1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1243 



by using baby nuclei in preference to larger 

 nuclei is the economy in bees. The greatest 

 demand for queens occurs in the early 

 spring, at just the time when it is hardest 

 to supply them. The colonies come out of 

 their winter quarters in a weakened condi- 

 tion, and can ill afford to be robbed of bees 

 for making nuclei, especially if we hope to 

 be benefited by the early fruit bloom. To 

 take a two-frame nucleus from a colony at 

 this juncture means robbing them of about 

 a third of their original strength; while tak- 

 ing a baby nucleus and about two or three 

 hundred bees hardly affv;;cts them at all. The 

 other points at which they score — saving in 

 hives, combs, time, etc., and the ability of 

 the bees to protect the small combs from in- 

 sect enemies — have already been discussed, 

 and ought to be so obvious to all as not to 

 demand exhaustive discussion here. 



It is my intention, in the rest of this, to 

 discuss only such facts as might be found 

 useful to any who have tried or who are 

 mindful of trying baby nuclei. 



The process of making baby nuclei is very 

 simple. Have your boxes fitted out with 

 one light frame of honey; the other of un- 

 sealed brood and a caged virgin. From three 

 to five nuclei may be taken from an ordina- 

 rily strong colony without seriously affecting 

 its strength. The nuclei should be made 

 sufficiently strong at first to allow for the 

 loss of bees in confining. This loss may, 

 however, be greatly minimized by having the 

 boxes well ventilated, and keeping them in 

 a cool place while in confinement. If your 

 intention be to keep them in the same yard in 

 which they are made, they should be confined 

 for at least three days; if at another locali- 

 ty, not less than a mile away, from 36 to 48 

 hours will be lorg enough. In both cases 

 they should be released at dark, the en- 

 trances being turned in opposite directions. 

 While in confinement the boxes must not be 

 placed close together; for if they are, the 

 bees will become acquainted in some way of 

 which we are not quite certain. It may be 

 that they acquire the same body odor, or, 

 having been made from the same colony, 

 they retain their old acquaintanceship, and 

 will be almost sure to unite if released the 

 ordirary distances apart. There will also be 

 an aptitude on the part of the virgins, if 

 they fly soon after they are released, to 

 mistake their hives. 



The bees used for this purpose should be 

 selected from the gentlest strains, as not 

 only will cross bees necessitate the use of 

 smoke, and so incite balling, but in many 

 cases they won't accept virgins. 



The spot selected for keeping nuclei should 

 be one that affords warmth and shade at the 

 same time. It must be always borne in 

 mind that baby nuclei are just what the 

 name insinuates — they are babies, and 

 should be given all the care and attention 

 conducive to the well-being of babies. 



The virgins will not mistake their hives, 

 because they look so much alike. Close ob- 

 servations have satisfied me that no fear 

 need be entertained along this line. 



A larger nucleus, say one-third of a Lang- 

 stroth frame, might give better results in 

 cold climates; but after careful attention to 

 about 200 of the small ones all summer I 

 have concluded that they make very efficient 

 substitutes for the old two-frame nuclei. 

 Under normal circumstances, working these 

 on the dual plan, they averaged a queen in 

 about seven days. In fair warm weather 

 the average of the very strong ones was one 

 queen in from four to five days. 



Granville, 0., Nov. 8. 



[In most localities a nucleus frame one- 

 third the size of a regular Langstroth will 

 give better results I think. See article 

 which I had prepared before reading yours, 

 which follows.— Ed.] 



THE PRATT NUCLEL 



How they were Actually Used in the A. L Root 



Co.'s Queen-rearing Yards Last Season; 



their Good and Bad Features. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



During the height of the queen- rearing 

 season we had nearly 200 Pratt baby nuclei 

 in actual use. The foreman of our yard 

 thought we ought to have as many as 500; 

 but I objected somewhat, saying I would 

 rather rear some of our queens in full-sized 

 Langstroth-frame nuclei at a greater ex- 

 pense for bees and hives than to put into ac- 

 tual use so many boxes of bees. The final 

 wind-up of the season has justified the wis- 

 dom of my decision— not that the baby nuclei 

 were a failure— far from that— but because 

 during the season we have learned how they 

 can be improved. One of the faults that we 

 had to find with them was that they had to 

 be repeopled with bees too often. At most 

 there would not be more than 200 in them at 

 a time. Some of them would die off, and 

 many of them would go into large queen- 

 cages; with the result that there would soon 

 be dry combs, no brood, and no bees. It is 

 not true, as was confidently predicted, that 

 they would continually swarm out, though 

 they did do this to a very limited extent, 

 but not enough to cause any trouble. Some- 

 times we put into an export cage something 

 like 40 bees. If there were 200 bees in the 

 first place, the number would be cut down 

 over a fourth. After we had had three or 

 four queens mated and caged out of the 

 same set of bees, there would not be many 

 left; indeed, we have time and again taken 

 out the very last bee to fill the queen-cage 

 along with the queen just mated. 



Aside from the fuss of renewing these lit- 

 tle boxes of bees every so often, we struck 

 on another difficulty that was not quite to 

 our liking; namely, that, after a queen was 

 mated, the small area of comb available for 

 her would make her very uneasy. She might 

 fly out, and with her theTaees. We there- 

 fore found it necessary to take out the queen 

 the very day she began laying. But this 

 is not all. No brood would mature under 



