DECEMBER 1, 1916 



1125 



J. P. Blunk's Long Idea liivcs, the size of two eight-frame hivt 



side by side. 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH A SIXTEEN - FRAME HIVE 



BY J. P. BLUNK 



There has been some discussion regarding 

 extra-large hives and double-story eight- 

 frame hives. My latest plan is to use a 

 sixteen-frame hive which is the full width 

 of two bottom-boards or covers side by side. 

 Notice in the photograph that one of the 

 hives stands on two regular eight-frame 

 bottom-boards, and that it is covered with 

 two regular eight-frame covers. There is 

 room for sixteen frames and a division- 

 board. 



These large hives about which I am speak- 

 ing are fine for comb honey. The first 

 year, however, colonies in these large hives 

 do not make as much finished honey as they 

 do in subsequent years. The large colonies 

 build U13 faster and soon become the most 

 powerful colonies in the yard. Such col- 

 onies store more, of course, than colonies 

 in small eight-frame hives. I usually put 

 on two supers at a time side by side, and 

 I am not afraid later to put another super 

 on top of each one as there are bees enough 

 to fill four supers and then some. 



If not looked after, the large colonies 

 will swarm; but the treatment to prevent 

 swarming is somewhat different from that 

 applied to colonies in smaller hives. In a 

 large hive there is always plenty of room. 

 One can remove a comb of honey from the 

 far end of the hive, and by so doing make 



room for a comb of sealed brood, the space 

 provided by the removal of this brood be- 

 ing filled with a frame of foundation. 

 Room can be made at each end of the hive 

 in this way ; but when combs of brood are 

 pushed to the outside it is important to see 

 that they do not contain larvae small enough 

 for building queen-cells. Such combs are 

 so far at one side that the bees sometimes 

 take delight in building queen-cells on them 

 about the time the white-clover season ends. 



T have the entrance of each bottom-board 

 open full width, thus providing an en- 

 trance the entire Avidth of the double hive. 

 These large colonies need a lot of ventila- 

 tion, and no wonder, for there are so many 

 bees. Some of these large colonies are 

 ready to swarm as soon as those in small 

 hives. I never saw big rousing colonies 

 until I had these large hives. 



When it is time to carry the hives into 

 the cellar two boys can carry one of the 

 big ones by means of the long handles ex- 

 tending out at each side, and do it easier 

 than a man could carry a single eight- 

 frame hive. 



If a double-story eight-frame hive is used, 

 and the bees are crowded down into a single 

 story when supers are put on, then is when 

 the trouble starts, as this procedure is so 

 likely to cause swarming. By the plan I 



