HIVES. 



2.51 



HIVES. 



is nearly as light, and because, in our local- 

 ity, we can leave the colonies in these hives 

 winter and summer. There is no lugging 

 into and out of the cellar ; and alter the col- 

 onies are fed up for winter the in-eparations 

 for tlieir long winter's sleep and liousing are 



EIGHT - FRAME DOUBLE - WALLED HIVE 

 WITH AN EIGHT-FRAME SINGLE- 

 WALL UPPER-STORY. 



very short, occupying two or three minutes 

 to a hive. Then the double walls also afford 

 excellent protection in hot weather, in the 

 same way that the two walls and packing 

 material between the walls of a refrigerator 

 prevent a too rapid melting of the ice within. 



PACKING MATERIAL FOR DOUBLE-WALLED 

 HIVES. 



We formerly used wheat or oat chaff ; but 

 as we could not secure this readily we grad- 

 ually began to use planer-shavings, which 

 we can get more easily. These, we find, 

 answer every purpose, and we now use them 

 exclusi ely. Forest leaves, if good and dry, 

 would doubtless do just as well, and they 

 have the advaut ige that they make the 

 liive, when packed, lighter— that is, easier to 

 lift and handle. 



There are a great many who, having in 

 US3 a large number of siogle-walled hives, 

 prefer to winter on their summer stands, if 

 tliat can be done. For such there has been 

 devised a winter-case made of f-incli lum- 

 ber, and just enough larger tluin the hive to 

 be protected to give one or two inches of 

 packing-space all around the hive. This is 



l)laced over and around the smaller hive, 

 the space at the bottom edges between it 

 and the inner hive being closed up with 

 finch cleats padded so as to fit the hive 

 closely, as shown in the diagram. Packing 

 material is thenpouied in and around the 

 hive and on top, when the telescope cover is 

 placed over the whole. 



OUTSIDE WINTER-CASES. 



Colonies in such packing-cases winter al- 

 'nost perfectly, and I have no hesitancy in 

 ecommending them. But when it comes to 

 unpacking in spring, they are very inconven- 

 ient, to say tlie least. The packing material 

 has to be scooped out and poured into bas- 

 kets, when the cover is removed to see if the 

 b es are alive. The loose stuff tumbles 

 down between the frames, much to the an- 

 noyance of the apiarist and discomfort of 

 the bees. For that reason we greatly prefer 



H. 



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the regular double- walled hive pure and 

 simple. If the locality is cold enough to 

 warrant wintering in the cellar, we should, of 

 course, use single- walled hives exclusively. 



OBSERVATORY HIVES. 



These are simply hives having glass sides 

 and ends. They usually have only one 

 comb, so that both sides as well as the ends 

 of it can be readily examined. With more 

 than one comb the queen can not be rea;lily 

 found. At exhibitions for the purpose of 

 showing a full sized colony, an eight or ten 

 comb glass hive is often shown, as well a 

 the one-comb nucleus in glass. The super 

 also has glass sides and ends so that the 

 work of tlie l)ees on the combs in the sec 



