The American Apiculturist 



A JOUltNAL FOK TllK NOVICE AND EXPEKT. 



Devoted to Best Races of Bees, Best Hives, Best Implements and Best 



Methods of Management to make Beekeeping a Success. 

 PUBLISHED MONTHLY. HENRY ALLEY, Manager. 



VOL. VI. 



WENHAM, MAbb., DECEMBER, 1888. 



No. 12. 



Comspouiiina. 



A new Management of Bees, Brood- 

 Chambers, Brood Frames, etc. 



I)K. G. L. Tinker. 



I have held for some years that we liave 

 not yet got the most efticient aud econom- 

 ical brood-chamber. In decidiiii;- this (jues- 

 tion, consideration must l)e had for the 

 most successful sj^stem of management. 

 Evidently we have not yet solved tiie prob- 

 lem of how to obtain the largest product 

 from our bees. Aud here let me say, that 

 the invention of the wood aud zinc queen- 

 excludiug honey-board marks an era iu the 

 progress of apiculture, aud creates possi- 

 bilities heretofore unknown. With a 

 brood- chamber of the right size aud con- 

 struction, it gives a control over the work- 

 ing of bees that is impossiljle by other 

 means. It enables us to keep the entire 

 force of every colony together at all times, 

 aud that too in a most feasible and practi- 

 cal manner, while most colonies may be 

 kept under the strong impulse that char- 

 acterizes the young swarm. My new sys- 

 tem of managemeut secures these results 

 aud the opinion is ventured that we shall 

 look in vain for a system of greater possi- 

 bilities either for comb or extracted honey. 

 I am now ready to contend that a brood- 

 chamber for brood solely, is one of the 

 flrst essentials of success. Heretofore, 

 we have had a brood aud store-chamber 

 combined. This may be all well enough 

 for a haphazard system of beekeeping 

 where want of care or negligence would 

 often result in starvation of the bees were 

 this stoi'age room in l)rood-chamber not 

 provided. But the modern intelligent bee- 

 keeper who is aiming at practical results 

 and keeps bees for the money that is in 

 them must have an economical brood- 

 chamber. By this I mean that there should 

 be no room in a brood-chamber for honey 



18 



that should go into the supers. This will 

 mean one that will contain about eight 

 hundred square inches of comb not less. 

 The one that I am now using contains 

 eight hundred aud thirty square inches 

 of comb aud seems to be about right; it is 

 certainly large enough for the new system 

 of management which requires for the 

 best results in producing comb honey some 

 contraction, or, more properly, a brood- 

 chamber for brood. I am opposed to too 

 great contraction. It may do in a short 

 honey flow, but as a rule is not a success. 

 Too great limitation of the queen results 

 in excessive swarming, and the carrying 

 of pollen into the supers. However, much 

 is dependent upon the coustruction of the 

 queen-excluding honey-board in the mat- 

 ter of swarming, providing there is am- 

 ple room for the bees above it. I have 

 held all along that one-rowed zinciu honey- 

 boards used alternately with the brood 

 frames, fails to aftbrd free ventilation of 

 the supers (which is so essential to the 

 rapid ripening of the honey) and hinders 

 the working of the bees. But two-rowed 

 zinc used in the same manner fully over- 

 comes every objection that can be urged 

 against the use of excluders in honey- 

 boards, and no matter how large the col- 

 ony, they neither obstruct the work nor 

 limit the product in any way. The result 

 is, that by the use of such a honey-board 

 we may limit the bivood space to the act- 

 ual requirements of the brood and if we 

 provide ample room in the supers we shall 

 not be troubled by excessive swarming on 

 this account. After much •experiment I 

 am fully satisfied that a brood-chamber of 

 the size above stated is as small as can 

 be profitably used. As we have no occa- 

 sion to contract it we never have any use 

 for division-boards or dummies. But as 

 it is made to storify, a very large hive can 

 be quickly made at any time to suit the 

 purpose of the beekeeper. 



That this brood-chamber is large enough 

 for brood alone will appear from the fol- 

 lowing :- 



Fifty worker bees can be reared every 

 twenty- one days in each square inch of 

 comb. It is therefore possible to rear in 830 



(211) 



