April, 1918 



GLEANINGS' IN BEE CULTURE 



239 



'N our introduc- 



c 



J[ tory talk of 

 last month, we 

 spoko of the es- 

 sential outfit and 

 also the smallest 

 possible model 

 equipment f o r 

 cne making a 

 start with one 



co'ony. For purposes of manipulation and 

 comparison some may prefer to begin with 

 three or four colonies. If so, the suggested 

 outfit will need to be increased accordingly. 

 Also if one objects to heavy lifting and pre- 

 fers shallow supers to the deep ones, twice 

 as many supers will be needed. 



The iiive which we are recommending is a 

 plain, dovetailed box without top or bottom. 

 It is the lowest story of the hive and rests 

 immediately upon the floor-board, which has 

 at the front an entrance contractor for regu- 

 lating the size of the entrance. At each upper 



TALKS TO BEGINNERS 



By the Editor 



3 



The smallest practical outfit tor extracted honey pro- 

 duction : 1 ten-frame hive body, wired frames with 

 sheets of comb foundation ; 2 ten-frame supers .same 

 as hive body; 1 floor board; 1 inner cover; 1 outer 

 cover; 1 bee brush; 1 No. 2 bee-veil; 1 lee-smoker; 

 1 hive-tool. We suggest that the outfit be tripled. 



end of this box or hive is a metal support, or 

 rabbet, holding suspended lengthwise of the 

 body 10 movable "Langstroth" frames, 9% 

 by 17% inches in size. 



Inside of these frames attached to the top 

 bar by means of wax and supported by sev- 



p r a 1 horizontal 

 lengths of fine 

 wire, are full 

 sheets of founda- 

 tion, or beeswax 

 st;uni)ed with an 

 impression of the 

 natural base and 

 initial walls of 

 . honeycomb. Giv- 

 ing the bees these sheets of foundation, in- 

 sures good straight worker comb centrally 

 placed in the frames. During the honey flow 

 new wax is added to these shallow walls and 



A sheet of comb foundation, the middle part of which 

 the bees have begun drawing out into comb. 



thus the foundation is built out into comb 

 for storing honey and raising young bees. 



This lower hive is called the brood chamber 

 because here all the young bees are raised, 

 the queen being allowed to lay eggs only in 

 the combs of this story. To prevent the 

 queen from going above, a queen excluder is 

 placed over the brood chamber. 



The excluder is an arrangement made of 

 perforated zinc, or of wire rods, which al- 

 lows the free passage of workers but ex- 

 cludes the queen because of her larger size. 

 This prevents the queen from laying eggs in 

 the combs above, which are intended only 

 for surjilus honey. 



Above the queen excluder the super is 

 placed as soon as the bees seem to need 

 room. The super may be exactly like the 



Queen-excluder separating brood-chamber from su- 

 pers, prevents queen from going into stipers and 

 raising brood in the extracting-combs. 



hive body or may be shallower. It is used 

 entirely for the storing of surplus honey, that 

 is, honey in excess of the colony 's needs for 

 the coming winter. 



The tiiin cleated inner cover is placed over 



