DR. MILLER'S PLAN 155 



hive. As soon as any colonies are strong enough to fill the eight 

 frames he adds another story — a full sized hive body full of 

 empty brood combs. Instead of putting this empty story on top 

 he raises the hive and places it underneath. In this manner the 

 heat of the colony is fully conserved. At the same time the bees 

 will work down as fast as they need the room. White clover is 

 the chief source of his surplus, and he endeavors to keep the bees 

 occupied with breeding until the beginning of the clover flow. 



When conditions are right for putting on the supers he again 

 reduces the colony to eight frames. If there is less than eight 

 frames of brood he places it all in a single hive body and places 

 the super on top to provide the room formerly given by the extra 

 hive body. If there are more than eight frames of brood the 

 extra frames are given to colonies with less than eight frames. 

 If, as sometimes happens, he has some frames of brood left after 

 all colonies are provided with eight frames in single hive bodies, 

 the rest is used to make increase, or to form nuclei or is even 

 placed in hive bodies which are piled one on top of another to 

 permit the brood to hatch, and latter be used where needed. If 

 there is no other use for it a queen is given or else one is raised 

 from young larva in the hive and a strong colony is the result. 



Concerning additional super room Dr. Miller says: 



During the early part of the harvest, so long as there is a reasonable 

 expectation that each additional super will be needed, the empty super 

 is put under the others, next to the brood chamber. Work will commence 

 in it more promptly than when an empty super is placed on top, and that 

 greater promptness in occupying the new super may be the straw to turn 

 the scale on the side of keeping down the desire for swarming. But when 

 a super is put on toward tlie close of the season, not because it seems really 

 heeded but as a sort of safety-valve in case it might be needed, I do not 

 wish to do anything to coax the bees into it, so it is put on top, and the 

 bees can do as they please about entering it. It is true that if an empty 

 super is placed under the others at a time when the harvest is nearing its 

 close, the bees may not do a thing in it, but merely go up and down through 

 it and keep to work in the super above. But it is not so well to have them 

 working so far from the brood nest with empty space beneath. 



Latterly I have fallen into the habit of giving an empty super on top, 

 even when an empty super is put under. The empty super on top gives 

 a less crowded feeling and may help a little toward preventing swarming. 

 No matter how full or empty the lower super may be, this top super serves 



