;7G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HAND'S CONVERTIBLE HIVE—A WINTER CASE WITH LITTLE EX- 

 TRA EQUIPMENT 



BY J. E. HAND 



Economical methods of winter protection 

 of bees outdoors is a hobby of mine. My 

 colonies are all in 14-frame hives with 

 supers to match, but we have no difficulty 

 in contracting a 14-frame colony into an 

 8-frame wintering-chamber, and all our 

 colonies are wintered that way, partly to 

 economize equipment, but more particularly 

 because I regard extreme contraction fully 

 as important as external insulation. 



After an experience of forty years in 

 outdoor wintering in the North I have come 

 to regard external packing as inadequate 

 unless coupled with extreme contraction of 

 the wintering-chamber. In northern Ohio it 

 is better to provide a moderate amount of 

 packing with extreme contraction than to 

 resort to excessive packing without ade- 

 quate contraction of the wintering-chamber. 

 An ordinary colony is poorly protected in 

 a non-contracted hive in spite of packing — 

 like a small heater in a large room. A two- 

 story hive in a winter case will do no harm 

 if the honey is all in the top story, neither 

 will it do any good. Every wintering hive 

 should have a three-inch space below the 

 frames, and, of course, a packed bottom- 

 board would be superfluous. 



Undoubtedly the quadruple case will win- 

 ter bees well in most locations, but it is not 

 perfect. 1. It is expensive. 2. It is idle 

 capital six months of the year. 3. It re- 

 quires too much lifting of heavy hives (to 

 eliminate the nuisance of handling heavy 

 hives I adopted a hive so heavy that one 

 man can't lift it, and I've been happy ever 

 since — no more hive toting for me). 4. The 

 basic principle is wrong, for a thick-walled 

 inner chamber non-contracted invites con- 

 densation and humidity, and a thin-walled 

 outer case invites radiation. 



It is more economical and practical to 

 make hives protect bees than to make winter 

 cases to protect hives. By a system of hori- 



The hive coutainiug the inner wall for the contracted colony in winter 



■T. E. Hand's 14-frame hive. 



zontal expansion in summer to the capacity 

 of 14 frames, and contraction in winter to 

 eight frames, the hives proper are converted 

 into winter cases with no extra equipment 

 save a thin-walled inner chamber costing 

 barely 25 ets., useful in summer for nuclei, 

 increase, etc., therefore not idle equipment. 

 Fig. 1 shows a 14- 

 frame convertible hive 

 as used in the sunnnei- 

 with frames hanging 

 parallel with tlie en- 

 trance. The external 

 appearance is the 

 same in winter except 

 the entrance, whicli is 

 contracted to % by 

 inches. Fig. 2 shoAvs 

 the inner chamber in 

 position inside of a 

 regular hive - body, 

 with fi-ames hanging 

 at right angles to the 



