142 ADVANTAGES OF THE FRAME HIVE. 



any time thoroughly to examine such a hive by taking 

 out the frames one by one, and thus see all that is 

 going on within. Again, if you have more than one 

 such hive, it is always possible and generally easy, 

 to make one hive help another, as occasion requires. 

 If one hive is weak and another strong, the bee- 

 keeper will take from the strong hive some of the 

 frames containing brood or honey, as may be needed, 

 and give them to the weak one. 



Then, when winter comes, the bee-keeper will take 

 some of the frames away, and confine the bees to a 

 smaller space, and thus make the most of that heat 

 which is so necessary to the welfare of the hive. 

 These frames he can return to them in the early 

 spring when food is needed. 



Again, a very important part of bee-keeping is to 

 take care that the queen in every hive is young and 

 healthy. In a straw skep the bee-keeper cannot find 

 or see the queen, but with a frame-hive he can easily 

 do so ; and when she is too old to be useful, she can 

 be removed, and another queen given in her place. 

 There are many ways of doing this, as also of 

 obtaining young queens, but I cannot now explain 

 the process. Here, again, a guide-book will help you. 



I may, however, just mention how a new queen is 

 generally given to a hive. It is an operation very 

 interesting, but requiring care. If the new queen 

 were merely put into the hive instead of the old one, 

 there would be little chance of her life. The bees, 

 faithful and loyal to their old sovereign, would kill 

 the intruder. They sometimes do this by stinging 

 har, but more generally by encasing her, as it is 



