88 



BEES FOE PLBASUEE AND PROFIT. 



leave little holes or spaces for ventilation. In all other 

 respects the printed directions for hatching hens' eggs, sent 

 with each of these incubators, should be followed, excepting 

 that the sand in the tin should not be wetted, and the heat 

 we should aim at maintaining should be from 85° to 95°. 



When nuclei are to be formed on a large scale these little 

 incubators are, of course, quite inadequate. A very large 

 chicken incubator should then be employed, although with 

 care I have used an ordinary plant propagator (which is much 

 cheaper) with great success. 



Converting Sections into Miniature Frames. 



Before placing the sections of sealed brood in the incubator, 

 a thin strip of wood, 4| inches long by | inch broad and | inch 



Baby Nucleus Hive, made of wood ^ inch thick ; 

 hive, showing feeder and qmlt. 



■*■ - 7" — > 

 tiecuon of same 



thick, should be screwed to the top of each section with little 

 screws I inch long. These strips or bars will thus extend 

 I inch beyond the sides of the sections, and, becoming thin top 

 bars, will convert each section into a little frame, which, when 

 the bees are hatched out, we may hang in a little nucleus 

 hive (fig. 43). Where practicable, I prefer not to move the 

 bees from the incubator to the nucleus hiv^s until twenty-four 

 houps after they are hatched, 



