86 PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING 



on to a time long past that defined by the apiarist 

 as his limit, and therefore it is not wise to leave 

 it to them. 



When bees are found to be building super- 

 sedure cells, by all means let the good work 

 go on and utilize the cells, as they produce the 

 best of queens. Good cells may also be obtained 

 when a colony swarms, but at other times when 

 the apiarist wishes to rear queens he must com- 

 pel his bees to raise a batch. This is done by 

 making a colony queenless, and at the same time 

 depriving it of all unsealed brood and eggs. 

 Twenty-four hours afterwards give them a frame 

 of eggs from the hive containing the best queen 

 in the apiary, first cutting the comb away at the 

 bottom up to the first row of eggs. This will 

 give room for the queen-cells to hang. Feed the 

 queenless colony gently, and in about ten days' 

 time the nuclei may be formed. 



Nuclei are small colonies of bees formed for 

 the purpose of getting the young queens fertil- 

 ized, and they should consist of three good frames 

 of bees, two of the frames containing mature 

 brood. The queen-raising colony will form three 

 good nuclei, one of which, and the weakest of 

 the three, should be left in the original hive. 

 Nuclei may be placed either in full-sized hives 

 or in small hives holding three frames only. 



Give each of these small colonies at least one 

 good queen-cell, enclosed in a cell -protector, and 

 cover the whole up warmly. In a fortnight from 



