FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 297 



honey. But it is fall honey ; and for every pound of fall 

 honey we put in the brood-chamber we get back a pound 

 of white honey in sections. 



So I like to have one or two reserve combs on hand 

 for each colony in the spring. These reserve combs may 

 be obtained by taking them in the fall from colonies that 

 are over-heavy, giving in place of them empty combs to 

 be again filled, or upper stories may be given filled with 

 combs. 



NUCLEI IN FALL. 



When the time for rearing queens is over, the nuclei 

 will be in various conditions. Some will be weak, some 

 strong, some queenless. Here will be a nucleus hive con- 

 taining three strong nuclei with a good laying queen in 

 each nucleus. Nothing is to be done in such a case but 

 to leave the three nuclei as they are, to be carried into the 

 cellar without any further preparation, unless it be to 

 give some honey if it be needed. In the case of the mid- 

 dle nucleus, that will mean exchanging their comb for one 

 as much as two-thirds or three-quarters full of honey. In 

 the nuclei at the sides of the hive, the heaviest frames of 

 honey will be toward the center of the hive. This will en- 

 courage the bees to cluster in that direction, thus con- 

 centrating the warmth of the three nuclei. 



UNITING NUCLEI. 



But the hives with three strong nuclei and three 

 queens will be exceptional. Some will have only two 

 queens, some one. If a nucleus hive has in it only one 

 queen, it may be that a full hive is set in place of the nu- 

 cleus hive, the contents of the three apartments of the 

 nucleus hive put into this full hive, and, if necessary, 

 enough nuclei added from elsewhere to make a fair col- 

 ony. If none of the nuclei in any one nucleus hive be 

 sufficiently strong where there is only one queen in the 

 hive, then the nucleus with the queen is likely to be put 



