TRANSFERRING CELLS TO NUCLEI OR TO THE QUEEN-NURSERY
As queen-cells are now built so that they are easily cut out and separated without destroying any of them, the work of transferring them to nuclei or to the queen-nursery is not difficult, nor does it require much time or labor to complete the work. Put all the cells in the nursery and allow them to hatch and then after selecting the best queens introduce them to nucleus colonies prepared as given on another page. Sometimes there is difficulty in separating all the cells without cutting into the side of a few of them. Excepting the time required to patch them up, no great harm is done.
When the cells are ripe, and that is on the twelfth day from the day the cells were started, remove from the hive, brush the bees from them and at once take them into a warm room, providing the weather is cool, and ’tis most always cool in the months of May and June.
The knife used to separate the cells should be very thin, sharp and warm. If a cell is cut into, just take a piece of thin foundation, slightly warm it, place it over the aperture and at once smooth it down with a warm knife so that it will be perfectly air-tight, if not so done, the queen might not hatch out, and she certainly would not if she is not within six hours of being ready to. If a patched cell is given to a nucleus colony, and not made perfectly air-tight, the bees would quickly destroy it. Bees will not accept any inferior work about queen-cells. Perfection is their motto. Nevertheless, I sometimes think bees lack in judgment in many things; such for instance as in destroying a fine young queen when they seem badly in need of one. But they lack in judgment very much when they use their stings to their own destruction.