IN commencing to rear queens, you will first want some small rearing boxes, or miniature hives, about four and one-half inches wide, by eight inches long, and five inches deep, inside measurement. Use inch board for the hives. Make for each hive three movable comb frames,[8] suspended the same as in the brood section of the Controllable Hive. Make the under side of the top bar, flat, instead of triangular, as in the large comb frames. Take a piece of old comb, and cut to fill each one of these small frames. Take from a pint to a quart of bees from a populous stock (in the height of the breeding season this will do no harm) without the queen-. Confine these bees in a light box, in the top of which there is an inch hole, closed, to confine them to the box, for if not confined they would return to the old stock, as the queen is not with them. Having secured your bees in the box, go to a stock, and lift out a comb containing eggs, just deposited. They may be known by their appearance. They are but a tiny speck at the bottom of the cell, about one-sixteenth of an inch in length, slightly curved, and perfectly white in color. They remain in this form from two to three days, at the end of which time they change to the form of a grub or maggot. After this change it is a risk to depend on them for queen raising, so be sure to secure for your purpose eggs. Cut from the brood comb a piece about two inches long and one-half inch wide, using a very sharp, thin knife, so not to mutilate the comb. Cut out a piece from the center comb of the miniature hive, and fit in its place the piece containing the eggs. The middle of a warm day is the best time to do this work. It is best to have one of the comb frames of the miniature hive filled with honey, to furnish food for the bees for a few days. [Footnote 8: This frame is shown in the engraving representing the different kinds of cells, in Chapter I.]