40 QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



is a drone-breeder or not is to wait until the brood is sealed 

 over. If the sealing of the cells is flat they contain worker 

 brood, but if it is convex they contain drone brood. 



Drone brood in worker cells is also produced by fertile 

 workers in the absence of a queen. When the eggs are laid 

 irregularly, three or more being placed in some cells and 

 none in others, it may be suspected that a fertile worker is 

 present. With some foi'eign races of bees — Cyprians, for 

 instance — workers will in time become fertile in all hives 

 lacking a fertile queen ; but in hives of English or Italian 

 bees fertile workers are rare. 



Management of Nuclei. — Nuclei require regular atten- 

 tion. They must not be allowed to run short of food, feed- 

 ing being resorted to when necessary, and continued, if need 

 be, twice a week. During a dearth of honey feeding is valu- 

 able for stimulating the queen and drones to fly. 



If the queen has got lost or injured, or has become a 

 drone-breeder, a ripe queen-cell must be given in her place 

 as soon as possible. A frame of sealed brood from a 

 nucleus that can spare it should be given to keep up the 

 population. About half-an-hour after a queen gets lost the 

 bees become more or less excited and restless. They start 

 humming, and a few will run or fly out of the entrance and 

 back again. The .same symptoms are shown when the queen 

 is balled, and also occasionally, when nothing is wrong. If 

 the hive is rapped or examined the humming develops into a 

 roar. For several days after the queen is lost this roaring 

 may be induced by rapping or examining. A nucleus that 

 dees not roar in the least when examined is sure to contain 

 a queen or occupied queen-cells. 



^^'hen the honey-flow begins to decline special precau- 

 tions have to be taken to guard against robbing. These 

 consist in ; — 



(i) Keeping the entrances of the nuclei small — pieces 

 of section may be tacked over them to reduce their size to 

 hm. by -Jin. 



(2) Maintaining in each nucleus a sufficient population 

 of bees between the ages of one and three weeks. This is 

 best done by the supply of sealed brood in good time. 

 Very young bees are powerless against robbers and old bees 

 are little better. 



