October, 1916. 



347 



American ^ae Journal 



<v 



can be cicanod. The hive containini; 

 the colony in the picture is only one 

 story liigli, while there arc twenty 

 supers of wet combs piled up for them 

 to clean. 



tied out of a pine board one day at 

 an out apiary and was simply an em- 

 ergency device. Besides being an ex- 

 cellent thing for coaxing the bees up 

 into the super, this little device is 

 also very good for spring feeding. 



Hubbard Brothers' "Coaxer" 



Every corab-honey producer has 

 more or less trouble in getting the 

 bees to enter the supers, and in some 

 cases, bees will almost refuse to go 

 above, preferring to swarm or to hang 

 out and do nothing. The "Coaxer" as 

 designed by Hubbard Brothers of 

 Boyne Falls, Michigan, is as neat a 

 device as we have seen for inducing 

 a start in supers. It consists of a 

 minature super three inches deep hold- 

 ing eight frames when used on a 10- 

 frame hive. The accompanying cut 

 shows the bottom view. 



The "Coaxer" is placed immediately 

 above the brood frames in the early 

 spring, and is first filled with honey. 

 It is then removed and the super 

 slipped between it and the brood 

 chamber. When it is used, the sec- 

 tions on the edge of the super are 

 filled just as quickly as those in the 

 center of the super, as it seems to 

 attract the bees. 



The side view of one of the frames, 

 shows how shallow these frames are. 

 If the Coaxers were a little deeper the 

 bees would be tempted to rear brood 

 in them, but the very fact that the 

 frames are shallow and the cells deep 

 keeps them clear of brood, even 

 through the heaviest breeding season. 

 Figure 3 shows a part of a super of 

 sections which is being finished. 

 These sections are placed in the cen- 

 ter of the super, and the Coaxer put 

 over them. If there is the least flow 

 the sections are nicely finished. 



Hubbard Brothers tell us that the 

 first Coaxer made by them was whit- 



A Side View of One of the ' Coaxer" 

 Frames 



When bees are put in the cellar for win- 

 ter the "Coaxers" are all removed and 

 stored in the honey house. Each 

 Coaxer contains about twelve pounds 

 of honey which is just about what a 

 colony needs between fruit bloom and 

 clover or raspberry flow. 



Bottom View of 'Coaxer" Super 



The Sectional Hive 



BY W. F. GEDDES. 

 [Continued from September.] 



BEEKEEPING with sectional hives 

 produces better combs. In the 

 transposing of the sections in the 

 shallow hive, the combs are generally 

 built out better and more uniformly 

 attached to the wood than in the stand- 

 ard Langstroth. Figure 7 will illus- 

 trate this point. 



It is seen that the bees have built 

 their comb to within half an inch of 

 the bottom-bar of the Langstroth frame 

 while the shallow frame is attached on 

 all sides. Comb space is thus wasted 

 and a hiding place is provided for the 

 queen. Lack of attachment renders a 

 new comb liable to fall out through 

 handling and extracting. 



Probably the greatest advantages of 

 the sectional hive are those which 

 apply to the production of comb honey ; 

 and these hives, in one form or an- 

 other, are used very largely by comb- 

 honey producers. Leo. E. Gately says : 

 " Contraction of the brood-nest is a 

 necessary essential to insure satis- 

 factory work in the surplus boxes, and 

 in this respect all brood-chambers con- 

 sisting of a single tier of deep frames 

 are enormously deficient. By remov- 

 ing one of the sections in a horizon- 



tally divisible brood-chamber the shal- 

 lowness of the remaining division im- 

 mediately throws the whole working 

 force of bees into the surplus recepta- 

 cle." There is no need of " baits " be- 

 cause the bees have formed the habit 

 of going into the upper story to work. 



Beekeepers using the divisible hive 

 claim that there need be no " left overs " 

 because all partially tilled sections may 

 be converted into good salable ones by 

 "feeding back" extracted honey. It is 

 true that this feeding back process can 

 be performed on a deep-frame hive, 

 but the bees will deposit so much of 

 the honey in the brood-nest that the 

 practice may be unprofitable. The ob- 

 jection raised by other comb-honey 

 producers that the sectional hive pro- 

 duced too many sections containing 

 pollen is a valid one, but it is largely 

 overcome by using a queen excluder 

 and no baits, or Dy having a comb con- 

 taining some pollen placed on one side 

 of the brood-nest. The theory explain- 

 ing the latter method is that the pres- 

 ence of this pollen below will induce 

 the storage of more pollen at the same 

 place, keeping the sections clear and 

 and for the storage of honey only. 



Some beekeepers hold that the sec- 

 tional hive is almost indispensable for 

 migratory beekeeping, as it is certainly 

 a trying experience to transport bees 

 over the average country road. The 

 large hives are cumbersome to handle, 

 and there is always a fear lingering in 

 one's mind that the big combs will 

 break down en route, even when well 

 wired. 



The sectional hive may also be of 

 particular advantage in the control of 

 swarming. In this hive swarming is 

 controlled by simply adding to the 



Sections Being Finished in Center of 

 Super Under a "Coaxer" 



brood-chamber from above or below 

 as the circumstances warrant. The 

 presence of a large unfilled space so 

 near the brood-chamber seems to 

 effectually check the swarming impulse. 

 W. K. Morrison in his booklet on the 

 " Divisible Brood - Chamber Hive," 

 states "the fundamental point in pre- 

 venting swarms is to convince the bees 

 that their brood-nest is incomplete. 

 Just as soon as the brood-nest seems 

 full (to them) they make preparations 

 for swarming. If the brood-nest is 

 complete the beekeeper makes it in- 

 complete, and again checks the swarm- 



