922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1917 



other way, and will accommodate any ten- 

 frame colony when contracted down for 

 winter. Two regular ten-frame hive-bodies 

 and a super will make up the outer ease, 

 as will be seen by the illustrations acccm- 

 panying. Where one does not have upper 

 stories, and rues exclusively for comb 

 honey, he can use two supers in place of a 

 hive-body, or three supers in all in connec- 

 tion with the regular brood-nest body; or 

 if he produces extracted honey only, but has 

 no shallow supei'S, he can use three regular 

 hive-bodies. 



Where one's hives are eight-frame he ca i 

 gtill use this system of packing; but he will 

 have lo make the inner box hold only five 

 frames in order to give sufficient packing- 

 space. 



It will be noticed in Fig. 1 that we use a 

 bridge to connect the inner entrance with 

 the outer. The two end cleats forming this 

 bridge should be long enough to project be- 

 yond the sides of the inner case. The pur- 

 pose of these projections is to prevent th? 

 bridge from being shoved out of position 

 when the packing is tamped down in be- 

 tween the inner and outer cases. 



It will be noted, also, that we use planer 



Fig. 3. — Pouring in the packing material after 

 a flat board cover is plarcd on the inner case. 

 The shavings are carefully tamped down when the 

 regular hive-cover is put on top of the whole. 



Fro. 4. — A Dpmnth winter-packed colony on seven 

 Langstroth frames stood on end, spaced between 

 the outer and inner walls 2 inches on the sides and 

 3 on the ends. 



shavings. In the great majority of case^ 

 the average beekoeper will find dry forest 

 leaves more available. They are just as 

 good provided they are well tamped. 



Fig. 5 shows how the frames are slid into 

 the inner case. As explained, the case is 

 made wider than the frames by a bee-space. 

 When the bees are packed for winter, seven 

 of the best combs are picked out — those 

 containing most stores with some pollen. 

 Two frames are taken out of the regular 

 hive at a time, inverted, and slid in endAvise 

 like the drawer to a bureau, as shown in 

 Fig. 5, the top-bars resting directly on one 

 side of the case. Another set of frames are 

 put in in exactly the same position they 

 occupied in the brood-nest, and so on till 

 the case is filled, care being taken to disturb 

 the bees as little as possible. The frames 

 are shoved clear up against the bottom 

 ci'oss-cleat previously mentioned, which is 

 intended to support the weight of the 

 frames across the middle of the end bars 

 when the case is stood on end. 



The object of having the bee-space be- 

 tween the bottom-bars and the side of the 

 case is to provide clearance room so that 

 the frames can be easily removed in the 

 spring. At the top, one wide wedge between 

 the bottom - bars and the side of the case 

 liolds the frames securely in position. 

 Thus the to]^-bars come up against (he 



