148 A Modern' Bee-Farm 



Our cells, therefore, are not removed until the queens are 

 almost at maturity, and now they are to be placed in the 



Queen Nursery. 



This may consist of a shallow frame composed of a number 

 of compartments i-|-inch wide with a wire loop in one side to 

 hold the cell. Place this frame on top of the cell nursery hive 

 with a piece of linen intervening ; the lower side of the frame 

 is to be covered with a piece of ticking, glued to the partition 

 walls, and the top of each compartment is to be covered with 

 a piece of wire cloth. (Fig. 46.) For this purpose, the sides 

 of the hive should project above the frames so that the heat 

 may be retained, and the whole is to be covered first by a layer 

 of felt, next a sheet of American oil cloth, and again one or 

 more pieces of felt. The entire heat of the hive is thus 

 reserved, and the temperature of the nursery will be about go°. 

 It should not descend below 85° nor rise above 95°, and must 

 be carefully regulated by the size of the entrance, in accordance 

 with the outside temperature. This plan will be found far 

 preferable to those nurseries hanging in "the hive like- an 

 ordinary frame, as the temperature is more certain, and one 

 can see at a glance when a queen has hatched ; it is useless, 

 however, to place the nursery over any but the most powerful 

 colony. 



Where one does not mind handling the bees more frequently, 



the best plan that can possibly be devised is to use the cage, 



Fig. 49, which is placed over queens or queen cells, where 



both honey and pollen is to be seen in the cells ; in this case 



the queens need little attention, and always feed in the most 



natural manner. Where hatched in other nurseries they 



should at once be placed over natural stores in this manner, as 



no other plan of feeding them will compensate for the loss of 



pollen. 



The Lamp Nursery 



is frequently used and is invaluable for hatching queens. It 

 consists of double walls and bottom of tin, with stays inside to 



