114 FIFTY TEARS AMONG THE BEES 



the upper hive and put below, an empty comb being put in its 

 place above. But unless the colony is very strong, this hinders 

 rather than 'helps the building up. 



So good a beekeeper as G. M. Doolittle practiced giving 

 the extra story on top. I protested, at least mentally, against 

 dissipating the heat of the colony in that way. Yet in the 

 spring of 1914 I did exactly that thing myself ! By the middle 

 of May colonies were unusually strong, and there were no long- 

 er any weak colonies to which brood could be given after be- 

 ing taken from the stronger colonies. The only thing to do was 

 to give extra stories to colonies which needed more room, or else 

 to limit the queen to one story, a very unwise thing up to the 

 time of giving supers. So I began giving to the strongest col- 

 onies an upper story, putting in it two brood from below. I 

 put the extra story above instead of below, not because it was 

 better for the bees, nor to gratify Doolittle, but because that 

 was the easier thing for the beekeeper, and the bees would just 

 have to stand it. A day or two later it began to be evident that 

 any colony in the apiary might need more room, and so I made 

 a wholesale business of giving an extra story to each colony, 

 with the exception of one or two. To make the work still easier 

 for the beekeeper, instead of putting two frames of brood in 

 the upper story, I merely put in it five empty combs. That 

 took less than half the time, and would take much less time 

 when it came to putting on supers, especially in the case of a 

 colony which had started no brood above. That gave plenty 

 of room above for the queen to use if she needed it. If she 

 didn't need it no harm was done beyond cooling off the heads 

 of the bees more than they might like. 



I may say here that after a good deal of experience with 

 colonies having two stories I find that there is no trouble from 

 having the queen stay exclusively in one or other of the stories. 

 She passes up and down freely, keeping filled with brpod in 

 both stories as many combs as the bees will care for. 



SUBSEQUENT OVERHAULING. 



Any overhauling subsequent to the first is an easy matter. 

 As a broodless frame was left at the further side at the first 

 overhauling, and the brood-nest commenced with the next' 



