FRAMES, TO MANIPULATE. 216 FRAMES, TO MANIPULATE. 



If a colony is not popnlons it may be ad- 

 visable to go over the frames once more : 

 liut very often it is better to close the hive 

 and wait an hour or two, after which we 

 can go back and search the frames as be- 

 fore. By this time the colony will have re- 

 covered itself, and the queen, in all prob- 

 ability, liave shifted her position from the 

 bottom or sides of the hive to one of the 

 combs. Nine times out of ten she will be 

 found at the second going-over of the frames, 

 without any trouble. When the queen can 

 not be found the first time going over, as a 

 rule we would not advise hunting longer, 

 because one is liable to waste a good deal of 

 valuable time; and it is, therefore, better to 

 wait till the queen comes out of her hiding- 

 place back to the brood-frames themselves. 



In the case of black colonies, especially 

 where very populous, it is sometimes neces- 

 sary to lift the hive off the stand and put 

 it down at one side. On the old stand place 

 an empty hive, affixing an entrance-guard. 

 See Drones. Now take the frames one by 

 one out of the old hive, and shake them in 

 front at the entrance of the empty hive on 

 the old stand. Black bees fall off very read- 

 ily; and as they crawl toward the hive the 

 queen can be very easily seen; but if she 

 eludes scrutiny she will be barred by the 

 perforated zinc, so she may be very readily 

 discovered trying to make her way through. 

 After all the frames are shaken, if she 

 can not be found, take the old hive, now 

 empty, and dump it, causing the bees to be 

 thrown before the zinc. She will soon be 

 seen trying to pass the guard. 



Wq have told how to find the queen ; but 

 do not imagine that it is going to be as 

 difficult as this every time. She is usually 

 to be found on the center frames ; and es- 

 pecially with Italians, she will likely be 

 found on the first or second frame handled. 



When we put back loose frames we must 

 space them carefully. If in. from center to 

 center. We fail to do it exactly, but try it 

 the best we can. With loose frames we shall 

 be oljliged to space each one in position indi- 

 vidually. If we do not space our frames 

 carefully we will have some combs bulged, 

 and some thinned down; and, again, between 

 others bees will be likely to build spurs of 

 comb. All this nuisance may be avoided by 

 the use of fixed frames or the Hoffman, 

 which we now tell how to handle. 



now TO MANIPULATE HOFFMAN FRAMES. 



The manner of opening hives containing 

 the Hoffman or any other self-spf^cju^ frffme 



is precisely the same as that for hives of 

 loose unspaced frames already described ; 

 but the manner of handling the combs is 

 somewhat different. 



With the hive-tool we pry apart the first 

 pair or trio of frames, if the combs are not 

 too heavy, and lean them against one corner 

 of the hive as shown below. In so doing 

 we pretty nearly handle the brood-nest by 

 halves and quarters. 



We shall discover that these frames are 

 held together by propolis, and that the bees 



Fig. 5.— Handling Hoffman frames in pairs and trios. 



on the two inside surfaces are hardly dis- 

 turbed. Loose frames, on the contrary, 

 when out of the hive, must be leaned on 

 one or two corners of the hives, against 

 each other— in fact, be scattered all around, 

 inviting the depredations of robbers. This 

 is quite a point in favor of the Hoffman 

 frame. If we do not find the queen on one of 

 the combs, we next pry off the outside frame 

 of the trio leaning against the corner of the 

 hive. If she does not appear on that one, 

 we pry off the next, and so on. 



Where combs are heavy with honey, we 

 may lift out only one frame. Having seen 

 the surfaces of two or three combs, the prac- 

 ticed eye will get a very fair idea of the con- 

 dition of the colony and what the queen is 

 doing. When we see eggs and larvae in all 

 stages, including sealed brood, we do not 

 usually stop to hunt up the queen ; accord- 

 ingly we put back the second pair removed, 

 and return the trio, as shown. We do not 

 generally crowd these frames together at 

 once, but blow a little smoke down between 

 the end-bars, and then witli a quick shove 

 we close them all up again. 



There is no cut-and-try spacing as with 

 loo^e f}'i|D3,es— no big and little fingers to get 



