QUEEN-MATING 119 



one illustrated in Fig. 55. It is the regular standard 

 size holding 3 Hoffman frames, two containing honey and 

 pollen, the centre one with brood in all stages. The 

 brood-frames are taken from any strong hive during 

 the heaviest flight of the day, so that the bees adhering 

 to them will be young ones who have not yet located 

 their home, and therefore are more likely to remain where 

 placed. However, when the brood-frame and bees are 

 ready, gently cover the queen-cell with a protector and 

 attach it to the side of the comb. See that the cell is 

 up in the warmest part of the hive so that it will not 

 chill. The perforated piece is then turned to cover the 

 nucleus entrance. 



The bees are closed up in this manner for a couple of 

 days. When opened at dusk on the evening of the second 

 day, very few of the young bees will return to the 

 original stand. If the queen has hatched, they will be 

 quite content in their new home. Perhaps it is well to 

 point out that ' ' ripe ' ' cells only should be given to nuclei, 

 so that the lilliputian colony is not too long queenless. 

 There is nothing like a young virgin queen to hold the 

 bees together. 



QUEEN MATING. 



BABY NUCLEI. 



The Pratt method made use of the nuclei system, but 

 instead of using the standard size he constructed a 

 smaller box shown for comparative purposes in Fig. .55. 

 In connection with these small hives he used what are 

 termed "baby nuclei frames" (Fig. 58). These tiny 

 frames (3 in number) were made to fit the standard 

 frame. (The illustration is the author's method of fitting 

 them. The Americans use a metal slide to form the 

 lug whereby the frames rest on the rabbet). A frame so 

 fitted is hung in the centre of the brood-nest of a strong 

 colony. 



