QUEEN ItEARINa AND INTRODUCTION. 163 



the following- day, by which time they will have realised their 

 queenless condition, and will be prepared to receive assistance. 

 When queen cells are ripe, that is, within two or three days of 

 hatching, the bees remove some of the wax from the points of 

 the cells, thus roughening- them, and facilitating the egress 

 of the young queens, and enabling the bee-keeper to recognise 

 the cells as ripe, and ready for use. You must remember that 

 frames with queen cells will not admit of being- cleared (181) by 

 shaking or thumping, and that on no account must the royal 

 brood be suffered to become chilled during the operation of 

 transfer. Gently drive the bees ofif one of the ripe cells with a 

 carbolic feather; cut out the cell with a piece of the comb 

 above it (Fig. q6) : return the frame to its hive ; and insert the 

 queen cell between two combs of a nucleus, fastening it by 

 thinning the attached piece of comb and turning it down 

 upon the frame-top, pressing it flat. If the queen cell has 

 been built upon the face of a comb, cut round the queen cell, 

 right through the comb ; and, from the brood comb of the 

 nucleus cut out a piece the same size ; and 

 insert in its place the piece with the queen 

 cell. The cell must not be pressed in the 

 least by the fingers, A couple of days later, 

 examine to see whether the cell has been 

 accepted ; and, if it is found to have been 

 destroyed and other cells to have been built, 

 remove the latter, and give another ripe 

 queen cell. The risk of chilling the queen 

 brood may be avoided by heating in the fire 

 _ a 4-oz. weight, or other piece of metal, until 



Yig, 9G. it Js as hot as you can bear in the hand : 



OUEEN CELL, CUT p'ace this in a small box, and cover it with 

 OUT FOR INSER- three or four thicknesses of felt : lay the 

 TION. queen cells upon the felt, close the box and 



put it in your pocket. This will keep the 

 cells and their brood warm while you are preparing to insert 

 them in their new positions. 



292. Management of Nuclei — When all the nuclei have been 

 supplied with queen cells, they must be warmly covered up, 

 and gently fed with syrup. There is a danger of the bees of 

 a nucleus leaving the hive with the young queen when the latter 

 takes her mating flight. If a frame of young brood be given 

 to them, they will not be likely to forsake it. The original 

 queen of hive A (289), with her attendant bees, may then be 

 returned to her old home; or she may be used elsewhere, in 

 which case the parent stock should have one or two of the queen 

 cells left to it. If, however, more queens be required, the 



