14 
THE REARING OF QUEEN BEES. 
to be used, the bar should be placed in the upper, and the queen con- 
lined in the lower, story. For the latter purpose a perforated zinc 
honey board (see fig. 3) should be used. In a one-story hive the bar 
should be surrounded by a perforated zinc incubator. A larger pro- 
portion of cells are usually accepted in a queenless colony. In case 
Fig. 4, — "Swarthmore" incubator holding sixteen cells on wooden bases (original ). 
there is a colony with an old queen which is about to be superseded, a 
large number of cells may be started, and this is also true in a colony 
preparing to swarm. Here, too, for safety the queen of the colony 
should be kept away from the cells by perforated zinc. 
Fig. 5.— "Swarthmore 
incubator in frame. The metal supports at the upper ends of the side pieces 
of the frame do not show (original i 
The chief difficulty in rearing queens by this method is to get the 
cells accepted. Once started, they are usually completed, even if 
transferred to a colony which does not readily accept cells. In many 
cases it is customary to start cells in a queenless colony, and in twenty- 
four hours to transfer the bar to a hive with a queen, putting the cell 
