THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



377 



EXTRACTED. 



THE SIZE OF HIVES. 



Producing Comb Honey with either Large or 



Small Brood-Chambers; Some of the 



Conditions to be Observed. 



We have been having quite a little 

 discussion in regard to the size of hives 

 or brood nests, particularly when one is 

 producing comb honey, and I think that 

 one of the fairest and most logical arti- 

 cal articles that have appeared lately up- 

 on the subject is from the pen of Mr. 

 Doolittle, and was published in Gleanings 

 of Nov. I. It reads as follows: — 



Question. — Is it true, as I see it advan- 

 ced by some, that, if we use large hives, 

 we shall have large colonies when work- 

 ing for comb honey, with no swarming? 

 I see that quite a few are talking that way; 

 and if this is a fact, would it not be well 

 for us to drop all of our former notions re- 

 garding the contraction of the brood-nest, 

 when working for comb honey, and give 

 all colonies a great big hive, and so let 

 the bees take care of themselves, very 

 largely? for it is conceded by nearly 

 every one that labor is the chief factor in 

 the production of a crop of comb honey. 



A)iSK<er. — All of the older readers of 

 the bee-papers know that I have been an 

 advocate of a brood-chamber as small as 

 or smaller than nearly any one else, when 

 working for comb honey, the same hold- 

 ing only nine Gallup frames. These 

 nine Gallup frames give a capacity about 

 the same as 634 Langstroth frames would; 

 and from a brood-nest of that capacity I 

 secured an average yield of nearly 100 

 pounds of comb honey for each of the 

 years between 1872 and 1883, from each 

 colony I had during that time, spring 

 count — a record which has rarely been 

 excelled, and never equaled, if I am right, 

 by any of the large-hive advocates. But 

 I am free to confess that, without doubt, 

 more labor is required in rightly manag- 

 ing such small hives than is needed in 

 the larger hives. But with me it always 

 seemed that, from the extra amount of 

 honey obtained, I always secured enough 

 to more than pay for the extra labor ex- 

 pended; and if so, could the cry of "labor 

 saving" enter into the problem? The 

 question is, " Which will give the best 



returns for the amount of labor expend- 

 ed?" not, "With how little labor is it 

 possible to run an apiary and secure any 

 returns at all?" 



But I wish to look a little at the state- 

 ment of ten made, that "large hives will 

 give large colonies, with little or no de- 

 sire to swarm; and if any swarms do issue, 

 they will be large swarms, not the little 

 cramped-up things which always come 

 from small hives, ' ' or words of that im- 

 port, which are going the rounds of the 

 papers, and which are doubtless what is 

 hinted at by the questioner. I can look 

 upon such talk only as a fallacy which 

 has been passed from one mouth to 

 another till those telling it really believe 

 they are giving expression to words of 

 truth; for with those nine-frame Gallup 

 hives, I had fully as little swarming as I 

 have had with ten-frame Langstroth 

 hives, and the average of the swarms was 

 not materially different as to size in either 

 case. I am free to admit that, if each 

 were placed side by side, with no sections 

 on, the ten-frame L. liives would proba- 

 blv be later in swarming, and send out 

 larger swarms; but, if I am right, no one 

 working on the contraction plan treats 

 his colonies in that way. With the small 

 hive or brood-chamber, the sections are 

 put on as soon as any honey comes in 

 from the field, and the brood-combs are 

 manipulated till the whole nine are solid 

 full of brood and pollen; and when in 

 this shape, if any honey is stored at all it 

 must go into the sections, for there is no 

 other place for it to go. Thus started 

 early in the sections, the bees become 

 accustomed to their surroundings, and 

 thus these fully occupied combs of brood 

 entertain the best queen to her capacity 

 as to egg-laying; and, if so, how could a 

 larger hive give any larger colonies, even 

 though 100 L. frames were used ? Large 

 hives do tiot make large colonies any more 

 than a large hat, worn all through our 

 boyhood days, gives the world larger- 

 headed men.' If the queen has all the 

 vacant cell room her prolificness requires, 

 more room is only a damage to our crop 

 of comb honey; for in the finding of many 

 vacant cells in the brood chamber, at the 

 beginning of the honey-harvest, comes an 

 " accustoment " to the brood cham- 

 ber" for storing honey, instead of 

 the sections, and thus the queen is 

 crowded upon with honey, instead of 

 said honey going into the sections; and, 

 with restricted room for her eggs, comes 

 discontent, and from this comes the de- 

 sire, and from the desire comes Swarming, 

 the very thing that we have been working 

 to avoid. 



