Jl'KE 15. 1915 



489 



EFFICIENCY OF THE FOURTEEN=FRAME HIVE 



BY J. K. HAND 



On page 148 tlie editor accuses me of 

 using: the Long Idea hive, and quotes Mr. 

 Poppleton as saying that the convertible 

 j)rin('iple of wintering bees is very old — a 

 statement which the editor seems pleased to 

 empliasi/.e. He might have added that it is 

 also very ctlicient, a fact that I am especial- 

 ly pleased to emphasize. It matters little 

 whether the convertible hive is new or old, 

 so long as it is thorouglily competent. 



Profits in beekeeping are not governed 

 by the amount of honey produced, but 

 ratlier by the cost of production. Proper 

 beehive architecture is virtually a matter 

 of decreased cost of honey production by 

 economical methods. The value of a hive 

 is measured by its solution of problems 

 inseparably associated with honey produc- 

 tion — namely, the breeding, the swarming, 

 and the wintering problems. A liive that 

 solves these pioblems is thoroughlj'' com- 

 pete n t . ElRciencv 

 consists of fitting the 

 hive to the principle, 

 regardless of size, in- 

 stead of trying to 

 cram a great big 

 principle into a little 

 hive. The idet^ of rec- 

 ommending a liive 

 simply because one 

 man can handle it 

 easily is like recom- 

 mending a horse that 

 one man can hold by 

 the traces. The 

 twelve-frame hive is 

 uneconomical for 

 reasons just given. 

 "So near, and vet so 

 far." 



THE BREEDING PROB- 

 LEM. 



Since horizontal 

 expansion of brood- 

 chambers and verti- 

 cal expansion of su- 

 pers Ls generally rec- 

 ognized as the cor- 

 rect principle, a com- 

 petent breeding hive 

 must be large enough 

 to accommodate pro- 

 lific queens. It has 

 been ascertained that 

 14 Langstroth frames 

 are the limit of ex- 

 pansion consistent 

 with queen fertility; 



lience 14 frames is the limit of practical 

 exjiansion, and 20 x 24 inches the dimen- 

 sions of a competent breeding hive. 



THE SWARMING PROBLEM. 



While large hives do not prevent swarm- 

 ing, they are important factors. Swarming 

 is not a premeditated act, but tlie fulfill- 

 ment of a natural impulse in which lestrict- 

 ed breeding room or diminished queen fe- 

 cundity, or both, are the active forces. Un- 

 limited breeding room and undiminished 

 queen fecundity means little swarming. 

 Requeen before the zenith of fertility 

 merges into broodiness, for broodiness be- 

 gets supersedure cells; and supersedure cells 

 beget swarming, on conditions. Broodiness 

 in queens, as in hens, is a period of tem- 

 porary exhaustion of fecundity during 

 which the ovai'ies are speedily developing 

 another batch of eggs. During this period 

 of broodiness which varies in duration with 



sierra Power Co. 



