THOUSAND ANSWERS 139 



than ten days— take out one of the frames with the queen from B, 

 put it in an empty hive, C, and fill out C with empty combs or 

 frames filled with foundation-starters. Take hive A from its 

 stand and set hive C in its place. You will now make as many 

 nuclei as you can from the brood and bees in A, taking two 

 frames of brood and bees for each nucleus, putting each on a new 

 stand. It may happen that without any intention on your part 

 there will be one or more good queen-cells on one of the combs 

 in each nucleus. It may be, however, that most of the queen-cells 

 are on one or two combs, and you must cut out at least one good 

 cell for each nucleus. You can fasten it on the comb by pushing 

 over it a hive-staple. See that it is centrally located where the 

 bees will be sure to keep it warm. A cell must also be given to B, 

 and it will be well that this be given in a cage so that the bees 

 cannot get at it for a day or two, lest they destroy it before they 

 discover their queenlessness. The bees of the nuclei being queen- 

 less, will remain pretty well where put, but you might fasten them 

 ii' for a day or two. 



Increase, Natural. — Q. I have 2S colonies of bees and want to 

 increase to SO next year and secure as much surplus honey as 

 possible. How would you do this? We have plenty of white 

 clover that begins blooming May 1, and blooms two months. 



A. There is, perhaps, no better way than to let each colony 

 swarm once, moving the parent colony to a new location and 

 hiving the swarm on the old stand. That will give a strong force 

 to the swarm, which will do the principal storing, although the 

 mother colony may store some if there is a late flow. 



Increase With Queen-Cells. — Q. Is it safe to form a colony by 

 taking frames of sealed brood and queen-cells instead of queen? 



A. Very unsafe if no precaution whatever is used. For when 

 you look a day or two later you are likely to find the bees mostly 

 gone and the brood chilled. After putting the two frames with 

 adhering bees in your nucleus hive, shake into it the bees from 

 one or two more frames. Then see that your hive is closed bee- 

 tight, so that not a bee can get out, for two or three days. It's 

 not a bad plan to stuff grass or green leaves into the entrance, 

 plugging it tight and hard. The green stuff will dry and shrink, 

 and in two or three days the bees will dig their way out. 



(If the weather is very hot, better keep this hive in the cellar 

 during that time, as they might smother in the hive under the 

 sun.— C. P. D.) 



