8 Feb., 1907.] Rohhing Box Hives. 



ROBBING BOX HIVES. 



R. Beiihne, President, Victorian Apiarists' Association. 



The usual wa)- of robbing box hives is to turn the hi\e open-side up, 

 stand an empty box of the same size on top, and drive the bees up into 

 the empty box by beating the sides of the full one with sticks continuouslv 

 for five or ten minutes. This causes the bees to run up into the emptv 

 box, which is then placed on the stand formerly occupied by the hive. 



The combs can then be cut out of the full hive, ibrushing off any bees 

 which may be left between the combs on to the entrance of the new box, so 

 that they may join the others. 



The brood contained in some of the combs is, of course, wasted, and 

 this is the principal objection to this style of hi\e. To avoid this destruc- 

 tion of brood, in other words, of the whole succeeding generation of bees, 

 some box-hive bee-keepers adopt a system of tiering up, similar to what is 

 practised with bar-frame hives. 



The method is to ibore a number of holes into the top of the box occu- 

 pied 'by the bees, three or four at each corner, with a i-inch centre-bit, 

 and place an empty box of the same dimensions on the top. When the 

 lower box is full, the bees go up, and, if the season be good, fill the 

 empty one usually with all clean hooey, Avhich may be removed at the 

 end of the season without any detriment to the bees below. 



Another way is to prepare a box (of similar size to the hive) by removing 

 the top, and making slats i inch wide and \ inch apart, in place of it, 

 thus giving a slotted top. When the box-hive is nearly full, the emptv 

 Ijox is placed on the stand, with an entrance where the former entrance 

 was ; the full box is then placed on top, and its entrance closed. The bees 

 enter their hive through the new box, and, as comb-building proceeds, work 

 down through the slatted division into the lower box. As bees always 

 store the honey above the brood, the queen laying eggs into the new comb 

 as, it extends downwards, the whole, or nearly the whole, of the broodnest 

 is after a while forced down into the low-er box, and the upper one is filled 

 with honey. To take the honey, separate the two iboxes by means of a 

 thin wire passed through with a sawing motion, raise it, say, half-an-inch, 

 and leave it for 20 minutes to allow the bees to clean up, and then remove 

 the honey. Drive out into an empty box, as stated at the commencement, 

 and place the bees back on top of lower box. The upper box mav be re- 

 moved after the bees haA'e joined in the lower box, and if no more honey is 

 expected that season, a board cover placed o\er the slats. The lower 

 box may have an emptv one again placed on the top in the following 

 season. 



If getting an immediate supply of honev is the object in view, there 

 is no other wav than the direct robbing method first described. 



