MANIPULATING. 79 



be found that it does not entirely cover the frames. Along the 

 side the spacings between the frames are open ; if this is left so — 

 and we have found hundreds of such cases — the heat from the 

 bees ascends into the roof of the hive instead of the super. The 

 bees are thus exposed to quite a cold current of air, which is 

 frequently sufficient to prevent their going up in the super or 

 building combs in the sections ; therefore, strips of some warm 

 material must be laid along each side, and the quilts placed on 

 top of the rack, to economise the warmth and to prevent the 

 bees getting inside the roof of the hive. The super must 

 now be wrapped up as warm as possible, to prevent any sudden 

 change in the outside temperature being felt within it. If a 

 super is ill-protected, the bees will, on a cold night, descend 

 into the body of the hive for warmth. By this all work is 

 suspended in the super during this time, and it will be quite 

 late in the morning before it will be again filled with the bees, 

 a loss of twelve hours out of the twenty-four being the result. 

 Bees work almost as energetically between sunset and sunrise 

 as they do during the day ; but this work is confined to the 

 inside of the hive, such as comb-building, feeding larvae, evapo- 

 rating and sealing over honey. Some racks are made with wood 

 flanges to take the place of the strips of quilting laid along the 

 side ; these will be found a very serious drawback, as much more 

 space is thus given the bees to propolise, the racks being so 

 firmly glued down that it is quite a labour to remove them, as 

 well as causing great irritation to the bees when so doing. 

 When large supers are used (not being sectional), excluder zinc 

 is placed between them 

 and tops of frames ; but 

 with sectional racks it 

 is the best plan to dis- 

 card it, thus allowing 

 a freer passage for the 



bees into the supers ; 5,^^^^^ Separator. 



for reasons of this see 

 "Queen and Drone-Excluder" (par. 58). Where four-bee-way 

 sections are used in racks, slotted separators (as illustration) must 

 be used. 



127. Removing Supers from Hives. — This manipulation, 

 until we introduced the " Super-clearer," was always a rather 

 serious task for the novice, by reason of the large numbers of bees 

 present that had to be contended with, though at the season when 

 it is necessary to do this the bees are as a rule in their gentlest 

 mood; that is, during the honey flow. In the case of sectional 

 supers, never remove just one or two or a part of the sections 

 from a section rack, as is often done, for nothing discourages the 

 bees more than this; in fact, we have often found them discontinue 



