1904 



(.LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



975 



Some years ago I discovered that almost 

 any kind of queen would be accepted, provid- 

 ed she was given i nn)iediatcl y aiter the bees 

 have discovered their confinement. On one 

 occasion, while malting increase with strong 

 three-frame nuclei taken from the strongest 

 colonies with laying queens a number of vir- 

 gins were taken from a colony that had 

 swarmed and were holding back their virgins. 

 These were hatching, and strong enough to 

 fly, yet every one that was thrown into these 

 nuclei was accepted, and at the proper time 

 was found laying. I have also shaken bees 

 into the baby nuclei from the upper stories 

 of strong colonies, with a queen below the 

 excluder, and after twenty or thirty minutes 

 introduced virgins with safety. 



THE OLD-STYLE LAWS NUCLEUS BOX OPENED 

 UP. 



We will now retui-n to the little boxes 

 where we left them with virgins all run in. 

 They should be left lying in the shade until 

 near sunset of the next "day. By this time 

 the bees have quieted down, the queen be- 

 ing one of them, and the honey from their 

 sacs has been deposited in the cells, and they 

 may now be hauled several hundred yards 

 out of danger of robbers, the entrances 

 opened, the little boxes scattered out through 

 the brush, hung on the wire fence, lodged 

 under or up in the forks of the trees, in any 

 position, any side up, only be sure they are 

 in the shade. These little nuclei, when dis- 

 tributed, with their virgin queens, behave 

 very much like newly hived swarms. Every 

 bee seems to regard that box as its home. 

 A few bees will be found on guard at the en- 

 trance. 



If the virgins are of the proper age, we 

 may expect them to mate the very next day 

 after setting them out. After the third day 

 the little buttons may be turned until the 

 zinc queen-excluding slot is across the en- 

 trance, and our queens are now safe, to be 

 used at pleasure. 



When another batch of virgins is ready 

 our little boxes may be carried in, queens 

 caged, and all the bees may be either return- 

 ed to the hive from which they were taken, 

 or they may be all put together on a new 

 stand, and hived like a new swarm, allowing 

 one of the queens to be shaken in with them. 

 A frame or two of sealed brood from some 

 colony that can spare it is given, and soon 

 we have a colony of bees. 



As I have told you how to mate a large 

 number of queens by using the bees of only 

 one colony, and also how to introduce virgins 

 of any age with safety, I will now show 



HOW TO AVOID LOSS FROM ABSCONDING. 



It is a noticeable fact that a strong nucleus 

 or a weak colony of bees will abscond much 

 sooner than a weak nucleus with a bountiful 

 supply of honey on hand; and when this ab- 

 sconding occurs it is usually after the queen 

 has been mated and preparations have been 

 or are being made for a perpetuation of their 

 home. It is then, if their room is too large, 

 their stores scant, or after brood-rearing 

 has begun, that unrest and consequent ab- 

 sconding begins. With our little boxes and 

 fat combs of honey the bees busy themselves 

 moving the honey, clearing up a place for a 

 brood-nest, and secreting wax with which 

 they build spurs df wax from the comb to 

 the walls of their box. 



With these conditions they seem content, 

 and it is very seldom desertion is known; 

 but absconding is absolutely prevented when 

 the queen-excluding button is turned. I have 

 tested large numbers of queens as to purity 

 of mating in these little boxes. 



Now as to the prevention of fertile work- 

 ers. There is no possible show for them to 

 exist when a new lot of bees are used with 

 each mating of the queens. 



HOW TO HAVE QUEENS MATED TO SELECT 

 DRONES. 



The fifth and last proposition is that of the 

 controlling of the mating of the queens. 



These baby nuclei are so transportable that 

 500 or more of them can be loaded on a 

 wagon together with our hive of choice 

 drones. Then we go out on the prairie three 

 miles or more from any bees, set out the 

 little boxes, and liberate the drones. If the 

 queens are of proper age they should mate 

 the same or the next day, after which they 

 may be brought in and the bees and queens 

 of another race may be mated on the same 

 ground. 



LAWS' OLD-STYLE NUCLEUS BOX. 



I will now describe the construction of the 

 little boxes, which, you will see, is a very 

 simple arrangement. 



Two little trays, | inch deep, hinged to- 

 gether at the bottom with leather strips in 

 such a way as to clamp between its edges a 



