The Portland daily press., 1893-12-07
THE SIZE OF HIVES.
Avoid the Extremes-Many Apiarians Give
Nine Frames the Preference.

Avoid the Extremes-Many Apiarians Civ
Nine flames the Preference.
Elisha Gallup, the inventor of the Gal
lup hive, used 10 frames, but beekeepers
have been experimenting in regard to
the size of hives and have reduced the
number down to nine frames. This
gives nearly 1850 square inches of comb.
To find the number of square inches in
frame multiply the length by the
depth, then use the number of frames
which come nearest to 1850 inches, and
as a rule we will have about the right
sized brood chamber, writes E. s. Mead
to The Ohio Farmer. He says:
Sometimes we find queens that are I'M
usually fertile and will keep 10 frames
filed with brood. My hives are nearly
all chaf hives and have very large brood
chambers, which are contracted by divi-
sion boards to the proper space for nine
frames But when I come across one of
these very fertile queens I simply push
the division board back and hang in an
other frame. But we oftener find queens
where it is more profitable to use eight
frames instead of 10. In such cases I
lift out a frame and push up the division
board. In working for extracted honey,
where the season is a long one, would
give the queen more room. If she does
not keep the combs all full Of brood, it
does not make so much difference. But
in working for comb honey the circum-
stances are different.
When hives are large, the bees will
store considerable honey below and seem
loath to enter the sections. have had
them to crowd the queen until there
would not be more than three frames of
brood in the hive. When once started
to storing honey freely below, it is al
most impossible to get them to work as
they should in the sections. When the
main harvest opens up, want every
frame full of brood, and if they are not
full conclude the hive is too large and
at once proceed to adjust it to the proper
size. It is a very important point to
have the brood extend clear up to the
top bar of each frame. Allow as little
honey as possible between the brood and
the sections, and the bees will enter the
sections much quicker.
In other words, make the conditions
such that the queen is compelled to lay
clear up to the top bar. Then get the
section as close to the brood as possible,
with the proper bee space between, and
we have the colony in the best possible
shape for work in the sections that I
know of.
For those who are bound to keep bees
in the old style box hives think about
IA inches square by 10 inches deep, inside
measure, will give the best results. /
would have them little larger than a
movable comb hive, because in the course
of few years some of the combs will
get partly filed with pollen and become
valueless for either brood or honey, and
of course there is no way to remove such
combs as there is in movable comb hives.
Now think the size of the hive has
much to do with the profitable produc-
ton of comb honey, and I don't believe
the conditions are the same everywhere.
I know of beekeepers who use large
hives and claim they are better. Their
seasons are longer, including the bass
wood honey flow, and last from 40 to 80
days and sometimes longer.
In SO far as my experience goes, pre-
fer rather small hive for short honey
flow, sometimes only using eight Gallup
frames. But when queen can't keep
nine such frames full of brood count
her an inferior one, and the best thing
to do is to behead her and give the colony
a new queen.