovered part 

 of the excluder in order to get thru to the 

 lower chamber. The position of the entrance 

 also helps to keep her from wandering on 

 to the uncovered excluder. 



When the queen is mated she can be taken 

 away and a cell or another virgin given. 

 However, should the beekeeper be working 

 for increase (and it is under these circum- 

 stances that the plan seems to be of most 

 value), when the queen is found to be lay- 

 ing, the relationship of the queen of the up- 

 per hive with the bees of the lower hive 

 seems to undergo some alteration, and the 

 hostility to the virgin gives place to friend- 

 liness with the young fertile queen, and 

 then, the plain piece of zinc or tin being 

 found no longer necessary, the beekeeper 

 may carefully and with the least possible 

 disturbance, slide the piece of tin out from 

 beneath the nucleus, leaving the queen-ex- 

 cluder in place, and thus leave the colony 

 and nucleus to build up as recommended by 

 Alexander in his treatment of weak colonies 

 in the spring. If the colony underneath is 

 of very fair strength, quite soon there will 

 be two good colonies since the bees beneath 

 will have full communication with the upper 

 story thru the excluder; for in the average 

 season, after the nucleus is put on top, the 

 plain sheet of tin would not be necessary 

 for more than the first ten or twelve days. 



The success of the plan seems due to the 

 virgin queen being offered no inducement to 

 leave her own domain and endeavor to try 

 conclusions with the fertile queen beneath 

 her. In a great many cases, trouble is caus- 

 ed by the actions of the virgins or fertile 

 queens themselves, rather than the workers. 

 The three combs of brood and honey given 

 the nucleus furnish the virgin ample room 

 to content her, and the frames of foundation 

 lebuff any attempt at extending her wander- 

 ings. The beekeeper must be very careful 

 to get the plain sheet of metal over that 

 part of the hive containing the fertile queen 

 and brood and under the nucleus ' combs of 

 brood and honey, with the nucleus entrance 

 in the direction opposite the hive entrance, 

 otherwise the chances of success are les- 

 sened. James Hillman. 



Stonehouse, England. 



[It would seem to me that the bees in the 

 lower story would continue to expand on to 

 their empty frames rather than to pass 

 around the sheet of zinc and increase the nu- 

 clei above; and also that this zinc would 

 prevent the heat rising from the colony to 

 the nucleus. The plan of dividing the bodies 

 with wire cloth does away with the danger 

 of the virgin getting thru the excluder and 

 killing the queen below. The plan has prov- 

 ed a success with some of the best queen- 

 breeders. — Mel Pritchard.] 



