44 



OUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



on one of the half combs, and it is even more important 

 that the bees should be young, and that there should be 

 plenty of honey and, if possible, 

 sealed brood in the combs than in 

 the case of ordinary nuclei. For 

 the home apiary it would be an 

 advantage to make the baby hive 

 large enough for each nucleus to 

 take an extra half frame if 

 required. 



A serious disadvantage of baby 

 nuclei occasionally noticed in 

 America is that the bees may leave 

 the hive en masse with the queen 

 when she flies out to meet the drone. 

 This, however, has never occurred 

 in my experience in England. 



Fig. 28. 

 Hive for two Baby Nuclei. 



VIII.— SENDING QUEENS BY MAIL AND INTRO- 

 DUCING THE^I TO COLONIES. 



Sendingf Qaeens by Mail. — The postal regulations of 

 most countries now allow live bees to be sent by mail, and 

 a great number of queens are distributed in this way every 

 summer. They are sent in small cages, introduced by 

 Benton, containing a special kind of soft candy called 

 "queen candy," described below.. The queen and her 

 attendants will live for several days in one of these cages. 

 Indeed, they will often live for two weeks or more, pro- 

 vided young Italian or hybrid Avorkers of the age at which 

 they are only just distinguishable from adults by their slightly 

 lighter hair, Avith undistended abdomens, are chosen. If 

 they are not overcrowded, the l>ees in the cage will stand 

 a temperature up to godeg., there being always .sufficient 

 air for them in the mail bags. Each cage weighs less than 

 two ounces with the candy in it. The queens can therefore 

 be forwarded expeditiously by post to any address at a 

 merely nominal cost. 



The cage consists of a block of non -resinous wood — for 



