80 



PRACTICAL QUEEN REARING 



end. Taking advantage of this fact a wire protector has been 

 made which remains open at the end, thus permitting the queen 

 to emerge without further attention, Figure 32. By the time 

 the queen is ready to emerge, the bees will discover the absence 

 of the old queen and the newcomer will be welcomed. 



Formation of Nuclei. 



In the chapter on equipment for queen rearing, the various 

 styles of mating boxes and hives have been described. If 

 the standard hive is used, the formation of nuclei is a simple 

 matter. As many colonies as may be needed to make the de- 

 sired number of nuclei are broken up, and the combs together 

 with adhering bees are placed in the nuclei. One frame with 

 the old queen is left in the old hive, and it is usually well to 

 leave a second frame of brood with her, to enable her to build 



Fig. 33. A queen-mating yard composed of standard hives, each divided 



into two parts. 



