OCTOBER 1, 1912 



cover between the brood-chamber a)icl super 

 with a hole made sufficiently large to take 

 a feeding jar so the bees can be fed at 

 any time when necessary. 



The packing on top can be taken off 

 and replaced in a moment, and the con- 

 dition of the bees determined at any time. 

 My covers are all made with glass in them, 

 so by simply removing the straw on top 

 of the liive and lifting off the hive-cover 

 the bees can be seen and the jar can be 

 filled with syrup without exposing the bees 

 to the temperature outside the hive. When 

 the weather is such that there is no danger 

 of the bees leaving the hive I set up a 

 board in front to protect the entrance from 

 cold winds blowing into the hives. 



I have tried several methods of wintering 

 my bees, but like the method described 

 above the best of all. 



North Westport, Mass. 



A COMBINED HONEY-HOUSE AND HIVE-SHED 



BY L. H. COBB 



In designing my building I had espe- 

 cially in mind an inexpensive combination 

 of honey-house, hive-shed for shade, and 

 winter protection, an overhead track for 

 handling hives and supers, and cement hive 

 stands. The diagrams are almost self-ex- 

 planatory, but I will give a few details. 



The honey-house, shown in Fig. 1, is 12 

 feet square, and the extracting platform, 

 shown in a, Fig. 1, is 4i/^ feet wide and 7 



Fi^. 3. 



629 



feet long. Either screens or doors may be 

 provided between honey-house and hive- 

 sheds if desired. 



In this diagram the hive-shed 6 is 7 feet 

 wide, and may be made any length, allow- 

 ing 6 feet and 6 inches between posts for 

 every three stands. This shed extends south, 

 and takes two rows of hives. The hive- 

 shed c extends east, and another may be 

 extended west. 



The upper sections of the side of the 

 hive-sheds are hinged so they may be ex- 

 tended at will, and the lower sections are 

 removable. Both of these sections are made 

 in 6y2-foot leng-ths, extending from center 

 to center of posts, one foot square, d in 

 each fig-ure shows the track for the ordinary 

 barndoor hanger. Figures 2 and 3 show 

 forms for the cement stands. At Fig. 2 a, 

 a dozen may be made at once. For this 

 form I cut five pieces of 1 x 2, 6 feet and 

 2 inches long for j^ieces a; two pieces 6 

 feet 5 inches long for pieces h, and eight 

 pieces 18 inches long for pieces c. On the 

 upper edge of pieces c I nail two pieces of 

 narrow galvanized iron, allowing it to ex- 

 tend over the end one inch, as shown in 

 Fig. 2 a. A tack can be driven through 

 these ends into pieces a, thus holding the 

 short pieces in place. I nail pieces b on 

 the ends of pieces a so the spaces will be 

 just 18 X 24 inches. The concrete mixture 

 I prefer is one part cement to two parts 

 sand and two parts cinder. If these are 

 made on the cement floor of the honey-room 

 the floor should be oiled or soaped thor- 

 oughly first. 



Fig. 3 shows the form 

 for the base of the hive- 

 stand. This form should 

 be made of two-inch ma- 

 terial. It should be four 

 inches at the bottom, six 

 at the top, and eight deep 

 inside. It should be six 

 feet long, and should 

 have one end movable. 

 The base for the front of 

 the hive-stands is also the 

 base of the side walls of 

 the hive-shed, and should 

 be just long enough to fit 

 snugly between the square 

 cement-post foundations, 

 or 5^2 feet. For the bacK 

 bases I use partitions of 

 the form, making three 

 blocks 18 inches long. 



The houses and sheds 

 may be covered with roof- 

 ing felt, and cheap lum- 

 ber used for the frame. 



Fig. 2 



