The Monmouth inquirer., 1898-03-17
THE BEE KEEPER
No 'p-oat IN Hives without movable
Frames for the Combs


No 'p-oht In Hives without Drovabt
Frames for the Combs
AS promised few weeks ago. / viii
touch on the hive question. 1t is rath
er a formidable subject. The old say
mig is Many men, many minds, ant
there are to-day almost as many, bes
beehives as there are beekeepers witt
minds of their own. II is of course un-
derstood that no ooe who wants to
keep bees either for pleasure or profit,
will keep them in snx-hives or hive'
without movable frames for the combs
as neither profit nor pleasure can bs
realized without such.
There are two original types of NOV
able frame hives. Wis, the Langstrotf
and Huber. About all the hives now
in use are notifications and combina-
tions of the principle and essential
features OF those hives. In the Langs.
throth hive the frames are suspended
in the hive by the projecting ends ol
the top bars. The top and side bars o.
the frame are as vide as the comb i
thick The frames are not spaced at
fixed distances, hut must be spaced
every time they are manipulated, and
if the hive is handled the frames are
liable to Slip out Of place. Sometimes
STAPLES. nails or spacing boards are
used but they are not without fault
The Huber idea was improved by
Bingham and Quinby and perfected by
lanes Heddon. The frames in these
hives are seif-spacing, or at fixed dis
tances The end bar of the frame is
wide enough to space the frame; they
are sometimes called ciosed-end
frames
Hives are made single and double
walled. The donble-walled or chan
hive is generally so heavy and unwiel-
DIV that it takes two persons to handle
it. and therefore may be called a sta
Gionary hive / greatly prefer a light
walled hive and slip an extra
case over it for temporary winter pack
ing. In my manipulations ] handle
hives more than frames hence want
one | can handle very readily. II the
frames hang loosely as they do in
MANY Langstfoth notifications, it re-
quires treat care or the spacing will be
changed.
After trying a great variety of hives,
/ hit on the New Heddon Hive and
have now used it five years and thus
far | could find but one fault with 1t.
if fault it is, that it costs more to make
it than the average run of hives, but
still after a few aeason's use it IS the
cheapest hive one can buy if he keep
bees for profit The hive is very light
to handle. the frames are fixed and less
than. six inches deep; they are ali IN
terehangeable and reversible. The
brood chamber divides horizontally
and can be constructed very quickly
by simply removing one section All
the surplus sections are right over the
brood nest and the bees enter very
readily and work them whenever any
honey comes in.
By contracting the hives in this way
I secure all the white and salable hon
ey in the sections and when me white
money flow is over | can in very
short time enlarge the hive to it's full
size and breed up to a rousing colony
for fall with the dark fall honey for
winter stores. l need not have large
lot of loose straps and fittings, as di-
vision boards, dummies, etc, to make
endless confusion have now stored
away nearly two tons OF just such fit
tings to the many hives | tried in the
past They will make a bright bon
fire some day.