RAISING QUEEN BEES 



secure the queen; securely close the entrance 

 of each compartment and remove the im- 

 prisoned bees to a shady place. About four 

 in the afternoon run a virgin in at the entrance 

 to each compartment, and if the bees were 

 shaken in about ten o'clock in the morning, 

 fully realizing their queenlessness, they will 

 gladly accept her. Toward night, the en- 

 trance can be opened, and in the morning you 

 will find that the miniature colony will have 

 the spirit of a full colony, with their sentinels 

 posted at the tiny entrance. In a few days 

 the virgin will fly from this box and mate, and 

 when you find that she has begun to lay, she 

 can be used or sold as an untested queen. 



An untested queen is one that has mated 

 and begun to lay, and can be sold as a tested 

 queen only after she has been kept laying long 

 enough for some of her eggs to have hatched ; 

 and if the young bees prove by their markings 

 that their mother has been purely mated, then 

 she can be said to be a tested queen. 



These little nuclei need encouraging, and 

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