JULY 15, 1916 



611 



the latter. This will not take long, as the 

 bees are scarce, as above mentioned. It is 

 necessary to remove all queen-cells but one 

 on the frame of brood in question. 



If desired, the colony may.be made" ud 

 from two colonies. Set the prepared hive 

 on top of tlie strong colony; place the 

 escape betAveen the two upside down to run 

 the bees up into the jDrejiared hive. Close 

 the entrance of the lower hive; slip the 

 upper prepared hive far enough ahead on 

 the escape-boai'd to provide an entrance 



over the old one below. Put on a good 

 supply of supers, then another escape on 

 top of the super, and finally put on another 

 colony without the bottom-board, as men- 

 tioned above. Remove the old hive in for- 

 ty-eight hours, or leave it longer as desired. 

 The flying force is now in the center hive. 



Mr. Davenport was shaking to head off 

 swarming when he discovered his plan. The 

 reason he never had a failure was because 

 bees without a queen will never swarm. 



Moorland, Iowa. 



TEN -FRAME HIVE WITH SUPER MAKES IDEAL BROOD -NEST 



BY L. K. COLE 



J. J. Wilder's plan, page 454, June 1, is 

 so near the plan that I use that I wish to 

 add my experience. I have done a gxeat 

 deal of experimenting in the production of 

 both comb and extracted, using a single 

 ten-frame Langstroth body, a double body 

 (and contracting to one body at the begin- 

 ning of the white honey-flow), a single 

 body, and one shallow extraeting-super. I 

 have also used the Danzenbaker hive and 

 system in the production of comb honey. 

 By rejDeated experiments year after year 

 during the past twelve years I find that for 

 tliis location a ten-frame Langstroth hive 

 and a shallow extracting-super, each con- 

 taining five Hoffman frames, a regTilar di- 

 vision-board on the east side of the body, 

 preferably, and a %-ineh division-board 

 with spacing strips on one side, all held to- 

 gether by two super springs, make an ideal 

 brood-nest for this locality. One has full 

 control of all colonies at all times. The 

 honey can be put just where it is wanted, 

 and the brood-nest is large enough for the 

 most prolific queen. The division-boards 

 on both sides give plenty of ventilation ; 

 and by using the % board with the spacer, 

 a little more room is provided for easy re- 

 moval of the frames. 



In the extracting-su'^ers I prefer full- 

 depth frames, s])aeed wide, by using only 

 eight frame.s to the ten-frame super. 



In producing extracted honey, all hives 

 are looked over in the spring and graded 

 good, fair, and weak. Each colony in grade 

 1 is given a shallow extracting-super, and 

 in one or two weeks (depending on the 

 weatlier) the colonies in grade 2 are also 

 ready for the supers. The colonies in grade 

 3 are worked in different waj'S to get them 

 built up to full strength. 



When nearly full of bees, brood, and 

 honey, the colonies of grades 1 and 2 are 

 given a set of extracting-eombs with an ex- 



cluder between the brood-nests and super, 

 whether much honey is coming in or not, as 

 the super forestalls any preparation for 

 SAV arming. 



When the first super is perhaps two- 

 thirds full, it is raised up and an empty 

 super placed underneath, next the brood- 

 nest. By tiering up in this way, especially 

 since the queen has an abundance of room 

 for egg-laying, one practically has control 

 of swarming. 



The upper portions of the brood-chamber 

 (that is, the shallow super) can be manipu- 

 lated in any way with any other colonies 

 needing help, with stronger colonies. 



In the fall, if the fall honey-flow is not 

 suitable for winter stores, the shallow su- 

 pers may be left in place until all the honey 

 supers are removed and the honey-flow is 

 over. Then this shallow super, which is the 

 upper part of the brood-nest, may be re- 

 moved. Under such conditions the deeper 

 part of the brood-nest will not, as a rule, 

 contain enough honey for winter, especially 

 in case of colonies that have good queens. 

 Sugar syrup can then be fed. If stores of 

 honey alone are desired, the shallow super 

 can be placed under the deep one long 

 enough before the fall honey-flow is over so 

 that the deep brood-nest will contain at least 

 30 pounds of honey (35 or 40 would be 

 better, perhaps). Then when it is time to 

 prepare the colonies for winter the shallow 

 supers can be removed, as they will contain 

 very little honey. 



In a good year I have produced as much 

 as 250 pounds of extracted honey from a 

 single colony ; or in case of colonies run for 

 comb honey, 202 pounds, with plenty of 

 honey left over in each case for winter. I 

 am sorry to say, however, there are too 

 many seasons when the pi'oduction of fancy 

 comb honey is out of the question. 



Stanton,' N. J. 



