Fig. 24.—Langstroth frame; size, 17⅝ in. by 9⅛ in. outside; pn, projecting nail. (Original.)
The bars composing frames are usually made seven-eighths inch wide, although some prefer to have the top bar 1 inch or even 1⅛ inches wide, and the bottom bar is made by some as narrow as live-eighths inch or even three-eighths inch square. The narrower bottom bar, at least down to a width of five eighths inch, renders the removal of the frames less difficult, and bees are brushed off a little more easily; but when combs cut from box hives are to be fitted into the frames it is not quite so easy to hold the pieces in the center of the frame by means of transferring sticks and get the bees to fasten them securely at the bottom as it is with full seven-eighths-inch bottom bars. Top bars have been made by some hive manufacturers from one-fourth-inch to three-eighths-inch strips, strengthened somewhat by a very thin strip placed edgewise on the underside as a comb guide; but such bars are much too light and will sag when filled with honey or with brood and honey, and when section holders or other receptacles for surplus honey or sets of combs are placed above them more than a bee space exists between the upper and lower sets of frames or between the section holder and the frames below, and the bees will fill in with bits of comb between these, making it difficult to remove the top story or any of the combs from it; indeed, an attempt under such circumstances to remove combs from the top story generally results in tearing the frames apart and breaking the combs, and if honey leaks out robbing may be induced at some times of the year, all because of an error in construction.
Fig. 25.—Form in which to nail frames: b, button; db, double button. (Original.)
To avoid this the top bar should never be less than five-eighths inch to three-fourths inch thick, while for long top bars seven-eighths-inch or 1-inch strips are preferable. The side and bottom bars may be made of one-fourth-inch strips. A corner is taken from the end of the top bar by a cross cut made at exactly right angles on the underside of the top bar, reaching to within one-fourth inch of the top of the bar, and another cut from the end so as to meet the first-mentioned one. Each side bar can then be nailed by one nail driven from above through the top bar, and two driven through the side bar itself into the end of the top bar. The bottom bar can then be nailed on, or, better still, cut short enough to permit it to be inserted between the side bars, the nails holding it to be driven through the latter. Nailing frames loosely or without getting them exactly in true brings with it great disadvantages. If only slightly out of shape they may swing together at the bottom or touch the sides of the hive, and in either case will be glued fast by the bees; also in the first instance the combs, which are always built perpendicularly, will not be wholly within the frames. To avoid these troubles it is essential, first, that the parts for the frames be cut very accurately; second, that the frame be in exact shape at the time of nailing; and third, that the nails be driven in quite firmly; long, slender, flat-headed wire nails being necessary to secure proper stiffness of the frame. Nails 1½ to 1¾ inches long made of No. 16 or No, 17 wire, or 4d. fine wire nails are the right size. Nailing in a form, such as is shown by [fig. 25], is therefore advisable. Greater ease in withdrawing the frames from the hive is secured by making the bottom of the frame one-fourth inch less in width than the upper part. A round-headed nail or a curved wire staple driven through the side bar at each lower corner into the end of the bottom bar and left projecting one fourth inch will also facilitate the removal of frames and their insertion in the hive without the crushing of bees, and hence allow more rapid manipulation. (Fig. 24, pn.)
Fig. 26.—Lock-joint chaff hive. (From Gleanings in Bee Culture.)
Fig. 27.—Manner of nailing hives. (Original.)
The hive to hold the frames should be the plainest kind of a box, the frames resting on rabbets made in the upper edges. Constructing it with lock joints, as shown in [fig. 26], or by halving together the ends of the boards, as in [fig. 27], and, in either case, nailing in both directions makes a strong hive body. The latter may be single-walled for mild climates or where cellar wintering is practiced: but for severe regions it is advisable to have permanent double walls with the inter-spaces filled with chaff, ground cork, or similar material, or else outer cases should be provided giving space between the latter and the hive proper for dry packing. As the bees always try to glue the frames fast by means of propolis, it is better to make them rest on strips of tin, galvanized iron, or band iron. The rabbet should therefore be made eleven-sixteenths inch deep, and the strip of iron or other metal frame-rest nailed on so that its edge will project upward five-sixteenths inch from the bottom of the rabbet. Folded strips of tin as made by manufacturers of apiarian implements are preferable to single strips nailed on, since they facilitate the sliding of frames and do not cut the top bars where the latter rest upon them ([fig. 28]). The projecting ends of the top bars being one-fourth inch thick, the bars themselves come within one-eighth inch of the upper edge of the hive. It is essential that the distance between the ends of the frames and the hive should not exceed three-eighths inch, lest in time of plenty the bees should build comb there; nor can less than one-fourth inch space be allowed, for if the bees can not readily pass around the ends of frames of the Langstroth type they will glue the frames to the side walls of the hive, making it very difficult, if not impossible, to remove them without breakage. If, as suggested, the frames are made one-fourth inch shorter at the bottom than at the top, that is, 17⅜ inches at bottom and 17⅝ inches at top, the hive should then be 18⅛ inches inside from front to rear, the frames running in this direction.