80 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
I take a look at it. It may have hatched, the bees may have 
torn it down, or it may remain unhatched. If unhatched on 
June 22, it is likely dead, and if still alive, I have my doubts 
about the value of a queen having no more ambition than to 
be so long in hatching. If the cell shows that the queen has 
hatched, but I do not happen to see her, I enter on the record 
“ q.h., ” meaning queen hatched. If I see the young queen 
I make the entry “s. y. q.,”— saw young queen. In either 
case, I give the nucleus a frame containing some eggs or 
young brood. If the cell is torn down or bad, I give them 
another. , , , , 
My experience has been that a queen only a day or two old 
is as easily found as an old queen ; but as she grows older, 
up to the time she commences laying she is very hard to 
find. I almost always see the queen the first time I look, 
after she has been hatched ; but 1 do not know that it is any 
better than to see the cell properly opened. About a week 
later, on June 28, 1 look to see if the queen is laying. 
If I find eggs, I clip both wings of the queen on one side ; 
generally the two left wings. I use a pair of small embroid- 
ery scissors. I catch the queen by the wings, with the thumb 
and Anger of the right hand, and while clipping her I hold 
her by the thorax with the thumb and finger of the left 
hand. . 
If I find no eggs, and no queen-cells are started, i teet 
confident they have a queen, and look a few days later to see 
if she is laying. If there are no eggs, and I find queen-cells 
started, I suspect they are queenless, the queen having 
probably been lost on her bridal tour. I am not sure of this, 
however, for sometimes they will start queen-cells while a 
virgin queen is in the hive, but if by July 1 there aie still 
no eggs, and the queen-cells not torn down, I consider it a 
pretty sure thing that it is a hopeless case. 
In the record-book something like the following entries 
may be found: “ June 16, g q c (16 — 21.) 21st s y q, g y br. 
28th cl q. ” This means that on June 16, 1 gave the nucleus 
a queen-cell that could not hatch before June 16, and ought 
