September, 1914. 



309 



[American Hee Jonrnal 



Contributed 



Articles^ 



I 



Large Hive Considerations 



BY 11. B.\RONE. 



T is incontestable that the tendency 

 is more and more toward large 

 hives. And we cannot but remain 

 surprised, not to say pleased, at the re- 

 sults of the last accurate investigations 

 of J. E. Hand, the well-known author 

 of the method of the " Divisible Brood- 

 Chamber Hive " (American Bee Jour- 

 nal, 1914, page 58) : " It is evident that 

 a hive of 17-frame capacity is not too 

 large for best results when viewed from 

 the standpoint of economy and utility." 

 Is not the frank and sincere confes- 

 sion of H. H. Root, in Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture of 1913, page 883, symp- 

 tomatica! ? " By the way, when I went 

 to Canada I had a feeling that the 12- 

 frame hive was about two frames too 

 large ; but my feelings in this respect 

 grew weaker while I was there, and 

 have been much less perceptible ever 

 since." How many beekeepers are 

 there who, with seriousness of purpose 

 and with a mind free from prejudice, 

 have tested a larger hive in connection 

 with the 8 or 10 frame ? 



What about Dr. Miller's censure of 

 the Jumbo hive after his timid trial 

 with only two hives of this type and 

 for only a single season ? I am sure 

 that if Dr. Miller had persevered in his 

 experiment, since he now advises the 

 lOframe hive, while before he recom- 

 mended the 8-frame, so also he would 

 counsel the use of the larger hive, be- 

 cause sooner or later the many advan- 

 tages of the latter over the former 

 would be apparent to him, a keen and 

 careful observer. The importance of 

 principles, of judgments, as well as of 

 inventions of great scientists, men of 

 letters and artists is always relative to 

 the circumstances of time and place. 



Langstroth gave us the mobility and 

 the oblong shape of the frame. Upon 

 both these principles, true beyond 

 doubt, depends the modern rational 

 culture of the bee. But the dimensions 

 and the number of frames, allowing the 

 utmost enlargement of the colony, and, 

 consequently, larger returns in honey, 

 must be the outcome of the debates 

 among the learned and experienced 

 beekeepers of the world. 



In my opinion, the reasons that peo- 

 ple here oppose the larger hives are of 

 various kinds. I think, more than for 

 any other reason, because it was the 

 fashion for 8-frame hives as it is now 

 for the 10-frame. On the other hand, 

 many extensive beekeepers, even though 

 convinced of the advantages of the 

 larger hives, do not use them because 

 of the expense of renewing the whole 

 of their outfit. Of what value is it that 

 the beekeeper wastes time, intelligence 

 and energy to rear queens of the best 

 stock when he does not give those 

 queens room in accordance with their 

 P'-olificness ? How are we able to 

 know the best queens if we do not 



give them this opportunity ? Queens 

 that can lay as many as 4000 and more 

 eggs a day are much less rare than 

 some believe. 



In Italy, where the voice of Chas. 

 Dadant was not "vox clamonis in de- 

 serto," in our Dadant-Blatt hives, with 

 12 jumbo frames, those usually adopted 

 with general satisfaction, we have in 

 May, per colony, not less than 10 

 frames full of brood, sometimes 11, and 

 not infrequently all the 12 frames. Can 

 we get so much brood in the 8 or 10 

 frame Langstroth ? No. And is it not 

 true that a smaller quantity of brood 

 brings a smaller quantity of honey in 

 the supers ? Let us allow under the 

 frames a space of about 2 inches, and 

 we shall have made another condition 

 that checks the swarming impulse. 

 Large hives, without doubt, diminish 

 the probability of swarming, but do 

 not insure nonswarming. The rea- 

 sons why the family swarms are many, 

 they depend many times upon inoppor- 

 tune management by the keeper. 



Many eminent beekeepers advise 

 placing over the 8 or 10 frame brood- 

 chamber another body of like size to 

 which the queen may have free access 

 for continuing the laying of eggs, 

 while at the same time warning others 

 against allowing heat to be wasted, as 

 it is necessary to the development of 

 the brood. 



Well said, Mr. Hand (American Bee 

 Journal, 1914, page 58), " The horizontal 

 contraction and expansion of the 

 brood-chamber is the correct principle. 

 It should be of sufficient capacity to 

 develop the fertility of the most pro- 

 lific queens." 



