51. Perhaps no more pertinent advice could be given any beekeeper than to urge that in purchasing supplies, he choose equipment that is standard. In the United States, unlike many other countries, equipment has become standard through choice of and use by the majority of commercial producers, rather than by arbitrary rules fixed by any association or committee. Therefore when we refer to standard equipment in this chapter, we do not mean equipment that we have called standard but equipment that has been chosen as standard by the majority of bee supply purchasers in this country. We recommend this standard equipment for several reasons. First, should you determine later to sell your bees, they will bring a better price in any equipment used by other beekeepers. Second, standard equipment may always be purchased from any bee supply dealer at a lower price than special or slow selling sizes. Third, by choosing a standard of equipment and sticking to it all the equipment in your apiary will be interchangeable, and this is very important. Fourth, whenever it is necessary to buy replacements or additional supplies, the standard equipment will be found cheapest and the most readily secured.

52. The types of hives, covers, sections, bottoms, frames and foundation that have become standard in this country, are standard largely because they are based upon their being adaptable to the natural instincts of the bees. No equipment could become standard in this country that is based upon the whims or oddities of individual beekeepers because ideas about equipment that seem ever so practical on paper, frequently prove entirely impractical when one attempts to use them in the apiary. Years ago, when Dr. C. C. Miller was frequently asked why he was able to make certain definite statements about certain equipment and the uses of it, he frequently replied because he had taken it to the bees and let them prove that it was satisfactory.

53. It is a difficult matter for a beekeeper who has never attempted the commercial manufacture of beekeepers' supplies to understand why special equipment or odd sized equipment is more expensive than standard goods. The demands of American beekeepers today are such that only the manufacturer who builds special machinery suitable for the bulk manufacture of supplies and who eliminates as much hand labor in their production as possible, is able to put out the fine class of goods that beekeepers will buy. When an order is received by such a manufacturer for special or odd sized equipment, frequently the specialized equipment he has cannot be used to make this special equipment and the expensive hand labor comes in. On the other hand, where the specialized machinery can be used to make the odd sized equipment, the machine has to be set over to cut the new dimensions and then set back again to cut the standard dimensions all of which is expensive and loses a lot of time that might otherwise have been used in the production of standard and more salable goods.

54. Fortunately for beekeepers, a hive may be adopted as standard that will be entirely practical for either the production of section comb or extracted honey, so that if the beekeeper first determines upon the production of extracted honey and later decides to undertake the production of section comb honey he need not junk any of his hive equipment. The hive being primarily the home for the bees has its primary use in providing protection, stores, and room for the rearing of bees. Therefore each complete hive for each swarm should consist of a bottom board, hive body containing frames and full sheets of foundation, and a cover. Practical beekeepers have proved and their experience has resulted in the almost universal adoption among commercial producers of the metal cover hive containing frames and full sheets of foundation for each swarm. The bees pass readily from one brood chamber to the other and this space has been found to be the smallest that can be recommended for practical use in the production of either section comb or extracted honey.

55. The 10-frame hive is the most widely used in the U. S. It has many valuable features which have caused it to be widely recommended and adopted. However in the past 10 years thousands of producers large and small, have adopted the Modified Dadant hive instead. The 10-frame hive holds 10 brood frames and is also made in the Langstroth style in the 8-frame size. The Modified Dadant hive holds 11 frames, deeper and with slightly wider end bars allowing more space between comb surfaces. It requires but one hive body for the brood chamber whereas the 8 or 10-frame require two. Its many advantages are too numerous to mention here but can be studied through a booklet which has been prepared by the Dadants. The fact that one must use two hive bodies for the brood chamber in either 8 or 10-frame style shows the tendency toward the "large" hive. Apparently the answer is being found in the Modified Dadant type of hive. Other hive bodies may be used as supers with the large hive.

56. Most beekeepers prefer the metal roof cover with inner cover. This is a type of cover that telescopes an inch or two down over the sides of the hive body, and that has a galvanized sheet metal roof, which proves more durable than any other style when in continued use. The inner cover which goes with this cover fits directly over the hive body and under the metal cover, providing an air space between the two which makes for insulation, even temperature and ease of opening hive.

57. For many years all types of brood frames made by manufacturers in this country have had the end bars of the frames pierced so that horizontal wires might be strung in the frames to support the full sheets of brood foundation. This foundation is made commercially by forming pure beeswax into sheets of the proper width and thickness and running them through a foundation mill, which somewhat resembles a wash wringer and which leaves impressed on the wax sheets the form of the bottom of honeycomb. By the consumption of honey, the bees turn honey into beeswax and with this wax they add to the foundation and draw out the comb. The prime value of the foundation, aside from the fact that it assures straight combs which may be taken out of the hives without damage to the combs or the bees, is the impression of worker cells that is made upon the sheet of wax. Bees mainly construct two different types of comb, one made up of worker cells and one of drone cells. The number of drones in the hive is determined to a large extent by the variation in the amounts of these cells and since drones are consumers and not producers, all commercial honey producers make every effort to diminish the raising of drones. (See Figure 2.)