FORMING NUCLEI 109 
three days. The entrances should be opened at night after the 
bees have stopped flying, to prevent a large part of the bees from 
returning to the old stand. If the bees first get out late in the 
evening, they will begin to carry out dead bees, and attend to 
other housekeeping duties, and by morning will have become 
accustomed to the new conditions, so that not nearly so many 
will return to the old stand as will be the case if they are released 
from confinement in the middle of the day. In this way four 
colonies should be secured from the one. 
Fie. 55.—Nuclei in queen-rearing apiary. 
It is seldom profitable to attempt such divisions of small or 
weak colonies, even in warm weather, as the amount of increase 
secured is too small to be profitable. Mather should the colony 
be left until it becomes strong before breaking it up. Rapid in- 
crease can be made from populous colonies during a honey flow, 
but when no honey is being stored it is difficult to get the nuclei 
to build up quickly, even though they be fed. One should always 
expect several weeks of some kind of honey flow after making 
increase. 
In case of sudden check in nectar secretion for any reason, 
