54 BEES FOE PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 



queen cell : this frame should be placed in tlie centre of an empty 

 hive and the other two on eacli side of it. It is needless to 

 say that at least one queen cell must be left in the old hive. 

 The bees from two more frames from the old hive must be 

 shaken into the hive containing the newly formed division or 

 " nucleus." The next day this nucleus should be examined, 

 and if too many bees have gone back to the old hive, we must 

 shake in the bees off one or two more combs out of the parent 

 colony. When all the brood in the nucleus has hatched, there 

 will probably be enough bees to cover two or three more 

 frames. It often happens that two or three virgin queens, 

 having hatched out at the same time, go off together 

 with a second swarm, so when hiving it we should look 

 out for them, and if it is found that there are two queens, 

 one may be taken away and given to the nucleus ; in 

 this case there is little fear of too many bees leaving it. 

 Where it is found that three queens have gone off with the 

 second swarm, we shall of course give one to the nucleus 

 and another to the old stock. If the swarm is hived with 

 all the virgin queens, the bees will select one and kill the 

 rest before the next day. 



Truant Swarms. 



It sometimes happens that after a swarm has been hived ic 

 refuses to stay and comes out again, occasionally fi}'ing off 

 without alighting ; in such cases it is probable that the bees 

 have already selected some home, which they consider more 

 suitable than the one with which they have been provided, and 

 in order to make them stay in their new^ hive it is necessary to 

 give them a frame of unsealed brood from the parent or some 

 other hive (taking care, if it is taken from the parent hive or 

 from any that has lately swarmed, to cut out any queen cells 

 which there may be in it). It has been found that the bees 

 thus provided with young brood will not desert it, and so a 

 frame containing some may always be placed in a hive before 

 putting the swarm in, so as to prevent it from leaving the 

 hive. 



Building up the Stocks before Winter. 



About ten days or a foi'tnight after the seconel swarm came 

 off, the queen in the old stock and also the one in the nucleus 



