GETTING THE BEES.—Chapter V. 
they are to be permanently located is less than two miles, there is danger 
that many of the bees, after being moved, will return to their former loca- 
tion. To avoid this they should be first moved to a place at least two miles 
distant from both their first location and permanent location, and left there 
for two or three weeks. At the end of this time they may be moved to 
their permanent location, with no danger of any bees returning to their 
former home. Again, if it is desired to move bees only a very short dis- 
tance, from a next-door neighbor’s or even within the owner’s apiary, it is 
easiest to move them very short distances successively, say a foot every two 
or three days at first. If it is apparent that the increased distance does 
not confuse the bees, increase the moving distance to perhaps a yard till 
they have reached the desired location. 
Buying Nuclei. 
Buying a nucleus, which is merely a small colony on from one to five 
combs (a full colony covers from six to ten combs), is a common method 
of beginning, and it is not so expensive at the start as buying a full colony. 
A nucleus of two frames, with about a quart of bees, will soon build up 
into a full colony if there is plenty of nectar and pollen for the bees to 
begin harvesting atonce, or if properly fed with sugar syrup. In buying 
a nucleus it is not safe to take every man’s word for the condition of the 
bees unless the seller is known to be reliable. Be sure that he is so, for 
there is danger of getting poor bees, a poor queen, and disease when buy- 
ing bees in this 
way. The begin- 
ner should keep 
in mind that a 
nucleus differs 
from a_ colony 
(full colony) 
only in the 
number of bees. 
The size of nu- 
clei is designat- 
ed as one-frame, 
two-frame, 
threeframe, 
four-frame or 
five-frame nuclei, 
as the amount of 
bees in the nu- 
cleus may be 
sufficient to cov- 
er one, two, 
three, four or 
five frames. The 
one-frame nu- 
eus with frame . 
cleus e : Taking bees froin a2 nucleus shipping case and putting them 
and shipping in a hive. 
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