THOUSAND ANSWERS 195 



said, the bees may swarm in spite of all you can do in that way, 

 but it is hardly necessary for you to destroy cells oftener than 

 once every ten days. If that will not prevent swarming, it will 

 hardly prevent it to destroy them more frequently. 



Q. Do you shake the bees off the combs when looking for 

 queen-cells? If so, do you shake the bees on the ground or upon 

 the tops of the frames in the hives? My bees seem to try to hide 

 cells by clustering in bunches. 



A. Sometimes the combs are looked over without any shaking, 

 for if cells are in the hive at all, one is not likely to miss them all. 

 But if a single cell is found, then it is hardly safe to omit shaking 

 all the combs. Just how the shaking is done depends upon cir- 

 cumstances. If the queen is to be found, she must be found before 

 any shaking is done, and the frame she is on set out of the hive, for 

 if a single frame is first shaken, then it's good-bye to finding the 

 queen. After the queen is out of the hive, the bees may be shaken 

 on the ground, on top of the frames, or into the hive between the 

 frames. If the queen is not to be found, the bees are shaken on 

 the top-bars or into the hive between the frames. 



Q. If I remove the queen from one of my black colonies and 

 put in a frame with a queen-cell on it, would the queen-cell need 

 to be protected from the bees for a few days? 



A. Yes, if the cell is not protected and is given before the 

 bees have discovered their queenlessness, it will be torn down. 

 But in 24 hours they are likely to discover their queenlessness. 



Q. Can a queen-cell, by careful handling, be cut from a comb 

 and put into another comb for a colony, to any certainty, with- 

 out injuring it in any way by pressure, or exposure, or should it 

 always be introduced on the comb on which it is built? 



A. Thousands of queen-cells have been cut from the comb 

 and fastened in or on another comb with just as good results as 

 if left on their own comb. Indeed, in many cases, even when the 

 cell is taken on its own comb, it is better to cut out the cell and 

 fasten it on the comb, for a large portion of cells are on the 

 edges of combs where there is danger of their being chilled, and 

 they should be centrally located, where sure to keep warm. 



Q. How many queen-cells may I give one strong colony to 

 complete during a good flow, the colony being extra strong? I 

 mean to get good queens. 



A. Some limit the number to ten. But as a colony left to itself 

 rears twice that number very often, it is doubtful whether it is 

 necessary to limit the number so much. Indeed, it is possible that 



