The breeding of queens can only be done with ease and complete success in bar-frame hives. If, on examination of the frames of a stock, queen-cells with brood in them are found, these may be protected by means of little wire cages from the animosity of the mother-bee, and in due course the princesses, as they hatch out, may be transferred to a small box, with a piece of comb and a few bees belonging to the hive. Care must be taken not to let the cage touch the cell over which it is placed, and it should be thrust into the comb only to the base of one set of cells. The best time for thus affording protection is when the larva is six or seven days old. A second plan is to take from a hive, late in the afternoon, a comb containing worker-eggs, with brood in more advanced stages, and a sufficient number of bees to keep up warmth enough to promote the development of the larvæ. These must all be put into a very small hive, and a supply of honey and water should be given. In the course of a few days a queen-cell, or cells, will be formed, worker-eggs transferred into them, and these, in process of time, will come forth as princesses. When fertilised they will be ready for using in other hives. [Illustration: Fig. 64.--Queen Cage over Sealed Cell.] A third method is to set a small empty hive over a full stock, and, when the bees using the entrance of the upper one are sufficiently numerous, a brood-comb with eggs and adhering bees may be placed in the top hive. Then, in a day or two, the aperture between the two may be closed, and the nucleus being removed, another can be put in its place, and the process repeated till as many queens as are required have been raised. Fourthly. Two or three combs with brood and honey may be taken from a hive, and having cut out a nearly triangular piece of comb, a queen-cell with comb, nearly equal in size to the hole, may be inserted, as shown in the figure. This will expedite the rearing of the princess. The bees will soon fill up the intervening spaces, and the daily emerging young bees will make subjects enough for the young monarch, till she is needed for the sovereignty of a larger population. If the miniature stock should dwindle before the young queen lays and replenishes the numbers, young bees, which have never flown, may be introduced from other hives, and these will be received with pleasure by the remaining workers. Or another frame with plenty of bees may be exchanged for one of the empty ones. This latter plan involves some danger of fighting, which is avoided by supplying the newly-hatched young. [Illustration: Fig. 65.--Inserted Queen Cell.]