236 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



MAKING BEES STAY IN NUCLEI. 



Each nucleus is put upon a stand of its own, and 

 the entrance is plugged up with leaves so that no bee 

 can get out. One of the nuclei, however, is left without 

 having its entrance closed, and this is put in the place of 

 the hive which contains the queen, and the hive with the 

 queen is put back on the old stand from which the queen 

 was first taken. The entrances may be left closed until 

 the shrinking of the leaves allows the bees to make their 

 way out, but I generally open them in about twenty- 

 four hours, first pounding on the hive to make the bees 

 mark their location upon emerging. Although queen- 

 less bees are much better than others at staying wherever 

 they are put, there will be still fewer bees return to the 

 old place if the nucleus is fastened in twenty-four hours 

 or longer. 



LOOKING FOR EGGS. 



Twelve or fourteen days after forming the nuclei I 

 look to see if the queens are laying. I might find eggs 

 in less time, but not always, and at any rate not in con- 

 siderable number, and it saves time on the whole not to 

 be in too much of a hurry. If no eggs are found a comb 

 of young brood is given as an encouragement to start 

 the young queen to laying, and a day or two later, if 

 queen-cells are started on this young brood, a mature 

 queen-cell is given. 



KEEPING BEST QUEEN IN NUCLEUS. 



Instead of having my best queen in a strong colony, 

 as in the plan just given, she is usually kept in a two- 

 frame nucleus throughout the summer, the nucleus being 

 strengthened into a full colony in the fall for wintering. 

 One object of this is to make the queen live longer. 



Lately I have used a plan that I think I like better 



