152 A Modem Bee-Farm 



pared for building queen cells, no further excitement will take 

 place, and not one-fourth the number of bees will return to 

 the old hive, as when the nuclei are drawn from one with a 

 queen presiding. 



Insert the young queens the same evening by allowing 

 them to run in direct, or place them in my 



Virgin Queen Cage, 



Fig. 48, which is a small tube of finely perforated tin or zinc, 

 about f-inch in diameter and 2 inches long, one end being 

 stopped with the same material ; and after the queen is placed in, 

 the open end is pressed into super foundation, when with a slight 

 turn a piece is cut out which completely stops the opening. 

 The cage is now carried to the nucleus and inserted between 

 the upper part of two combs, wax end downwards. The 

 young queen soon bites her way out, just as she has done from 

 her natural cradle. The cage should be passed down so as to 

 bruise the cappings of honey to ensure that she is well provided 

 for, and as she will then partake of the same honey as the 

 workers it is all in her favour. The best time for inserting 

 them being the evening ; and when a laying queen is removed, 

 the young one to follow must not be inserted until the second 

 day after. 



We shall probably have 



Surplus Virgin Queens, 



and where these cannot be accommodated by breaking up 

 other stocks, one-frame nuclei must be on hand provided with 

 thorough ventilation, and in which are to be placed a comb of 

 stores (both honey and pollen), with three or four hundred 

 bees. These may be side combs from nuclei already estab- 

 lished, and should contain no brood. 



After the confined bees have been in an uproar for a short 

 time, having already made provision for a small opening, allow 



