420 



Beekeeping 



breeding queen. This new frame contains two small starters 

 of foundation about 4 by 1 inches, placed 4 inches from 

 each end. If the nucleus is fairly populous, in a week this 

 frame will contain considerable comb and the cells will con- 

 tain eggs and young larvae. It is now taken away and another 

 frame with starters substituted. The new comb is now 

 trimmed so that the cells at the edge containing eggs are cut 

 away, leaving young larvae on the border of the comb. It is 

 then inserted in the middle of a strong colony which has 

 begun to build queen cells in preparation for swarming, all 



former queen 



cells being de- 

 stroyed and the 

 queen being re- 

 moved. In ten 

 days the comb 

 containing queen 

 cells from eggs 

 of the breeding 

 queen is re- 

 moved and the 

 cells given to 

 nuclei from 



Fig, 184. — Comb cut for starting queen cells by the 

 Alley method. A strip of partly drawn comb- 

 foundation is here used to hold the eggs chosen 

 for queen-rearing. 



which the queens are mated, 

 in a nursery cage to emerge. 



They may if desired be left 



The Alley method. — For convenience, a method described 

 by Alley has much to commend it. A strip of comb is cut 

 out, just wide enough to contain one complete row of cells 

 containing eggs. This is then cut down by removing about 

 two-thirds of the side walls on one side. With a match 

 or small stick, one in every two or two in every three eggs 

 are destroyed, leaving the cells empty. The strip of comb is 

 now fastened to the lower edge of a comb cut as represented 

 in Fig. 184, the eggs remaining now being pointed down- 

 ward. This prepared frame is now given to a queenless 

 colony from which all young unsealed brood has been re- 



