During the gathering season it is astonishing how quickly these emptied cells will be refilled with honey, and not unfrequently the queen finds in some of these unoccupied receptacles timely provision for her otherwise contracted accommodation for depositing eggs; thus breeding goes forward at an astonishing rate. Much is written about the value of comb, and by this contrivance the labour of the bees in building it is saved. There is no doubt but that this instrument is of great service to the bee-keeper when judiciously applied,[23] and since the introduction of the movable combs it has formed an important adjunct thereto. For no invention has the apiarian cause to be more deeply indebted than for the "Mel Extractor" of Germany, improved upon as it has been both in America and in this country. Even if there were less sale for extracted honey, the extractor would be found at certain times of great value to every bee-keeper. In the award at the Philadelphia Exhibition, special notice of commendation is recorded of our honey-extractor.
[23] This, machine is not of much service for extracting honey from combs made in supers, the cells of which are mostly too soft to bear operating upon.
§ XV. CHESHIRE'S NUCLEUS HIVE.
The object of nucleus hives is explained below in the section on "Queen Rearing" ([Chap. V. § vii.]), and they render services in the process of artificial swarming, in maintaining a supply of young mothers, or in Italianising an apiary. Mr. Cheshire's contrivance is as follows; Certain frames in a regular hive are made to consist of two half-frames, each complete, but joined together in the top bar by a tongue in the one portion which fits firmly into an opening in the other, thus forming an ordinary frame except for the division down the middle. When a royal cell has been formed upon one of these compound frames, such frame is taken out of the hive, and the twin portions are then placed side by side in the nucleus, which measures only three and three-quarter inches wide inside, nine inches deep, and seven and a half from front to back. Its sides are constructed double in the same way as those of the Cheshire frame hive ([page 145]). In the nucleus hive it is necessary for the frames to be well covered up. Care must be taken that the queen was not upon either of the nucleus frames, but the other bees may be retained upon it. The older ones, however, will be sure to return to the stock hive, and their place must be supplied by shaking young ones off other frames on to a board in front of the nucleus.
The royal cells may be obtained from any source, and artificially transferred to the divided frames, after which the frames must be placed in a stock hive for twenty-four hours for the bees to fix and repair the cells. Or, if more convenient, three or four such frames may be placed in the middle of a hive, and all stocked with eggs; the queen may be removed for a few hours, at the end of which a larger or smaller number of royal cells will be found to have been formed, and these in the middle frames, which should be the ones desired. The transferring process may still be needful, unless only one or two queens are wished for. The royal cells should be placed inside when the two parts of the frame are put together in the nucleus; there must however be only one such cell on each of these, as the first queen that is hatched will be certain to destroy the cells of the rest.
Further mention of the subject of nucleus hives will be found under "Queen-Rearing." They should be constructed with narrow entrances so as to lessen the facilities to robber bees.
§ XVI. QUEEN-CAGES.
These are small receptacles made of close wire or perforated zinc, just large enough to contain the queen with a few of her acknowledged subjects, and their use is on the occasion of her introduction to a new hive. The new queen is by this means protected from the primal hostility of the bees, but at the same time so much communication is permitted as suffices to familiarise them gradually with her presence. It is one of the characteristics of the bee nature that, however distressed they may be at the loss of their old queen, and however eagerly at work to produce a successor, they will not usually receive such at once from an artificial source. They will, however, supply her with food even when longing to transfix her with their stings.
We have two kinds of cage for this purpose. One of them is a wire dome to be placed over the queen, when with a card carefully slipped underneath she can be kept secure until the hive is prepared to receive her favourably. It is nearly the same as Kleine's cage for protecting royal cells, as described under "Queen-Rearing" ([Chap. V. § vii.]). Another cage, devised and strongly recommended by "A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper," is flat in form and neatly made of wire net; it is two inches deep, one and a quarter wide, and three-eighths of an inch thick; the top is of the same material, and projects one-eighth of an inch all round as a flange to prevent slipping too far between the combs. The door consists of stronger wires reaching across the bottom of the cage; these are fixed at one end, and have two more wires fastened to them at the other, which wires pass up at the corners and are brought out at the top, where a push with the thumb will cause the bottom to project open. Into this cage we consider there is more difficulty in introducing the queen than into the other, as she has to be taken hold of with the thumb and finger and passed within the narrow opening; and though some of the cages are made with an entry-valve at the top, the risk of injuring the queen remains, in our opinion, greater than with the domed cage. The mode of procedure with each of these will be found described under "Introducing New Queens" ([Chap. V. § viii.]).