282 THE bbb-kbbper's guide ; 



spring- I make use of my hives which are prepared for pro- 

 spective summer use, for my nuclei. 



Mr. E. M. Hayhurst, one of our best queen-breeders, uses 

 the full-size L,ang-stroth frame, in full-sized hives, for queen- 

 rearing', while Mr. Root uses the same frames in small special 

 hives which hold three frames. These (Fig. 119) he fastens 

 high up on his grape-vine trellises, just back of his other hives, 

 which can be used for seats as he works with the nuclei. 



We now go to different hives of the apiary, and take out 

 three frames for each nucleus, at least one of which has brood, 

 and so on, till there are as many nuclei prepared as we have 

 queen-cells to dispose of. The bees should be left adhering- to 

 the frames of comb, only we must be certain that the queen is 

 not among them, as this would take the queen from where she 

 is most needed, and would lead to the sure destruction of one 

 queen-cell. To be sure of this, we never take such frames till 

 we have seen the queen, that we may be sure she is left behind. 

 It is well to close the nucleus for at least twenty-four hours, 

 so that enough bees will surely remain to cover the combs, 

 and so prevent the brood from becoming chilled. Another 

 good way to form nuclei, is to remove the queen from a full 

 colony, and as soon as she is missed use all the frames and 

 bees for nuclei. We form them as already described. In this 

 way we are not troubled to find but one queen. If any desire 

 the nuclei with smaller frames, these frames must of course 

 be filled with comb, and then we can shake bees immediately 

 into the nuclei, till they have sufficient to preserve a proper 

 temperature. Such special articles about the apiary are costly 

 and inconvenient. I believe that I should use hives even with 

 the largest frames for nuclei. Iy. C. Root, who uses the large 

 Quinby frame, uses the same for his nuclei. In this case we 

 should need to give more bees. Twenty-four hours after we 

 have formed this nucleus, we are ready to insert the queen-cell. 

 We may do it sooner, even at once, but always at the risk of 

 having the cell destroyed. To insert the queen-cell — for we 

 are now to give one to each nucleus, so we can never form 

 more nuclei than we have capped queen-cells — the old way was 

 to cut it out, using a sharp thin-bladed knife, commencing to 

 cut on either side the base of the cell, at least one-half inch 



