Apropos: Ukrainian hives

This summer I worked as a bee inspector for NY State and came upon several
apiaries of unusual hives. The most interesting one was near Syracuse. A man
in his nineties was keeping some twenty colonies in hives patterned after
the ones in the "old country". Not sure where, Russia or the Ukraine. 

They were like chests with legs. The cover was hinged and when you opened
it, it hung there at an angle, held in place by a small chain. Under the
cover was a heavy quilt, and instead of an inner cover, there were many
slats. There were no supers, just a lot of large frames (maybe 30). 

The bees were healthy, they were treating with Apistan. I didn't meet the
owner, I guess he doesn't come outside that much, but his son was looking
after the bees for him. His son said they put standard supers on some of the
hives this year to make things a little easier. I guess they put two side by
side.

pb

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