Fir^nj?'"^ 



±h 





VOL. III. 



FLIT. HCHIGM, MARCH Id. 1890. 



NO. 3. 



Starting Nuclei ; Getting Cells ; Shipping 

 Ctueens. 



W. J. ELLISON. 



^ S I think the most difficult part of 

 queen rearing, it there is any difficult 

 part, is in yetting a good staff, as it 

 were, of working nuclei, I will Ijegin 

 with my plan of starting them. First, 1 

 have a number of good strong colonies with 

 plenty of young bees set apart to be divided 

 up into nuclei. When I am ready I go to 

 each and lift out a frame of bees, brood and 

 honey, placing the queen upon it if she is not 

 there already. I now hang this frame in one 

 of the little hives made just wide enough for 

 two frames. Beside it I place an empty 

 comb, close the hive and set it where I wish 

 it, with the entrance shut until night. I 

 then open it, leaving some obstruction in the 

 way to attract the attention of the bees to 

 their new quarters. I now have that many 

 nuclei all safe, for nearly all the bees will 

 stay with their queen. After a few days I 

 can removt the queens and the nuclei are 

 ready to receive cells or young queens. I 

 leave the queenless colonies nine days, then 

 procure a comb with brood in all stages from 

 the eggs up, for as many nuclei as I intend 

 starting. In each of these combs I insert a 

 queen cell that I have already provided and 

 that will hatch in at least two days. If the 

 stock that I have rendered queenless is good 

 enough, their own cells may be used, as also 

 their own combs, one cell being left in each, 

 and used as the ones above described, but 

 their combs are not to be depended upon, 

 like the ones with the eggs and brood. 

 When each comb is thus prepared I hang 

 them, one or more at a time, for a few 

 moments in the centre of the queenless col- 

 onies. The bees soon cover them, when 

 they are removed with the adhering bees to 

 the little hives. By the side of each comb 

 of brood and bees is placed an empty comb, 

 the hives covered and placed where I intend 

 to have them remain, the entrances closed 

 forty-eight hours, and then opened just 

 before dark. By this method I sometimes 

 get as many as twenty-live nuclei from a 

 single colony. I always put some obstruc- 

 tion at the entrances when they are opened. 

 How do I get the cells? Well, I got, one 

 year, cells from two swarms that came out 

 together, joined in the air, and balled their 

 queens to death. I gave them brood and got 



si^cty-five nice cells. I was only a novice 

 then. Didn't I open my eyes? Let me say 

 that you in the North always stand a good 

 chance of getting the finest queens by buy- 

 ing early queens from the South, as nearly 

 all are raised during the height of the 

 swarming season. To get good cells and 

 plenty of them, requires a strong colony and 

 the bees in a normal condition. We may 

 either take away all their brood with their 

 queen and furnish them with brood, from 

 one to three days old, from selected stock, 

 or, if they are good enough we may remove 

 only their queen and let them rear a batch 

 of cells from their own brood. As soon as 

 they are capped, remove them and give the 

 colony brood one or two days old from a 

 selected or imported queen. The comb 

 that contains this brood is cut into strips 

 about three cells wide and fastened to nar 

 row pieces of board that are placed as bars 

 across the ordinary brood frames. After 

 removing a;ll the capped cells, this frame is 

 hung in the centre of the colony and allowed 

 to remain there two days. By this time 

 they will have a number of cells started and 

 supplied with royal jelly, when it may be 

 exchanged for another prepared in like 

 manner ; placing the former in the upper 

 story of a strong colony and protecting it by 

 a queen excluding honey board from the 

 queen below. The bees will complete the 

 cells, and, on the tenth day after they were 

 first started, they are to be removed and a 

 single cell placed in each nucleus. 



During a dearth of honey I seldom feed 

 my bees that are building queen cells. I 

 use the smoker several times a day, causing 

 them to fill up with honey. This has the 

 same effect as feeding, or a heavy flow of 

 honey. 



I have never used a lamp nursery. 



I have tried the transposition plan but 

 prefer the way I have described. I keep a 

 large calendar hung in a conspicuous place, 

 and the day the cells are to be removed I 

 cross out the date and mark the number of 

 the hives in small figures under it. I never 

 find any trouble in running in a young queen 

 at the entrance or top of a nucleus, even if 

 the queen has been but recently removed. 

 But I prefer to calculate closely the time the 

 cells will hatch, and give one about four 

 hours after the queen has been removed ; 

 and in less than twenty-four hours I have a 

 new queen and no risk. I have sometimes 

 caged a lot of queens for the mail, and, just, 



