THOUSAND ANSWERS 



157 



giving a pound or two of bees purchased from some other bee- 

 keeper, what precautions would you use in uniting the purchased 

 bees to the nuclei? 



Fig. 32. — Examining a baby nucleus. 



A. Might do one of several ways. One way is to sprinkle all 

 thoroughly with sweetened water. Or, shake them up in a dish- 

 pan till they don't know "where they are at." Or, put the added 

 bees in an upper story for, a few days, separated from the lower 

 story by a wire-cloth. During a honey crop they may be given 

 right at the entrance of the colony to be helped. 



Q. Is it best to set nuclei quite a distance from strong col- 

 onies? 



A. I don't believe it makes much difference. 



Q. When forming a single or twin nucleus, which is the better 

 to use, a ripe queen-cell or a virgin queen? 



A. There is little to choose. If a cell is given, the young 

 queen is more sure of kind treatment than when a virgin is intro- 

 duced. On the other hand it sometimes happens that the virgin 

 in the cell has imperfect wings, and she may even be dead, and 



