782 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL., 



for, and at the same time wo wish to 

 keep the nuclei at work rearing queens 

 as fast as the young queens have laid 

 two or three combs of eggs. 



I used to keep them caged on a table, 

 ready to go at a moment's notice, when 

 an order came. Well, sometimes orders 

 did not come for several days, and my 

 queens, of course, were more or less in- 

 jured if kept too long in this way ; and 

 to make it profitable we cannot afford to 

 let the nuclei keep their queens till 

 orders come to take them. To overcome 

 this trouble, I went to work and con- 

 structed a lot of small hives, just large 

 enough to hold two sections '4r^4 inches 

 square by 1}^ inches wide. All these 

 sections that we had unfinished we lay 

 by to go in our little nuclei. Now, we 

 could take from 50 to 100 workers, or 

 enough to keep the queen in good shape. 

 It is no trouble to speak of, to prepare 

 200 or 300 of these little nuclei, some- 

 thing after the little Alley nuclei. We 

 may use little frames if we choose. I 

 use the sections, as they usually have 

 plenty of honey to last the queen and 

 bees a month or more, and the queen 

 will go to laying, and assume the same 

 attitude of a large colony. Then the 

 queen is never so filled with eggs that it 

 would be dangerous to cage and mail 

 her right off. I do not like to cage and 

 mail a queen that is in full laying plight 

 without giving her time to unload her- 

 self of eggs. Well, the little-nuclei plan 

 has the queens in good shape to be 

 mailed at once without any danger of 

 being injured. 



To keep the queens and bees from 

 swarming out, I use, over the entrance, 

 one perforation of queen-excluder zinc, 

 and robber bees will never enter through 

 the zinc to amount to anything. These 

 little hives can be placed on a shelf in 

 the shade, moderately close together. 

 We may make a record of where each 

 queen was taken from ; and if we keep 

 any of them long enough they can be 

 tested, and all the finest ones selected to 

 fill orders for select queens. 



Robbers have never bothered our little 

 hives, as we seldom have a surplus of 

 queens till, the weather gets warm and 

 honey is coming in so there is no danger 

 of robbers. I do not like the idea of 

 rearing queens in little hives, as the 

 queen and bees are too likely to swarm 

 out, as we cannot keep excluding-zinc on 

 till the queens have mated, which gives 

 them every chance to leave. 



If the bees should take a notion to 

 swarm out of the little hives, where our 

 laying queens are, there will always be 



bees enough return to be a good retinue 

 for the queen. Then these little nuclei 

 are good to introduce another queen to 

 as soon as one is sold out. I think I can 

 rear a third more queens with a given 

 number of nuclei by this method. 



These little hives can be made cheaply 

 at the factories, as scraps will answer 

 for them. 



If you do not think this a good way 

 to keep your surplus queens, just try it. 

 Jennie Atchley. 



Touni Bees ani Storing Honey. 



Query 928.— What proportion of bees less 

 than 16 days old should be in a colony durlng^ 

 a white clover flow, to secure the storing' of 

 the greatest amount of honey ?— Theorist. 



I don't know.— Eugene Secor. 

 I do not know.— Mrs. L. Harrison. 

 I don't know.— Mrs. Jennie Atchlev. 

 A very large proportion— say one-half. 

 — G. L. Tinker. 



About 75 per cent., or thereabouts.— 

 W. M. Barnum. 



I don't know. I am not a " theorist." 

 —Mrs. J. N. Heater. 



I don't know. I never take the trouble 

 to sort them over. — E. France. 



As many as a good colony in a normal 

 condition contains. — G. M. Dooi.ittle. 



Guessing is never very profitable, but 

 I should guess about one-half.— A. J. 

 Cook. 



I have never conducted any experi- 

 ments to determine the question. — J. P, 

 H. Brown. 



A number sufficient to care for the 

 brood and perform other in-door labor. 

 — J. A. Green. 



I never pay any attention to the age 

 of the bees, so I have the quantity.— 

 Jas. a. Stone. 



I do not know, but I do not think 

 there is any danger that there will be 

 too many. — M. Mahin. 



