6 QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



brood there is, warm, after all loss of bees has occurred. 

 The nucleus that remains in the parent hive need contain 

 only sufficient bees to cover one or two combs, because of 

 the' bees that will return to it from the other nuclei. (See 

 Forming 'Nuclei, page 31.) 



Any spare queen-cells may be cut out of the combs and 

 distributed to queenless colonies or nuclei, preferably to those 

 from which a fertile queen has been removed one or two 

 days previously. 



Queen-cells and the combs containing them must not be 

 severely jarred or shaken. To find the queen-cells, the bee- 

 keeper should, if necessary, brush the bees from the comb 

 with a feather. In cutting out the queen-cells care must 

 be taken not to damage them. For this purpose, plenty of 

 the surrounding comb should be cut away with them, and 

 thfise that are joined to one another should not be separated. 

 Very small queen-cells, especially if they are crooked, should 

 be rejected ; they are likely to produce undersized queens. 

 Verv long and narrow cells are also likely to contain inferior 

 queens ; their inordinate length is due to the larva failing 

 to reach at the proper time the stage at which the cell 

 should be sealed, the bees lengthening the unsealed cell. 

 Thick cells of medium length generally contain the best 

 de\'eloped queens. The queen can often be seen inside the 

 cell by holding it before a strong light. Before they have 

 time to get chilled, the queen-cells "should be inserted, tip 

 downwards, as in nature, between two combs of brood ; 

 they should be placed in the warmest 

 part of the brood-nest. They need only 

 be wedged between the combs sufficiently 

 to prevent tlieir dropping down, as 

 the bees will soon fix them securely, 

 but it is always ad^'isable to place 

 each queen-cell in a spiral wire 

 protector (see Fig. 3), which protects its 

 FigT^. sides from being torn open by hostile bees. 



Queen-cell Pro- The projecting end of the w-ire is pressed 



tector contaimiig .,_,-'.,,, _ - , ^ , . 



Queen-cell. mto the middle of one of the combs in 



such a way that the queen-cell will hang 

 in the centre of the cluster. A tin cover is slipped through 

 the top of the protector. 



