1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



19 



FORMING SECTION=BOX NUCLEI. 



How Provision may be Made for Mating from Forty 



to Fifty Queens by tiie Bees of One Strong Col= 



ony , as Practiced by "Swarthmore." 



BY SWAKTHMOKK 



It does not require more than a teacupful 

 of bees to surround a young- queen with the 

 necessarj' environments for maternity-flight 

 — the onlj' question being how best to har- 

 ness such a small force in order to get the 

 best results with as little time and labor 

 as possible. 



We must bear in mind that it can not be 

 expected that verj' small nuclei will main- 

 lain themselves without assistance; there- 

 fore the hives should be of such construc- 

 tion as to be quite easilj' handled, either 

 sirgly or in numbers — wholesale matini; 

 being the idea — in lots of twelve or twentj - 

 five at a time. 



Details of the fertilizing-box I am now 

 using, and the one that has been so success 

 ful in the hands of Mr. Fr. Greiner anil 



SWAKTHMOKE MATING-BOX FOR SICTTING 

 OUT. 



others the past season (see Gleanings for 

 Sept. 1. 1902, pages 726 to 727), is as fol- 

 lows: A simple box for holding two4'4x4'4 

 section-box frames, having- a half -inch 

 flight-hole on one side, as shown, covered 

 with the screen in the photogr^iph. 



The frames are attached to the lid or roof 

 board (which may or may not be divided) 

 by means of staples driven part way into 

 Ihe wood, and tiien bent at right angles 

 over the frame, which holds the same secure- 

 !}•, yet permits ready removal by a simple 

 twisting motion. Standard lj^:sx4 '4 x-+ '4 sec- 

 tions, split in the middle, are used for 

 frames. When the frames are dropped into 

 place in the box, the top opening will be 

 entirely closed, and the little frames will 

 have a bee-space from the bottom and sides 

 of the little hive. 



A 34 -inch-hole, coming- directly between 

 the two frames, is made in each lid for the 

 purpose of inserting- queen-cells or feeders. 

 Foundation is fixed into these small frames, 

 and eight of them are then fitted into a 

 Langstroth frame, and several such are 

 hung- in large hives to be drawn out and 

 supplied with hone^'; after which they are 

 removed as wanted, and fixed two frames 

 in each box, as shown in the photograph 

 above. 



It is always better to have some brood in 

 the combs; but brood is not imperative when 



SWARTHMORE CONFINING - SCREEN FOR 

 FORMING NUCLEI. 



making up isolated nuclei. Of course there 

 is some chance of failure without brood, but 

 of such small consequence that the loss is 

 hardly noticeable in the end. However, 

 stocks of brood, honey, and pollen may be 

 held always in reserve by keeping a nucle- 

 us colony of from three to five frames con- 

 stantly upon small combs fitted into Lang- 

 stroth frames. 



Supply twelve mating-boxes at a time,, 

 each with two nicely drawn combs well 

 supplied with honey; then run into each 

 box a teacupful of bees in the following 

 manner: 



Twelve confining-screous (shown attach- 

 ed to a box in the first photograph) of pe- 

 culiar construction are to be at hand. 



