64 Jill -In I' iriiiii III ]' ic/oriii . 



There are several ways of overcoming this difficulty. The bees 

 for each nucleus may be taken from any hive which can spare them ; 

 they are shaken into a small empty hive, such as the one shown on the 

 right of the illustration. A wire screen is fastened over the top of the 

 box, and it is placed in a dark, cool, well-aired position. On the even- 

 ing of the day following, that is, about thirty hours later, the box is 

 taken to the spot where it is to be located. A comb of brood and one 

 or two combs containing honey and pollen are taken (without bees) 

 from some strong colony and given to the nucleus, a ripe queen-eell 

 in a cell protector, or a virgin queen, in an introducing cage, being 

 inserted at the same time. 



Another way of making nuclei is to break up into lots of two or 

 three combs each, a colony which has just thrown a swarm. As a 

 number of bees will return to the old stand, only one comb of brood 

 should be left in each nucleus. Select for the purpose those combs 

 containing the greatest amount of sealed brood, and place the combs 

 of young brood in the hive on the old stand, where it will be cared 

 for by returned bees. 



A swarm may also be divided into nuclei. It is best to allow it to 

 cluster somewhere; then hive it in an empty box and about svmset 

 divide it amongst a number of nuclei hives, each containing a comb of 

 the brood from which the swarm issued and one or two combs without 

 brood. As bees which have swarmed and clustered will stay in any 

 new stand, a greater number of nuclei can be made out of a swarm 

 than a swarmed stock. The queen of the swarm should, however, be 

 removed, otherwise the bees are likely to crowd to the particular box 

 she is in. 



By any one of these methods from four to ten nuclei may be made 

 out of a single stock, and thus brood-rearing is interrupted only to 

 the extent of one queen for four to ten new ciueens. In order to still 

 further economize, American bee-keepers some years ago adopted a 

 system of very small nuclei with miniature frames and only a tea- 

 cupful of bees in each. These are known as Swarthmore nuclei. 

 Owing, however, to the liability of such very small hives being robbed 

 out when near an apiary, and the erratic behaviour of these small 

 communities in frequently swarming out, the few Australian bee- 

 keepers who experimented with this system have abandoned it. For 

 the raising of the best type of queen, it is essential that from the first 

 start of the queen-cell to the commencement of laying of the young 

 queen, the mo.st favorable conditions should exist. In the case of 

 very small nuclei these conditions are absent during part of the 

 chrysalis and the adult stage of the ciueen's life. Even in nuclei on 

 standard combs in thin walled boxes holding two or three frames, the 

 period betwen the hatching and laying of the queen is often unduly 

 extended by climatic influences and the vigour of the young queen 

 impaired. 



The influence of extremes of heat and cold may be reduced to a 

 minimum by having three or four nuclei in an ordinary hive body, as 

 shown by the uncovered hive in the centre of the photograph. A ten- 

 frame body will hold four, an eight-frame three nuclei of two combs 

 each. The compartments are made by thin, tightly-fitting division 



