1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



439 



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ANSWERS/ Tq,.\ 



SEASONJ^BLE 



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FORMING NUCLEI. 



Otiestio?!.- — In making nuclei I have always 

 been troubled by so many bees going back to 

 the parent hive that the prospective nuclei 

 were nearly worthless. Then I wish to intro- 

 duce virgin queens to the nuclei formed, and 

 in this I am not very successful. A friend 

 tells me that you have a plan for making 

 nuclei and introducing virgin queens at the 

 same time, which you gave in the bee-papers 

 some time ago. Will you please tell the 

 younger readers of Gleanings about it, and 

 how it works with you after years of trial ? 



AiiS7i'cr. — As it has been some years since I 

 have said any thing regarding the matter of 

 forming nuclei, it may be excusable with the 

 older members of the fraternity if I say a few 

 words on this subject for those who have been 

 added to the ranks of apiculture in recent 

 years, especially as the plan has always proved 

 successful. 



The first requisite to the plan I use is a box 

 made as follows : Get out two pieces of lum- 

 ber, eight inches long by seven wide by -V or 

 J/s thick ; also two pieces 14 inches long by 7 

 wide by % thick. The latter are nailed to the 

 former so as to form a box about 12 by 7, in- 

 side measure, without sides. For sides I use 

 two pieces of wire cloth, cut 14 inches long 

 by Syi wide. One of these is nailed on per- 

 manently, while the other is left so as to be 

 easily removable, by nailing the wire cloth to 

 a little frame like a slate-frame, which frame 

 is lightly tacked to the box, or hinged, accord- 

 ing to the wishes of the operator. In the top 

 of the box is bored a large hole, into which 

 a funnel is to be inserted. This funnel is to 

 be large enough to allow one of the brood- 

 frames from your hive being shaken inside of 

 it, and the hole in the small end should be 2jS4 

 to 3 inches, so that the bees will readily roll 

 or pass down through it and not clog. This 

 funnel is very similar to those used five or ten 

 years ago in putting up bees, when so many 

 were sold by the pound. The hole in the box 

 should also have something to close it, like a 

 large button, made from. your '4 -inch stuff, or 

 a tin slide. 



Having funnel and box ready, go to any 

 hive that can spare from it from a pint to two 

 quarts of bees, according to the size of the nu- 

 clei desired ; take out a frame or frames hav- 

 ing bees on the combs, and place on the out- 

 side of the hive. If at a time of honey-dearth, 

 so that robber bees may be troublesome, hang 

 the frame in an empty hive, and throw some 

 old bag or blanket over, thus running no risk 

 of creating a row in the apiary, or having your 

 nuclei robbed out after made. Give the 

 frames several sharp knocks with your thumb- 

 nail or a little stick, to cause the bees to fill 

 themselves with honey, and, when so filled, 

 shake as many bees down through the funnel 

 into the box as you wish in your nucleus. 



Take out the funnel and close the hole, when 

 you will put the frames from which you shook 

 the bees back into the hives, and close them. 



In all such operations especial care must be 

 used not to take the old queen with the bees 

 thus taken ; for if you do the colony will be 

 greatly injured, and the virgin queen you at- 

 tempt to introduce will be destroyed. To be 

 sure you do not get the queen, it is always 

 well to see her, and then set the frame she is 

 on out of the hive till you have taken all the 

 bees you wish at that time. 



Having the bees in the box, take the same 

 to any room or shady place, or to the cellar, 

 and throw a blanket, old coat, or piece of car- 

 pet over it, to darken it, where it is to be left 

 for four to six hours. In an hour the bees 

 will begin to realize their queenless condition, 

 and tell of it by breaking the cluster they had 

 formed, and running frantically about the 

 cage ; and, as time goes on, this distress will 

 be more manifest till they will fairly beg for 

 something in the shape of a queen ; and the 

 longer they are kept without one the more 

 sure you will be of their accepting the one 

 you give them. 



When the time has arrived that I think it 

 proper to give the queen, which in no case 

 should be in less than four hours from the 

 time they were shaken into the cage, I go to 

 the queen-nursery and get a virgin queen and 

 give them. To put the qtieen in, set the box 

 down suddenly, so that all of the bees will fall 

 to the bottom, when the hole is opened in the 

 box and the queen allowed to run in with the 

 bees. The bees will at once set up a most joy- 

 ful hum, thus telling of their new-found trea- 

 sure as plainly as if they could talk. 



The box is now left as it was before the 

 queen was put in, for from five to twelve 

 hours, just in accord with the time the bees 

 were put in. If put in during the early fore- 

 noon, then they are taken out near sunset ; if 

 during the afternoon, then not till the next 

 morning. When ready to take from the box, 

 a hive is prepared by placing in it a division- 

 board, a frame containing a little brood, and 

 one having two or three pounds of honey, all 

 of which are put on the opposite side of the 

 hive from where you wish the bees. 



Now get the box, in which you will find the 

 bees all compactly clustered like a swarm, 

 and carefully remove the wire-cloth movable 

 side, when, with a quick jerk, the bees can be 

 dislodged from the box to the bottom of the 

 hive. Now quickly draw the comb of honey, 

 brood, and division-board across the rabbets of 

 the hive, in the order named, to where the 

 bees are, and they will be immediately on 

 them. The hive is now closed, the entrance 

 opened on the side farthest from the combs ; 

 and if all has been rightly conducted, and 

 works as it should, in a week you will have a 

 nice little colony with a laying queen, from 

 which a full colony can be built up, or queens 

 reared for market. 



If you do not wish to make the box and 

 funnel, the bees can be shaken into a tight 

 hive, some wire cloth fastened to the top, the 

 queen run in through a hole in the side, or 

 under one corner of the wire cloth, and the 



