QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



43 



colonies. Almost e\ery queen-breeder wants bees as well 

 as queens. Then the various disadvantages of having two 

 sizes of frame must also be taken into account. But when 

 there is a pressing demand for queens, a few baby nuclei 

 will prove profitable. 



The best size of frames for baby nuclei is half size, 

 so that two combs together will make a full-sized comb. 

 The two half frames fastened together hang like an ordinary 

 standard frame in an ordinary colony, and are there filled 

 with honey and brood. Metal clasps may be used to hold 

 the two half frames together, or they may be hinged together 

 so as to make a folding frame (see Fig. 27), but a folding 

 frame, though convenient, is not so satisfactory as a divisible 

 frame, because it is an advan- 

 tage to be able to separate the 

 little frames in the nuclei. 



Fig. 28 shows a baby 

 nucleus hive that has been 

 used successfully in Ripple 

 Court Apiary for a good many 

 years. It holds two nuclei 

 each on two half frames, with 

 entrances on opposite sides, 

 each measuring |in. by fin. 

 The floor is in one piece with 

 the hive. The nuclei are 

 separated by a close-fitting 

 division board, having spikes 

 in the bottom to fix it to the floor, and there is also room 

 on either side for a division board, which does not quite 

 reach the bottom in order to avoid crushing bees during 

 manipulation, together with an extra half inch of space for 

 working. The two nuclei may be united by removal of 

 the central division board. A rack (not shown) is made 

 to hold down the quilt during the confinement of the bees, 

 and a tin feeder, constructed on the same principle as that 

 described on page 36, is encased in the hollow wall sup- 

 porting the projecting ends of the top bars of the frames. 

 As many as eight or nine baby nuclei, each on two 

 half frames, may be made from one strong colony. In 

 stocking the hive, sufficient bees should be put in to crowd 



Fig. 27. 

 Folding Frame tor Baby Nuclei. 



