October, 1913. 



84ri 



American Hm Journal 



The Decoy Hive 



BY DR. A. V. BO.N'NEY. 



AT the suggestion of a hive manu- 

 facturer, I offer a description of 

 the decoy hive I have used for 

 several years with great success, 

 making them from boxes ac- 

 quired from the local stores. Old-time 

 bee-keepers may skip all this, for I am 

 writing for the beginner, who is often 

 puzzled to get bees, and knows nothing 

 about a decoy hive. Being isolated from 

 the bee-keeping world, I never read or 

 heard of such a thing, and had to in- 

 vent it myself. I have written articles 

 about it for the agricultural press, and 

 have received many letters of inquiry. 

 I think there are many who would like 

 to know all about it. 



The decoy hive was a thing of de- 

 velopment with me. .At first I used 

 merely a bo.x with a hole near the bot- 



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4 



7,^.1. 



Manner ok Fastenini; the End and Back 

 Together. 



torn for the entrance, and a wire loop 

 by which to hang it up. .As time passed 

 I improved it by doing away with the 

 cross-sticks our grandfathers at one 

 time used, because I look at my de- 



frames filled with comb, for which I 

 have provided, by putting 4 cleats on 

 the inside of the ends to take 3 frames. 

 The decoy hives I now use are made 

 as follows: From any kind of lumber, 

 that being from store bo.xes is good 

 enough, I make a box a little longer 

 and deeper than the frames I want to 

 use in them, and in each end, on the 

 inside, nail 4 cleats to hold 3 frames 

 The bo.x can be of any width, but 10 

 inches is wide enough. In one end, on 

 back or side, I bore a hole through 

 side and end. This is about ';, of an 

 inch in diameter, and is bored thus; 

 A wire is then passed through the hole 

 and made into a loop. I do not make 

 this box very tight, as the bees will 

 want ventilation. 



Kront of Hive Showing the Entrance. 

 A. cover. B B. cleats; C. door, E. en- 

 trance; D. screw holes. 



coy hives almost daily during the 

 swarming season, and after that is past 

 I put into the boxes spoiled sections, 

 those with more or less wax in them, or 



Next I cleat the cover together wit- 

 a strip on «ach end, on the outside 

 Each cleat is an inch wide and fs of 

 an inch thick. In the middle of each 

 cleat I bore a hole to engage with the 

 center of the end pieces, then close to 

 the bottom cleat cut a hole }% of an 

 inch wide and 6 inches long for an en- 

 trance. If there are cracks enough in 

 the box to ventilate it well, all right, 

 otherwise I put a couple of Js-inch 

 strips on the edge of the end boards, 

 which, by holding up the cover, will 

 make a crack on each edge. 



Finally I cut a strip of board 8 inches 

 long and one inch wide, drive a couple 

 small nails in the edge close to one 

 end to keep it from splitting, then bore 

 a hole between them on the flat side to 



Sectional View of Decoy Hive. ,- , 



A. hive. A. cover cut to show cleats fs and frames d's; H. end; 11. sides; C. door; F. end 



cleat; gf, screw holes. 



