Modification of the essentials of management as given for a one-story brood chamber is necessary when a two-story brood chamber is to be used all the year.

Two-story ten frame hive as used in system No. 2.

Many operators fail with the two-story brood chamber system, usually because they permit honey to be stored too early in the season in the upper story of the brood chamber, thus separating the supers from the brood by considerable sealed honey. Such separation, at the onset of the honey flow, will result in failure, because, until the bees are working well in the supers, the brood nest must be kept in that story of the brood chamber which is immediately beneath the supers, with brood well up to the top bars until considerable honey is stored in the supers. If a colony begins storing honey in the upper part of the frames in the brood nest, it is reluctant to enter empty supers placed above a queen excluder. Those who are successful in using a two-story brood chamber all the year insist that the first honey of the flow must be stored in the supers and not in the brood chamber. This is important in getting a good crop of honey when two-story brood chambers are used.

If queen excluders are used in this two-story brood chamber system, the queen is never permitted to enter the supers, an excluder being used above the upper brood chamber whenever supers are on the hives. If excluders are not used, dependence is placed on proper manipulation and the presence of honey above the brood nest to keep her from entering the supers or to cause her to return to the brood nest through being crowded down by the storage of honey in the supers.

In the spring, the brood nest should be in the upper story of the brood chamber; and, if the lower story has a nailed-on bottom board, brood which appears there should be lifted into the upper story while honey from the upper story should be put below. The upper story is thus kept as a brood nest and becomes entirely filled with brood.

If a queen is prolific and needs more room for egg laying, sealed brood from the upper story may be placed in the lower one, or removed and given to other colonies, thus keeping in the upper brood chamber a clear brood nest with sufficient space for egg laying until the honeyflow' is well under way.

Brood to the top of the two story colony. Honey should not be stored in this upper body, but in supers on top of it and above the excluder.

If, however, loose bottom boards instead of nailed-on ones are used, approximately the same result may usually be accomplished by reversal of the two brood chambers, the lower one being shifted to the top if the brood nest is started there in the early spring; while, later on, if the upper brood chamber becomes crowded, the almost empty lower one is put above, thus giving the queen a clear brood nest without waiting for her to be crowded down by the storage of honey which, in this system, might cause premature swarming and other troubles. This is standard practice with many beekeepers but is more difficult to use where bottom boards are fastened to the hives.

Queen excluders (if these are used) and supers are put on at the beginning of the honeyflow, the brood nest at this time being in the upper brood chamber, extending all the way across it, with no strip of sealed honey above the brood to prevent the bees entering the supers immediately and continuing as more supers are added.

A variation of this system which may be used in some locations even without queen excluders is to have eight frames of brood in the lower chamber and four in the center of the upper one. The remaining frames in the upper brood chamber, whether or not an excluder is used, are for storing honey, and they are removed and the honey extracted at the same time as that in the supers. With such an arrangement, i. e., with the outside frames in the upper brood chamber used for honey and the central ones full of brood, the queen seldom lays in the supers when there is this clear brood nest of twelve frames. If the twelve frames which comprise the brood nest are not permitted to become filled with honey, this plan works well for some operators. It will be noted that this variation, by the use of the honey frames at each side of the four frames of brood in the upper brood chambers, fulfills the previously mentioned requirement that no honey should be stored between brood chamber and supers unless it can be removed with ease.

In either the main plan or the variation, the colony is permitted, when the honeyflow is well along and the bees are working well in the supers, to fill the upper brood chamber with honey for winter stores. The time when the queen should be crowded out of the upper brood chamber into the lower one is when further egg laying would produce bees too late for the honeyflow.

It depends on the season and the length and character of the honeyflow, and must be determined by the operator from his experience in the location.

When egg laying has thus been retarded because of crowded brood chain) bers, probably during late July and early August, the colonies usually increase their production of brood in late August and September, and may continue into October, thus producing sufficient young bees to winter well. But if the fall flow is very heavy and the queen is not young and vigorous, the bees may fail to expand the brood nest enough to insure a good winter colony.