loo AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 



or frames of cells, may be placed in the top box, the 

 queen and brood be returned to the brood chamber, a 

 queen excluder put on over it, and the upper box with 

 the queen cells placed over the excluder. So long as 

 the queen cannot get to the cells, they will be as safe, 

 as a rule, as though she were not in the hive ; so that 

 at the most the colony need not be queenless more than 

 four days. 



NUCLEUS HIVES. 



I have already in Chapter \l. on Hives, described the 

 small nucleus hives to be used in queen-rearing which 

 should take three or more of the regular Langstroth 

 frames, three are the usual number. Good sized 

 entrances should be made so as to afford ventilation to 

 the interior when wire cloth is tacked over them. 



Additional ventilation, which is advisable, may be 

 provided by boring a two-inch hole through the bottom 

 and covering it with wire cloth. 



There is a very great advantage in using the same 

 regular frame in the nucleus hives as is used throughout 

 the apiary, and I am satisfied from experience that the 

 economy of bees in caring for queen cells and the young 

 queens until they mate, and are laying, as advocated 

 by some writers at the present time, is entirely against 

 the production of good queens. So far back as 1887 in 

 conjunction with the late Mr. Obed Poole, the inventor 

 of queen excluders, I gave small nucleus boxes, similar to 

 those subsequentlv advocated by E. L. Pratt (''Swarth- 

 more"), a good trial. wSince then I have had experience 

 with small boxes of larger dimensions, but I unhesitat- 

 ingly advise the adootion of the larger nucleus hives 

 mentioned above, well furnished with bees, if the object 

 is to raise first-class queens. 



FORMING NUCLEI. 



Whatever number of queen cells are to be made use 

 of, the same number of nucleus hives will be reauired 

 — a piece of perforated zinc or wire cloth should be 

 tacked over each entrance, and there should be some 



