666 



Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 



[Sept. 2, 1920.- 



A Combined Productive and Queen-raising 



Hive* 



W. A. GOODACRE, Senior Apiary Inspector. 



Experiments liave been carried out at the Government Apiary with a 

 " combined " liive that will not alter the system and management of the 

 standard hive for productive purposes, but will yet enable a nucleus hive- 

 for queen-raising purposes to be incorporated with it. The hive, as it 

 appears on completion, is shown in Fig. 1. It has been proved in America 

 and in New >South Wales that queens can be raised successfully by having 

 nuclei on top of a populous colony, provided they have indirect com- 

 munication witli the colon}'. Jn the hive illustrated the nuclei are situated 

 at the reiir. Necessary indirect communication is allowed, yet both classe-s 

 of work — production and queen-raising — can be carried on separately without 

 interruption to either. The communication is allowed through what would, 

 in the ordinary way, be the end-board of a super, but which is replaced in 



this hive by a hollow division,, 

 situated between the super and 

 the projecting part used for 

 (jueen-raising, and actually form- 

 ing a passage or ante-room to 

 both. The frames in the queen- 

 raising portion and the super are 

 interchangeable. The success 

 attending the use of the hive 

 has been considered sufficient to 

 warrant its introduction to the 

 practical apiarist, who should 

 find it convenient when wishing 

 to raise a number of queens 



Fig. 1. — Combined bive as it appears when completed. 



The projecting portion at the riglit is 



used lor queen-raising. 



foi- his own use, or to start nuclei for increase. 



Apart from such work, the hive may be found to simplify' 1,he introduction 

 of queens to the parent colony, and tend, too, to minimise swarming. By 

 use of the combined hive, tho bees in the super and in the (jueen-raising 

 portions can be given direct or indirect conimunicatio7i, or completely 

 separated at will. The nucleus colonies receive some benefit even when 

 separated, provided wire cloth is used instead of excluder on the nuclei side, for 

 the bees will receive the heat from the populous colony — an advantage when 

 raising ipieens or starting up nuclei, as a practical apiarist will understand. 



The nuclei colonies are formerl in the usual way, and for a start it is 

 advisable to prevent connnunica+ion with wire cloth as mentioned. In our 

 own experiments the nucleus colony received the desired support from the 



