176 



EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



plenty of bees to support her? The 

 bees are the pov/er. Plenty of good 

 healthy bees in the spring while build- 

 ing up makes good queens. 



I take the position that the eight- 

 frame hive is better in the production 

 of extracted honey than any large 

 hive, for the reason it is better adapted 

 to the building up of the colony in 

 early spring, and when the colony 

 is heavy or strong enough to cover 

 the combs they are irf a position to 

 out-strip a colony of equal strength in 

 the large hive. But to do this we 

 must have a system of management 

 to bring about the desired results. 



With my experience in running for 

 extracted honey I would say I should 

 expect the same working force. In 

 the Aspinwall hive would gather and 

 put in a marketable condition 50 per 

 cent more comb honey than any other 

 hive in existence. 



In running for extracted honey we 

 get the same results. First, by hand- 

 ling frames and later by handling 

 supers. When we put those two 

 combs above we .started the bees to 

 work immediately in the upper story. 

 If we simply set the upper story on, 

 letting the bees take possession when 

 they are ready, we lose from 3 to 5 

 days, and if it is from 5 pounds to 20 

 pounds per colony, the scale shows 

 this. The point is right here — it takes 

 bees too long to become acquainted 

 Avith a change in their surroundings. 



The bee-keepers using the small 

 hive will have a working force of 20 

 or 30 per cent more bees than the 

 one using the large hive; and why? 

 Because the small hive admits of 

 management at just the time required 

 for the rapid building up of the colony. 



The colony in the large hive will 

 build up to a pretty fair colony at 

 about the time the white clover har 

 vest is over and you have got those 

 bees on your hands as cons-uniers. 



I have had men owning hundreds of 

 colonies ask me why I raise those 

 two frames of brood above. Their ex- 

 perience is all on the outside of the 

 hive. 



I, will try to make this point plain. 

 First, the colony will be from 3 to 5 

 days ahead of where it would be if 

 we let the queen go up when she is 

 ready. Second, w© break up a crowd- 

 ed brood nest in a moment's time. A 

 crowded brood nest is a break well 

 applied. It retards the queen's laying 

 and largely stops the storing of honey. 



You will see this principle in use 

 in the Aspinwall hive, it prevents the 

 crowding of the brood nest in a hive 

 for comb honey. At the same time 

 we place two empty combs in the 

 middle of the brood below just where 

 the queen can do her best. 



Those two combsi above are in a 

 position to take advantage of the heat 

 that arises from the brood nest below, 

 and from this on this upper story has 

 all the advantages in the world for 

 rapid building of the colony. 



There is no cold draught of air be- 

 tween this upper story and the brood 

 nest. We use the same heated air in; 

 this upper story that arises from the 

 lower story and we have much more 

 of it. 



From this on we have a brood nest 

 of 16 frames and this is large enough 

 for almost any colony. But for the 

 next 18 hours we find the queen, as 

 well as most of the bees, have aban- 

 doned these outside combs. 



Of course, the conditions of the 

 weather will have something to do 

 with it. If those combs in the middle 

 of the brood nest are already filled, 

 and they certainly are, the queen is 

 idle more than one-half of the time. In 

 the large hive you are reducing the 

 size of the colony you should have. 

 "Can j-^ou see the point?" 



Here is the advantage in the eight- 

 frame hive; from this on the expan- 

 sion of the brood nest is above in an , 

 upper story just where it should be. 

 We take two frames of sealed brood 

 from the brood nest and they are 

 placed in the upper story so that they 

 are the two middle combs in the 

 upper story. Now is the time we wish 

 to get all the bees possible to take ad- 

 vantage of the honey flow. The ques- 

 tion arises, where will the queen do 

 the best work? In what part of the 

 brood nest will she deposit the most 

 eggs, in a certain length of time? I 

 will answer by saying, right in the 

 middle of the brood nest. 

 . Here is a point I wish you to bear 

 in mind. The larger the brood nest, 

 or extracting super, the more compact 

 and closer will the bees cluster during 

 cold days and nights. That is a fact, \ 

 In the large hive the expansion of 

 brood must neces,sarily be in the out- 

 side combs. The queen will make use 

 of these outside combs possibly five 

 or six hours during the middle of the 

 day. 



There is another objection to the t 



