34 



(WEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



73), and then a virgin ^6 hours to three days old is run into 

 each nucleus through a hole made in the quilt with the point 

 of a pencil. At the same time a note is made of the parent- 

 age and date of hatching of each queen on a card tacked on 

 the inside of the roof. At dusk the grass is removed from 

 the entrances and the rack removed from over the frames, 

 the roof being placed there instead. The reaction of con- 

 tentment that follows the introduction of the queen after 

 four hours of intense excitement usually lasts through the 

 following day, provided the bees are left perfectly quiet. 

 It is true a few bees fl)- out in quest of honey, carefully 

 marking the new location, but they ne\'er return, and the 

 non-arrival of food-laden bees has a quieting effect on those 

 that remain. Sometimes, however, they get excited and begin 

 flying out in some numbers. This rapid diminution in the 

 population generally causes a panic and stampede, and the 

 bees — even the young ones that ha\-e never flown before — 

 desert the hi\e in a wholesale manner. To guard against 

 such an accident it is best to watch the newly-formed nuclei 

 carefully on the first morning, and if too many bees are seen 

 to be leaving any of them, to immediately re-block its 

 entrance with grass. It is very likely to happen if the queen 

 is less than 36 hours old when introduced, such a queen being 

 often unnoticed. Another cause of the trouble is placing 



insufficient bees in the nucleus to 

 fairly crowd it during confine- 

 ment, for, in this case, the bees 

 are likely to kill the queen when 

 she is introduced, especially if 

 they have been obtained from a 

 hi\'e containing a fertile queen. 

 During the first few days of its 

 existence, the only time of the 

 day when a nucleus should be 

 examined is in the evening. If, 

 on the first evening, anv nucleus 

 is found to have lost two-thirds 

 or more of its original strength 

 during the day or to have in- 

 sufficient bees to cover its brood, 

 it must be reinforced by voung 



Fig. 26. 



Funnel for shaking b^ea into 



a hive. 



