26 



run the swrajrm into this " supered " hive in the usual way. 

 By this method, two strong colonies will be obtained, and, 

 as all the foraging bees from the parent stock will join the 

 sw^arm hived on the old location, the population will be in- 

 creased sufficiently to enable them to complete the work of 

 filling the supers. 



6. Casts or Second Swarms. — Should it so happen that a 

 cast issues from a colony after it has swarmed naturally, pro- 

 vided it is known from which colony it issued, it should be 

 returned. For, although casts can be built up strong enough 

 to winter successfully, their departure reduces the population 

 of the parent colony to a dangerous degree. 



Oasts should be returned in the same manner that a swarm 

 is hived on the second evening after the day of issue. 



If more than one cast issues at the same time, and it is not 

 known from which colonies they came, they should be united 

 so as to form one strong colony. This is accomplished by 

 hiving them at the same time into their permanent homes. 

 The excitement caused by throwing them on to the hiving 

 board together causes them to intermingle without fighting 

 and obviates the necessity for using flour. 



Production of Queen Cells Queen cells can be produced 



ready for insertion into the nuclei twenty-four hours after 

 they have been made, in the following manner: — 



Select two colonies the previous season, one for rearing 

 queens and the other for rearing drones. In doing this it 

 should be borne in mind that constitution and working quali- 

 ties are transmitted by the queen, while disposition is trans- 

 mitted by the drone, therefore, the one cliosen for drone 

 rearing should not only have the qualities required for queen 

 rearing but in addition should be good-tempered. 



Both colonies must be stimulated so that they become strong 

 early in the season, when both lots are covering ten combs. 

 Insert into the centre of the drone-rearing colony a comb 

 consisting of drone cells or a frame fitted with drone base 

 foundation. In this way early selected dro^nes can be secured. 



A fortnight later insert into the centre of the queen-rearing 

 colony a frame fitted with an unwired sheet of worker base 

 foundation. When this sheet has been built out into comb 

 and the cells contain eggs, make it queenless by removing 

 three combs with the queen and adhering bees, placing them 

 in a separate hive close to the parent stock. 



Twenty-four hours after the colony has been made queenless 

 cut away a strip two inches deep from the bottom of the 

 unwired comb. Break down the walls of the worker cells 

 and expose the eggs round the freshly-cut edge at intervals 

 of li inches, so that the queen cells which are built round 

 them can easily be removed. The queen cells can be cut out 

 and placed in queenless nuclei as soon as they are sealed over. 

 The original queen belonging to the colony used for queen 