But many will say the larger hives 

 are heavier and make operations slower. 

 I reply that these difficulties are 

 more imaginary than real. The larger 

 hives are sufficient of themselves ; their 

 removal is less necessary; they make 

 the outdoor wintering quite possible 

 with the smallest outlay, and by em- 

 ploying two shallow supers only, with 

 frames farther apart than they are 

 spaced in the brood-chamber, if op- 

 portunely and skillfully handled, are 

 more than sufficient for the largest 

 yields of extracted honey. The afore- 

 said second body placed above the 8 or 

 10 frame brood-chamber, gradually rid- 

 ding itself of the hatching brood, will 

 become a super. Is it not easier to 

 handle a half depth I2-frame super than 

 a full depth 8 or 10 frame ? In regard 

 to the production of comb honey I 

 maintain that the large hive responds 

 equally well. In fact, the colony in a 

 large hive, and with a good queen, 

 when it has reached its greatest devel- 

 opment, finds itself in identical condi- 

 tions of narrowness to the colony in a 

 small hive. However, with this differ- 

 ence, that while the colony in the latter 

 will contain, for instance, 50,000 work- 

 ers, the colonv in the former will con- 

 tain 75,000 if liot 100,000. 

 Reader, value this paragraph of J. L. 



Byer (American Bee Journal, 1913, page 

 52) : " By force of circumstances I have 

 almost all sizes of hives in common 

 use, from the 8-frame Langstroth to the 

 10-frame and 12 frame jumbo, and 

 every spring, tcithout exception.i\\^ bees 

 intheS-frame hives are the last to be 

 ready for the supers." 



If the bees are slow to go into the 

 sections, we can make the contraction 

 of the brood-chamber by the division- 

 boards, according to Dadant's advice. 

 But, in order to get best results, I 

 would be pleased to substitute, // jieed 

 be, the empty combs with combs full of 

 brood borrowed from weaker colonies. 

 In the north of the United States and 

 in Canada wintering is one of the 

 greatest preoccupations of the bee- 

 keepers, and with goo I reason. 



Many specialists seek to avoid the 

 considerable losses during the severe 

 winter; hence, the many types of 

 double-walled hives, the many ways of 

 packing hives with various materials, 

 as well as the different plans of cellars. 

 These make me think of doctors who 

 try to cure the results without reach- 

 ing up to the causes. Small hives give 

 small colonies, which poorly resist 

 hard winters. 



The town where I was born, in Italy, 

 is 2500 feet above sea-level. There it 

 is not rare for snow and cold to con- 

 fine the bees to the hive two months, 

 and more. When in March or begin- 

 ning of April I went over the colo- 

 nies, I found most of them in a very 

 prosperous condition, and with not 

 less than three or four deep frames 

 full of brood. 



Locality! you will say. 

 I answer through Mr. Byer, who lives 

 in Canada (American Bee Journal, 

 1913, page 52) : "The only explanation 

 I can give is that the colonies with the 

 large brood-nests always go into win- 

 ter quarters with a much larger cluster 

 than the smaller ones. Given a large 

 force of well wintered bees in spring, 

 it is surprising how they manage to 

 overcome all obstacles in the way of 

 cold, and proceed to build their brood 

 up rapidly." 



Keep the famlies very strong, unit- 

 ing the weakest ; grant them a large 

 supply of sealed stores, put on top of 

 the frames, 'eaving a bee-space, ab- 

 sorbent material; taking care that the 

 entrance be not less deep than one- 

 half inch by the width of the hive; 

 protecting it by a board inclined to- 

 ward the front of the hive, excluding 

 storms and winds (I prefer the alight- 

 ing-board of the bottom to have hinged 

 joints), and you will have made in the 

 shortest possible time, and with the 

 slightest expense, an ideal wintering. 



R. F. Holtermann, who wrote in the 

 American Bee Journal of 1913, page 

 94, values the 12-frame hive to such an 

 extent that when he buys bees in the 

 chambers, waiting for an opportunity 

 and puts them into 12-frame brood- 

 10-frame hives, he takes out the combs 

 to sell the former. With the no small 

 expense of about $1000 he built for 

 his bees a cellar for which at the pres- 

 sent time he no longer sees the neces- 

 sity. I take the liberty to invite Mr. 

 Holtermann, as well as others, to make 

 a courageous and inexpensive trial 

 this coming winter. He should try to 

 winter about 10 colonies in his 12- 



