586 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



MayI 



THE HIVE ADAPTED TO THE TWO-QUEEN 

 SYSTEM. 



Reasons why the Ten-frame Hive is Unsuitable. 

 BY A. K. FERRIS. 



While the ten- frame hive of standard style 

 can be used for this system, yet there are 

 some serious objections to it. Foremost of 

 these is the fact that, when a colony is as 

 large as they invariably become during a 

 good honey- flow, tiering up has to be prac- 

 ticed so extensively, and they fill the stories 

 so quickly, that the hive reaches too great a 

 height to be easy of operation, and the hon- 

 ey has to be extracted unripe in order to 

 give storage room. I have had such a colo- 

 ny fill the available space in five stories in 

 seven days. The past season, though a very 

 poor one, they attained five and six stories 

 before I could commence extracting; there- 

 fore, in order to have well- ripened honey I 

 was forced to adopt a larger hive, taking 

 the standard frame, for I could not tolerate 

 two sizes of frames, and I hated to change 

 hives; but I concluded to accept the lesser 

 of the two evils, and so adopted the hive 

 shown. It takes twelve of the standard 

 Hoffman L. frames, two followers, and a Jg- 

 inch center division, or fourteen frames 

 when followers and division are out. It is a 

 perfect square— 21 inches outside, and two of 

 these stories make a perfect cube. 



The bottom is so arranged that the en- 

 trance to each set of frames can be enlarg- 

 ed automatically, from entirely closed to 

 IJXSJ inches; thus when the flow is on you 

 can have a combined entrance IjXll inches, 

 and can diminish it at any time as much as 

 desired, without disturbing the bees. The 

 alighting-board and bottom of the hive are 

 one; and raising the front end up or down 

 controls the entrance— see cut. In transfer- 

 ring to the cellar, double tongs fastened to 

 a pole are used, each hook of the tongs en- 

 tering under the alighting- boards and in 

 kerfs at the back. In this hive we can win- 

 ter two good six-frame nuclei; and as there 



THE TWELVE- FRAME HIVE OPENED TO SHOW CONSTRUCTION. 



A TWELVE-FRAME HIVE ADAPTED TO THE 

 FERRIS SYSTEM. 



is l|-inch wood at the ends, and a §-inch air- 

 space on the sides formed by the follower, it 

 makes practically a double walled hive. 



When each queen has her six frames well 

 fllledwith brood, another story is added; and 

 as the division- board in the center slides in 

 a ^Xi inch groove, and can be slipped in and 

 out easily, the one having the quilt tacked 

 on can be exchanged with one not having a 

 quilt, and the second story added, still keep 

 ing both queens and their bees separate; yet 

 one colony receives the benefit of the heat 

 of the other, 



I find that, if I wait till there is brood in 

 all the combs, I can alternate them with 1 he 

 ones given, to a profit. 

 This gives 12 frames to 

 each queen, and this is 

 generally all that will 

 be needed till the flow 

 begins on clover, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, where 

 there is quite a flow on 

 fruit-bloom. 



When the flow be- 

 gins, th's colony can be 

 dequeened by making a 

 one- frame nucleus with 

 each queen, or by de- 

 stroying the queens. 



In a day or so take 

 out the division-boards 

 and you have only one 

 colony to deal with all 

 through the flow. By 

 placing a queen-exclud- 

 er over the first story, 

 and, adding twQ empty 



