LOSS OF QUEENS. 
249 
that I can afford to sacrifice, if it possesses a queen, to 
save the one that has sustained this loss ; this is not often 
the case, but is sometimes. I have a few times put 
just bees enough with the queen to keep her in a box, 
and kept them for this purpose, as was mentioned in 
the last chapter. When introduced, the bees are gen- 
erally killed, but the queen is preserved. 
OBTAINING A QUEEN FROM WORKER BROOD. 
There is yet another method to be adopted, and 
that is, to obtain a piece of brood-comb containing 
workers’ eggs, or larvae very young. You will gener- 
ally find it without much trouble, in a young swarm 
that is making combs ; the lower ends usually contain 
eggs ; take a piece from one of the middle sheets, two 
or three inches long, (you will probably use smoke 
by this time without telling). Invert the hive that is 
to receive it, put the piece edgewise between the 
combs, if you can spread them apart enough for the 
purpose ; they will hold it there, and then there will 
be ample room to make the cells. They will nearly 
always rear several queens. I have counted nine 
several times, which were all they had room for. But 
yet I have very little confidence in such queens, they 
are almost certain to be lost. 
THEY ARE POOR DEPENDENCE. 
Therefore I would recommend getting a royal cell 
whenever it is practical. There is yet another advan- 
tage ; you will have a queen ready to lay eggs two or 
11 * 
