MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

ut114 DR. miller'sbut sometimes a single advantage counts for much. A man withhis head on has the single advantage over the one with his headcut off that he still has his head on ;that is a considerable advantage.The one advantage that the movable-frame hive hasover the box-hive is that the frames can be taken out and putback again. But that advantage is of no value to those beekeeperswho never lift out the frames from one year's end to theother. If I had no notion of ever lifting out a frame I would preferbox-hives.Possibly you may want to know what advantage there is inbeing able to lift out frames. For one thing, you can tell by liftingout the frames whether a colony is queenless or not, and if it isqueenless you can remedy it. Witli a box-hive it is practically impossibleeither to detect or to cure queenlessness. Tliat one differencebetween the two kinds of hive is enough to decide infavor of the movable-frame kind, provided one intends to takeadvantage of the movable feature. It would be a pretty long storyto tell all the things that can be done with a movable-frame hivethat cannot be done with a box-hive, among which are examinationfor disease and treating for the same, introducing queens,strengthening weak colonies by giving frames of hatching-brood,etc.Q. Please give me some advice on what kind of hives to use.A. Opinions differ as to what is tlie best hive. Some are partialto this or that particular hive which the majority of beekeeperswould hardly take as a gift. The greater number, however,perhaps nine out of every ten, would tell you to take the10-frame dovetailed hive. You can hardly go amiss on that. Butplease remember that the hive does not make very much differencein the work of the bees. A good colony of bees will storejust as much honey in an old-fashioned straw hive as it will inthe most up-to-date hive. But it makes a big difference to thebeekeeper whether the hive is such that he can easily get at thehoney and perform the various manipulations that he may thinknecessary.Q. What are the dimensions of an 8-frame Langstroth hiveand super? Also the frames?A. Some of the dimensions of the 8-frame hive have variedfrom time to time, but I'll give you what I think will generallybe found today:Length, inside measure, 18)4 inches; width, 12}^; depth, 9}i;Ijl