Mav, lOio. 



American Hee Journal 



Southern Beedom 



Conducted by Louis H. SciiOLL, New Brautifels. Tox. 



Arrangement of Hives for Bulk-Comb 

 Honey Production 



We have been in tlie midst of a great 

 rush during our early April honey-flow ; 

 when we have had /i> do //i/>i_i,rx: when 

 every labor-and-time-saving short-cut 

 method and management had to be 

 brought into play. And during this 

 time we have found what it is to have 

 a proper arrangement, or system of 

 arrangement, of the hives in the api- 

 aries. 



We have tried many ways of placing 

 the hives, arranged differently in as 

 many apiaries, and have found some all 

 right, while others had great disadvan- 

 tages. Placing hives in straight rows, 

 equal distances apart, is bad practice, 

 even if the hives are several feet apart. 

 Placed in rows, and in pairs is better; 

 still, each pair is like another pair in 

 the same row or the next row'S. Too 

 much sameness should not exist, 

 mainly on account of the resultant loss 

 of queens in mating, and also to avoid 

 the drifting of bees. 



We prefer to handle our hives in 

 groups, and therefore arrange them 

 accordingly. There is a great advan- 

 tage in working the colonies in groups 

 of 5, as we do, and especially in our ex- 

 tensive work in producing bulk-comb 

 honey, with the idea in view to reach 

 the greatest possible quantity witli the 

 least amount of labor and expense. 



At the same time we prefer shade — 

 natural shade, or at least a partial 



ary of oH colonies. By studying this 

 closely you will see that :! hives face 

 southeast, if you will look at the way 

 the arrow points. These 3 are placed 

 about 3 feet, or a little more if the tree 

 is larger, from the main trunk of the 



protecting the colonies inside to a 

 great extent. Such an arrangement 

 has to be tried to be appreciated. 



We work the groups from behind, or 

 the northwest side, with all the en- 

 trances facing away from us. There 

 is no interference with the bees' flight, 

 as we always have our backs near the 

 tree behind us, where very few bees 

 fly. We are also, most of the time, ir» 

 the shade, especially the hottest part of 

 the day. The trees serve us a double 

 purpose. Besides furnishing shade for 

 the bees and for us, we use their trunks 



Fig. 2.— Group of Five Hives— Ready for Supers. 



tree, or trees, where there are several 

 in a group. This allows free passage- 

 way for the operator from behind 

 them. From \'/i to 2 feet of space is 

 left between the hives, from each other. 

 Two more hives are then added, as in 

 the pictures, one facing northeast and 



A^^ 



I ■ ■ 



Fig. I.— Apiary .\rr.\ngement— Groups of Five Hives. 



shade — during the heat of the day. We 

 detest shade-boards, after trying sev- 

 eral kinds, so we make use of scatter- 

 ing trees as they happen to stand in the 

 apiary. 



Under each tree we arrange the 

 hives in groups of 5's, as you will see 

 in the sketch of our York Creek Api- 



the other southwest. Although all 

 the colonies do not have shade all 

 parts of the day, each gets a good 

 share some time during the day, espe- 

 cially during the hottest part. Then 

 having hives placed as we have them, 

 the hottest sun strikes them at the 

 corners instead of side or end, thus 



to lean against the covers, supers, etc. 

 w'hile we are operating the hives. 



One of the prettiest pictures is that 

 of Fig. 2. It shows to our hearts' con- 

 tent the ease and convenience with 

 which this arrangement permits us to 

 put on J supers at a clip in less time 

 than it takes to tell it. That's what we 

 call saving time and labor, which is 

 e.xpense, and one of the short cuts 

 which helps to make profitable bulk- 

 comb honey production. But I'll tell 

 how it is done, although it will take 

 much longer to do this than the real 

 operation itself. 



As our hives are arranged this way — 

 in groups of 6 — our other manipula- 

 tions are made in 5's ; and it is the 

 easiest way to keep account of the 

 hives in the apiary, supers added, or 

 other work done. Just as we manipu- 

 late our frames and combs in sets (or 

 groups) instead of handling the frames 

 individually, just so we continue this 

 method of grouping in our apiaries in 

 the arrangement of the hives in groups. 

 Yea, we go still further, and even ar- 

 rauge our apiaries in groups^ manag- 

 ing each group separately, and then 

 grouping the whole again into one 

 business on an up-to-date, extensive 

 scale. The latter will be described 

 also in due time later, but at present I 

 would like to have the reader's atten- 

 tion on this grouping-of-hives plan; 

 and, if possible, try a group or two, 

 and also our manipulations, as we 

 shall endeavor to describe them from 

 time to time. 



Accordingly, then, to conform to 

 the groups of 5, our hive-cart is ar- 

 ranged. It takes 1.5 supers, or enough 

 for 3 groups at a time. This load is 

 wheeled to the rear of a group ; with 



