TSI AMERICAN 



S^ ^h ^^\ 



Apiculturist. 



A. Journal Devoted, to Practical Beelceeping. 



VOL. IX. 



JUNE, T891. 



No. 6. 



STOrvIFYING IIIVKS AND THK USP:S 

 OF THE QUEKN EXCLUDER. 



— Du. G. I.. TlMvEli — 



{Coudiuh'd.) 



In my article on page 70, reference 

 was made to the proper capacity of 

 hives for spring breeding and their man- 

 agement. As showing what may be 

 done in the line of brood rearing, I will 

 say that last spring I had one colony 

 with brood in 4 stories of the Nonpareil 

 beehive, and I estimated that there were 

 fully 25 frames of brood on the first of 

 June, or about what would be contained 

 in two 10-frame L. hives with every cell 

 occu|)ied with brood. The result of 

 getting so much brood in a colony just 

 before the harvest proved what has all 

 along been claimed by expert apiarists. 

 The colony produced over 90 pounds 

 of extracted honey (poorest season we 

 ever had), all of which had been sealed 

 in the combs. The colony occupied 8 

 stories and built out ' one full set of 

 combs from foundation The best yield 

 of any of my other colonies was not over 

 25 pounds of comb honey, and in every 

 instance the colony having the most 

 brood on June i made the most honey. 

 It will be seen therefore that the com- 

 mon 8- frame hive is too small to cut 

 much of a figure in comb honey pro- 

 duction (or extr:icted either) unless it 

 be used in more than one story in the 

 development of brood. But two stories 

 of the 8 Irame L. hive give more breed- 

 ing room than the average queen is 

 capable of occupying before the harvest. 

 The size of the brood-nest should th.ere- 



fore be suited to the average colony, or 

 two stories of the Nonpareil hive, which 

 have a capacity for 1660 square inclies 

 of brood comb. Every effort should be 

 made to get brood in our colonies up 

 to the time the harvest begins when the 

 sections are to be placed. 



COXTUACriOV 



of the brood-nest is then advised and 

 the queen limited to one story of the 

 hive by the use of the queen excluder. 

 Place the case of sections on the exclu- 

 der, and if tliere are one or two other 

 stories of brood set all on top of the case 

 of sections. If the combs are old and 

 blick, I place what I call a brood hoard 

 between the case of sections and the 

 upper stories of brood. This is simply 

 a thin board cleated around the edges 

 so as to make a bee space and provided 

 with a strip of two rowed zinc at one 

 side. Mine are made like the wood- 

 zinc excluder except there is but one 

 piece of the two rowed zinc, the bal- 

 ance of the surface being closed. In 

 placing brood above a queen excluder 

 or the brood board, it siiould not be 

 forgotten that a | auger hole must be 

 made in the front end of the story for 

 the (hones to get out. 'I'his is easily 

 closed by a common cork when not 

 needed. The use of the brood board 

 limits the storing of honey in the upper 

 story, as the brood hatches out so that 

 the energies of the colony in storing 

 surplus are centred in the sections. 

 It also prevents the combs in the sec- 

 tions from being travel- stained, except 

 at the extreme outside. 



(7'JJ 



