278 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



pared are used as the base of queen cells. 

 The top bar of a brood frame has holes 

 bored through it its entire length. These 

 holes are of such a size that one of the 

 prepared cells can be slipped down 

 through each hole, the little rim around 

 the top preventing the block from slip- 

 ping clear down through. 



To secure bees for cell building, they 

 are shaken into a box and left several 

 hours, when they will fairly "beg" for a 

 queen. They are then hived back upon 

 the old stand, but are given only combs 

 of honey — no brood. They are now in a 

 condition to accept and start queen cells 

 upon any larvse that may be given them. 

 A just hatched larvae is placed in each 

 of the prepared blocks, the blocks slipped 

 through the holes in the top bars, and 

 the top bars, two or three to a colony, are 

 alternated with the combs of honey. 

 Sometimes the sticks for the cells are cut 

 of such a length that they may be slipped 

 in between the end bars of a brood frame. 



Bees that have been queenless and 

 broodless for several hours will at once 

 start the building of queen cells upon be- 

 in given the material in this form. 



Some colonies are better cell builders 

 than are other colonies, and, as soon as 

 the cells are nicely started they are turn- 

 ed over to such colonies to complete the 

 work. 



As soon as the cells are sealed they are 

 placed in nurseries, in which each cell 

 has a compartment by itself. There is 

 some soft candy in each compartment, 

 and a little honey is smeared upon the 

 point of each cell, that the queen may 

 thrust out her tongue, when biting her 

 way out, and get a little nourishment. 

 Wire cloth upon the sides of the nursery 

 allow the operator to see when the queens 

 have hatched. The nurseries are kept in 

 the center of strong colonies. Mr. Wood 

 thinks that he will use a lamp nursery 

 another year, and thus save the trouble 

 and annoyance of having to open and dis- 

 turb a colony every time that he wants to 

 examine the nursery. When the queens 

 hatch they may be kept several days in 



these nurseries. They are introduced to 

 nuclei by being placed in a small, round, 

 wire cloth cage with candy in one end 

 that the bees eat out and thus release 

 them. 



Mr. Wood's favorite queen rearing comb 

 is a half size Danzenbaker, or rather a 

 frame of such a size that two of them will 

 exactly fill the inside of a Danzenbaker 

 frame. When the season is over the 

 frames can be slipped into the regular 

 size Danzenbaker frame and easily united. 

 In the spring the bees are all on the regu- 

 lar size frames in regular hives, and the 

 combs will be full of honey and brood, 

 and covered with bees. They can be 

 slipped out of the Danzenbaker frame, 

 and two of the little combs will form a 

 nucleus. The little frames have no pro- 

 jections, and are put into small nucleus 

 hives made expressly for that purpose. 

 Little strips of wood are tacked to the 

 end-pieces of these little hives, and the 

 end bars of the frames slip down between 

 these strips of wood, thus being held ex- 

 actly the right distance apart. Nails are 

 driven through the end pieces, at about 

 Yi, inch from their lower ends, and as the 

 little frames are lowered into place, they 

 strike these projecting nails and are kept 

 from striking the bottom board. There is 

 a little wooden cover for each nucleus. 

 The combs, with the adhereing bees, are 

 put into the boxes, taken home, a dis- 

 tance of six miles, allowed to fly, 

 then taken back to the out-yard, and, 

 as they have given up the old location, 

 they will adhere to any new location. 

 They are placed in groups of four, setting 

 the hives in actual contact with one an- 

 oth'ir, thus each helps to keep its neigh- 

 bor warm. Two entrances are turned in 

 one direction, two in another. 



As these little nucleus boxes are of thin 

 lumber, Mr. Wood is planning to put 

 them inside of soap boxes, or some other 

 cheap boxes, another year, which will pro- 

 tect them from the weather and sudden 

 changes of temperature. He has 600 of 

 these little boxes all ready for use an- 

 other season. 



