MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 
583 
ing just how far to place the combs; for if 
he places the shoulders in contact they will 
always be the right distance apart. 
There is not much danger of killing bees 
provided one proceeds carefully, using a 
little smoke in blowing the bees away from 
the contact‘edges of the frames. When the 
hive is ready to close up, all that is neces¬ 
sary is to shove together the frames that 
are separated two and three inches apart, 
and crowd the whole together, finally put¬ 
ting on the cover. On the other hand, 
when unspaced frames are handled, each 
frame must be put back into position sep¬ 
arately. This takes a large amount of time 
whatever may be said of the time con¬ 
sumed in separating spaced frames apart. 
See Frames. Self-spacing; also Frames. 
Mr. Hoffman, the inventor of the frames, 
stated that the judicious use of a smoker 
would save time, avoid bee-killing, and, tak¬ 
ing it all in all, he could handle twice as 
many colonies on his spaced frames as he 
could on the ordinary old-style frames with¬ 
out spacing attachments. 
Much has been said by those who are not 
familiar with the Hoffman frames of how 
bees are killed by them. Those who have 
used them largely know that this need not 
be true. 
There are some localities where propolis, 
or bee glue, is much worse than others. In 
such places the Hoffman metal-spaced 
frame has the advantage. The illustrations 
will show their special features. They are 
somewhat more expensive, but they are 
stronger; and as they have only points of 
contact there is less danger of killing bees. 
PIOW TO MANIPULATE HOFFMAN FRAMES. 
The manner of opening hives containing 
Hoffman or any other self-spacing frames, 
is just the same as that for hives contain¬ 
ing loose or unspaced frames already de¬ 
scribed, but the manner of handling the 
combs is somewhat different. 
If there is a division-board in the hive 
this is first removed in order to give room 
for the handling of the frames themselves. 
If there is none the outside frame is pried 
over to the side of the hive and lifted out 
very carefully. This will then make room 
for the removal of any two, three, four, or 
five frames all in blocks. As an ordinary 
Hoffman or self-spacing frame will be 
somewhat glued together by propolis, it 
will be necessary to use the liive-tool to 
separate the frames. 
In removing self-spacing or Hoffman 
frames from a brood-nest, it is not neces¬ 
sary to scatter them all around the outside 
Metal-space Hoffman frame. 
of the hive, leaning them up against each 
other in such a way that it kills bees, but 
each group of frames, two, three, or four, 
as the case may be, can be left sticking 
together stationed on the outside of the 
hive. There is no danger then of killing 
the bees between the frames, and the neces¬ 
sary information can be secured from the 
one or two surfaces of combs examined. 
When the ordinary unspaced frames are 
used, it is necessary to handle each frame 
individually, because they cannot be picked 
up very well in groups of three or four like 
the Hoffman or any other good self-spacing 
frame. See Frames, Self-spacing. 
In ordinary practice it is not necessary 
to hunt up the queen. The examination of 
the surface of one or two combs will show 
whether eggs are being laid. If eggs and 
brood in various stages are found in regu¬ 
lar order it may be assumed that the queen 
was in the hive within three days at least. 
The location of the queen can be deter¬ 
mined somewhat by the manner in which 
the eggs are laid. If the examination of 
one comb shows no eggs and an examina¬ 
tion of another shows that there is young 
brood, the position of the queen can be 
traced by the age of the brood until eggs 
are found; the queen may at the time 
of the examination be at one side of the 
brood-nest rather than the other. After she 
goes clear across she is quite liable to jump 
from one side clear to the other, 
