4 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON APICULTURE. 



TIERING. 



Before, or just at the time of the beginning of the honey flow, a 

 hive body exactly similar to the brood chamber should be given to 

 the colony. Many bee keepers put only 8 or 9 frames in a 10- frame 

 hive body used as a surplus chamber so that the bees will build thick 

 combs. Since in uncapping the honey the comb is cut down to about 

 normal thickness, this gives a place for the immediate storing of sur- 

 plus honey and at the same time permits the bees to secrete some wax. 

 The physiology of wax secretion is very imperfectly understood, but 

 probably wax is always secreted, to a greater or less extent, during a 

 heavy honey flow, and by spacing wide this wax is saved to the bee 

 keeper. 



As the frames of the second hive body become filled, the honey may 

 either be extracted at once and the frames returned to be refilled or an 

 additional hive body full of frames may be put directly over the 

 brood chamber and below the first surplus body. Bees go unwillingly 

 through combs of sealed honey to empty combs higher up, but the new 

 combs should be between the first two hive bodies. The reasons for 

 tiering up hives rather than immediate extraction will be discussed 

 under the heading of " Ripening honey." This operation may be con- 

 tinued as long as room is required, and the bees should never be 

 unduly cramped for room. On the other hand, it is usually not desir- 

 able to give too much room at one time for surplus, for the honey 

 may be spread over all the combs and, as a result, the cells capped 

 when not drawn out well. It is sometimes desirable in the early 

 part of the season to. give only two or three frames for surplus at 

 first, gradually increasing the number as necessity arises. This 

 is particularly the case in uncertain weather or in a light honey flow. 



When the surplus combs are first put on, one or two frames con- 

 taining brood with the adhering bees are frequently placed in the sec- 

 ond story and empty frames put in their place in the brood chamber. 

 By this means the bees at once get into the second story, and this 

 manipulation is a very desirable thing where brood frames are used 

 for extracting. When only clean combs are used, these brood frames 

 may be returned to the brood chamber in a day or two, for by that 

 time they are usually no longer needed. Of course care must be 

 taken not to lift the queen to the second story above the perfo- 

 rated zinc. 



Some bee keepers prefer the use of shallow extracting combs of a 

 depth about half that of the ordinary brood frame. The advantage of 

 such a size of frame is, briefly, the possibility of putting on a smaller 

 amount of storing room at one time, in consequence of which the 

 honey is capped over in a better manner. In other words, the forcing 

 methods of comb honey production are carried over into the produc- 



