SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 95 



cool or the tiny bees in the cells will get chilled and not produce good 

 queens. 



Let us now go back to the colony we made queenless and left two or 

 three frames of honey with. As soon as we get through grafting the 

 cells in the other colony, and the cover is on, they should have a little 

 attention. Part the frames so the bees can cluster between the combs; 

 and as soon as they are all in the hive late in the afternoon, they are in 

 the best possible condition to unite, and should be united with the next 

 weakest colony (see "Uniting Bees"). 



Eight or nine days after the cells are grafted, go back and look over 

 the comb and see how many cells they have finished, and you will know 

 how many places to prepare for them ; then if you have some inferior queens 

 you wish to supersede, kill them, but not to exceed the number of cells 

 you have. Then on the next day, or ten days from the time the cells were 

 grafted, remove the cells from the comb by cutting around them care- 

 fully with a knife; but be sure not to cut into them or you may injure 

 them. Then lift them from the comb and place them in cell-protectors ; and 

 "be sure not to tumble them about, for it is best to keep them as nearly as 

 possible in the same position that they were in on the comb. 



After all the cells but one have been removed from the comb and 

 place3 in the cell-protectors, they are ready to be distributed around to 

 the colonies made queenless the day previous. The object of making the 

 colonies queenless previous to giving them cells is that they have had 

 time to discover that they are queenless; for should the young queen 

 emerge from the cell before they were aware of their queen being gone, 

 they might kill them as soon as they emerged. 



Queen-cells should be inserted in the comb among the bees where they 

 can care for them and keep them warm until they hatch. 



Now, the top hive with all the frames and adhering bees and the one 

 queen-cell can be put on another stand ; and the bees confined in it for a day 

 will cause them to mark their new home, and you will soon have another 

 good colony of bees. If you have no need of all the cells, and would 

 like to turn them into a little cash later, divide the frames in the top story 

 into two, three, or four frame nuclei, and give each one a cell, and con- 

 fine them in the hive as you would a full colony, so that they will mark their 

 new home. 



In one or two days the queens will emerge from the cells, and in 

 ten or twelve days will be laying. 



This is a plan to raise good queens at "any suitable time of the year; 

 hut the same result can be obtained by watching the cells closely in hives 

 where bees have swarmed; and as soon as the bees begin to thm them 

 down at the ends, remove all the cells but one or two, and requeen with 

 them or distribute them about in nuclei (hives with only two, three or 

 four combs in them, and a part or a very small swarm of bees). When 

 "bees are superseding their queen you can also get a good batch of queen- 

 cells which can be used in like manner. 



It is not good policy to remove a good queen from her colony just 

 to get her bees to build queen-cells when you can get the same results by 



