May, I9i:; 



American Hee Jonrnal 



fall, will be necessary. The accompany- 

 ing photographs illustrate the hive I 

 prefer and expect to use in the future. 



Mr. Byer's Favorite Hive. 



I would give a good deal if all my bees 

 were in this kind of hives at the pres- 

 ent. Picture No. 1 shows the hive just 

 as it has stood all winter; it has a 

 strong colony of bees in it at present. 

 Notice the block for contracting the 

 entrance for winter — this gives an en- 

 trance of fsxlO inches. This can be 

 varied to suit the bee-keepers' idea of 

 size of winter entrance. 1 want noth- 

 ing smaller for a strong colony. 



Picture No. 2 shows the same hive 

 with cover removed, and the construc- 

 tion of the outside case in view. This 



The Same Hive With Larger Entrance. 



hive is a 10-frame Jumbo, and is the 

 style and size I prefer for extracted 

 honey, but the same style of hive could 

 be made for any depth of frame or 

 width of hive. One inch of sawdust in 

 front and 2 inches on sides and back 

 I find sufficient protection. In addi- 

 tion, the case is lined inside with heavy 

 building paper. The bottom is loose, 

 or fastened as desired. The outshlc 

 posts are made of 2-inch stufif, with H 



of the material sawed at right angles, 

 leaving the pieces the shape of an old- 

 fashioned eaves trough, two sides at 

 right angles. 



The inside posts are one inch square, 

 and in nailing the outside sheeting, 

 the nails pass through the outside 

 posts and into the inch square posts in 

 the corner. In this manner the siding 

 is held in place under the corners of 

 the outside posts, and cannot warp or 

 twist. The outside sheeting is of Vz- 

 inch cedar ; a wood very light and very 

 lasting, especially if kept painted. 

 The outside case is high enough to 

 take one full depth or two half depth 

 supers, and when the cover is in place 

 bees will stay in the super when they 

 would desert the super of a single hive, 

 no matter howe.xact the joints between 

 hive and super. Little work is required 

 to prepare the colony for winter. I 

 usually put enough dry sawdust in a 

 bran sack to make about 4 inches deep 

 over the frames when spread out. Any 

 other packing commonly used will an- 

 swer the purpose as well. In picture 

 No. 2 the entrance block is removed 

 for warm weather, thus giving an en- 

 trance 1x12 inches. I have no use for 

 a larger entrance. 



There is nothing original about this 

 hive, as a local manufacturer has been 

 making them for a number of years. 

 The corner posts are a good thing, 

 and if any one is thinking of making 

 hives of this style, a trial will convince 

 them that this scheme solves the prob- 

 lem of how to keep thin sidins from 

 loosening at the corners. The covers 

 telescope one inch, and when in place 

 the space above the brood-nest is bee- 

 tight. This is a valuable factor in fall 

 feeding, as any kind of top feeder 

 can be used with no danger of robbing. 

 If weather is cool, feeders can be well 

 covered; the space above is very handy 

 for that. 



Dysentery — Honey-Dew ? 



The following letter may concern 

 other bee-keepers. I give it just as 

 received : 



"Three years ago I had 70 colonies 

 on summer stands in 10-frame double- 

 walled hives. The bees were extra 

 heavy, and in the spring 22 were dead, 

 while inside of the hives, combs and 

 frames were all plastered with dysen- 

 tery, and in fearful order. I then 

 cleaned the hives and frames the best I 

 could, and hived young swarms on 

 them, increasing to C3, which I packed 

 in good shape. When spring came 

 there were 3(! dead, with the same smear 

 of dysentery; it looked like strong to- 

 bacco juice. Some had from 2 to G 

 full combs left weighing up to li pounds. 

 I cleaned them and gave to young 

 swarms this last season, increasing to 

 76, and have them packed in winter 

 quarters in the same way. They are 

 all alive now but 4, which have the 

 same odor. They were light in stores 

 last fall, so I am now feeding section 

 honey in the super chamber under the 

 packing. 



"Will you please tell me whether the 

 dysentery was contagious from the 

 use of combs and hives ?" 



My opinion is that the condition 

 commonly called " dysentery " in bees 



is not contagious in the sense that we 

 ordinarily use the term. I am doubtful 

 if dysentery is really a disease; it is 

 rather a condition brought about by 

 abnormal surroundings, such as a long 

 spell of cold weather, the bees being 

 forced to subsist on stores for some 

 reason unsuited to their use. 



Only once have we had an experi- 

 ence like that described, and that was 

 following a season when honey-dew 

 was carried into the hives freely in 

 August. The condition was pretty 

 general all over Ontario, and many 

 bee-keepers vowed never to let their 

 bees go into winter quarters on such 

 stuff again. I have an idea that this 

 same trouble caused all the dysentery 

 in the case above, and if I understand 

 the letter right, many of these swarms 

 went into the second winter with 

 combs full of this same deadly stuff, 

 and again its elTects were felt. 



I remember after our heavy loss re- 

 ferred to above, that increase was 

 made on the same combs, but being 

 fearful of losses after our recent ex- 

 perience, heavy feeding of sugar syrup 

 was practiced. Some of the soiled 

 hives had been cleaned none too well, 

 but the bees wintered well, which 

 would go to show that there is no con- 

 tagion in dysentery. I cannot give 

 positive evidence on this, and if I had 

 a heavy loss like the one above, I 

 would see that none of that same 

 honev went into a hive the next winter. 



More About the Double-Walled Hives 



[We are of your opinion. Dysen- 

 tery, or more properly diarrhea, is not 

 contagious. — Editor.] 



Bees have wintered well here, and 

 clover also, up to the present. We are 

 anticipating a good crop, for whoever 

 heard of a bee-keeper who was not 

 Iwpefiil, especially in the spring-time ? 



In what I have written of the 

 merits of single-packed hives as com- 

 pared with the tenement plan, I 

 omitted one of the good points of the 

 former, that these single hives may be 

 left with the top packing on as long as 

 desired. In the tenement hive, when 

 removing the colonies in the spring, 

 all must come out at the same time, no 

 matter if some colonies are weak and 

 others extremely strong. We have 

 many colonies that require supers in 

 fruit bloom, while others are not yet 

 ready for them. With single hives it is 

 an easy matter to give strong colonies 

 room. Those not ready can be left 

 with the packing on until they are 

 stronger. 



Examining Colonies for Winter 



On page 13ti of the April .-American 

 Bee Journal, a correspondent from On- 

 tario says that Jan. 1 he found brood in 

 one of his colonies, and later, that over 

 one-half of them had started brood- 

 rearing. How in the world did he see 

 this ? Surely, the colonies were not 

 e.xamined at that date, here in Ontario ? 

 Early, unreasonable manipulation of 

 bees causes the death of many good 

 queens each year. It is a good policy 

 to leave the bees severely alone in the 



