HIVE8. 



24tj 



HIVES. 



space, where it is secured in place by 

 two Van Deuseii clamps that crowd it up 

 against the brood-frames or sections which, 

 in turn, bear against the springs. No mat- 

 ter wliat tlie weather conditions may be, the 

 yielding spring-; will cause a pressure on the 

 frames or sections, and yet allow removing 

 them with the greatest of ease. The brood- 

 frame is 4J inches deep by 17| long. The 

 section-holders are the same size, containing 

 ■ii plain section with fences. 



Mr. Hand tinds it quite important to iiave 

 the top and bottom bars of the l)rood-frames 

 narrow, so that he may Ifiok through the 

 comb surfaces. The ordinary wide thick 

 bars would not answer for a hive of this de- 

 scription. While it is possible to handle the 

 frames, and al)Solutely necessary under some 

 conditions, he empha- 

 sizes the importance of 

 handling hives, or 

 brood- sections, rather, 

 instead of individual 

 frames. He says that 

 practically all the neces- 

 sary m a n i p u 1 a t i n s , 

 even to the finding and 

 catching of queens, can 

 l)e accomplished with- 

 out handling a single 

 frame. Mr. F. J. Miller, of London, Ont., 

 Canada; L(mis H. Scholl, of New Braun- 

 fels, Texas ; J. E. Chambers, Vigo, Texas, 

 and quite a number of others who use the 

 divisible-brood-chamber hive, have so far 

 demonstrated the feasibility of handling 

 hives instead of frames that they claim they 

 are able to dispense with from one to tw^o 

 men, doing all the work alone, because there 

 is no handling of the frames, and little or no 

 time lost in hunting for and catching the 

 queen and clipping lier wings. 



THE DAD.VNT IIIVIC. 



Almost the very opposite of the Heddon in 

 princii)le and general construction is the Da- 

 danthive. While Mr. Heddon divides up the 

 brood-chamber into one, tw^o, or three sepa- 

 rate portions, Mr. Dadant would have it all 

 in one large complete whole. IHs frames 

 are 18ixlU— that is to say, they have the 

 Quinby dimensions, and he uses nine or ten 

 to the hive. Such a hive has about the 

 equivalent capacity of a twelve- frame Lang- 

 stroth, regular depth. The Dadants have 

 always insisted that their ten-frame Quin- 

 l)ys, when compared with the ten - frame 

 Langstroths, averaged up year after year, 

 would give far better results, liotli in honey 

 and in economy of labor. This opinion is 



not based on the exix-rience of two or three 

 years, Itut on a jieriod covering a good many 

 years. The large hives, they claim, swarm 

 less, produce more honey, and winter better. 

 If we are correct they do not, at their home ) 

 yard at least, have to exceed two per cent of ' 

 swarming, and this average Las been main- 

 tained year after year. Apparently the col- 

 onies in these large hives have very little de- 

 sire to swarm ; but when they do swarm the 

 swarms are enormous. In regard to this 

 point, in an article that was published in 

 Gleanings in Bee Culture, Nov. 1, 1898, C. P. 

 Dadant says : 



Don't understand me to say that, with large hives, 

 you will have no swarms, fortius is incorrect; but 

 if you want to prevent swarming, to the greatest 

 possible extent, you must, first of all, have large 



A WIDK i'llAiiK run THE SECTIONS .\:>D A KEGULAIl CKOOD-FRAJIE. 



hives. Other things are required, such as the re- 

 moval of the excels of drone combs, plentiful venti- 

 ation, a siiitply of surplus combs, etc.; but the sine- 

 qim mm, in our eyes, is large hires. 



With a little care it is not difficult to keep swarm- 

 ing down to such a point that the natural increase 

 will barely m;ike up for winter losses. In our case 

 we find it insu(!icient, and we resort to artificial 

 swarms, oi' dividing, which we find much more sat- 

 isfactory, for we can breed fi-om the (lucens that we 

 prefer, and, at the same time, keep our l)est colonies 

 for producing honey. Every practical bee-man will 

 agree that it is the large colonies that give the large 

 crops, whatever may be his opinion as to the size of 

 hive needed. 



But if we muxl have swarms, with large hives they 

 will be large, take my word for it. 



The I)adants have claimed that the ordi- 

 nary eiglit and ten frame hives are not large 

 enough for good prolific queens ; that a 

 •brood-frame of Langstroth depth is too shal- 

 low; that we never know what a good queen 

 can do till we give her a large hive and a 

 large frame. Again, in one of their articles 

 for Oct. 1, 1898, in Oleanings in Bee Culture, 

 Mr. C. P. Dadant says : 



With the large hives we found queens that had a 

 capacity of 4r)00 eggs per day. Exceptions, you will 

 say ? Certainly, but it is a very nice thing to give a 

 chance for those exceptions. And I hold that you 

 can not do this as fullj' with a two-story eight-frame 

 hive as with a hive that may be enlarged, one frame 

 at a time, till it contains all the room that tlie (pieen 



