DIVISIONS WITHOUT QUEENS 107 
sible in the operation, and the hive only opened to find and 
remove the queen and to take out the frame of brood that is 
exchanged for an empty comb, many of the bees will remain in 
the hive and there will be little if any loss of brood. The brood 
combs should be pushed together and the empty one placed at the 
outside of the hive, rather than to divide the brood nest. A 
queen should be provided for the new colony as soon as possible. 
Divisions without Queens.—It is far more profitable to pro- 
vide each new division with a queen, or at least a ripe queen cell 
as soon as possible. However, it often happens that some in- 
crease is desired when no queens or cells are available. If the 
bee-keeper will plan ahead, cells may easily be raised by the 
Miller method as described on page 122. 
If one wishes to make a division without providing a queen, 
it may be done as follows: From your best colony take a frame 
of brood, being sure that eggs and newy hatched larvee are pres- 
ent. Add empty combs or frames of foundation as in the other 
cases described, to fill up the space in a new hive. In the middle 
of the day, when bees are flying freely, remove your strongest 
colony without opening the hive or disturbing them more than 
is necessary some distance away, and place the new hive with a 
frame of brood, but no queen, where the strong colony stood. 
The field force from the latter colony returning to their old loca- 
tion will make the best of the situation, and proceed to rear a 
queen from the young larve, and by fall there will be a strong 
colony if conditions are favorable. The old colony which has 
been removed will lose their field force, and consequently will 
require some time to build up to normal condition again. 
Another plan is to divide the brood from a strong colony into 
two parts, placing half of the frames in the old hive and the 
rest in a new hive. Both hives are filled up with empty combs or 
frames of foundation. No attention is paid to the queen, but 
care is used that eggs and very young larve are present in both 
hives. The two hives are then set closely together, side by side 
on the old stand, each occupying about half of the original space. 
