1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



793 



LARGE VS. SMALL HIVES. 



SHALL WE DISCARD THE EIGHT-FKAME FOR A 

 TWELVE FRAME LANGSTROTH ? 



By Dr. C. C. Miller. 



It seems I am not to be allowed to sit com- 

 fortably " on the fence " In the matter of small 

 vs. large hives. Here comes M. D. Andes, of 

 Bristol, Tenn., prodding me with a sharp stick, 

 to make me get down on the side of large hives. 

 While conceding that every locality may have 

 its own laws, he seems settled as to what is 

 right in his locality. His bees are Italians, and 

 he works for comb honey exclusively. After a 

 success with ten-frame hives, he changed to 

 eight-frames, and, after two years, with not so 

 much success, he changed half his colonies 

 back to ten-frame hives to compare results. 

 About the same time he purchased 7 colonies 

 in twelve-frame hives, and concluded to test 

 them with the rest. The management of each 

 was the same, only there was a little difference 

 in surplus arrangements. Root's dovetail super 

 was used on the eight-frame hives, as also on 

 part of the ten-frames, while the remainder of 

 the ten-frame hives and all the twelve-frame 

 had wide frames holding eight one-pound sec- 

 tions. 



He writes that the ten-frame hives gave him 

 a third more surplus than the smaller ones, and 

 the twelve- frame twice as much. He says, 

 "This has been the worst season we have had 

 for many years, and but for my ten and twelve 

 frame hives my crop would have been 12 lbs. of 

 comb honey from 20 colonies in eight-frame 

 hives, while I got 30 and 70 lbs. from the best of 

 the ten and twelve-frame hives. . . . Another 

 I'cri/ important thing. An eight-frame colony 

 will swarm twice to a ten-frame's once, and 

 the twelve frame colonies won't swarm at all. 

 Of the 7 twelve-frame colonies, only one has 

 swarmed in three years." 



Now. it would be bad enough to give up the 

 comfortable eight-framers for ten-frame hives; 

 but, to think of having to lug around twelve- 

 frame hives I Horrible! 



What has been asked for is the actual results 

 after fairly testing the two side by side. So 

 far. only those have reported who have done 

 better with the larger hives. At least, I don't 

 remember any others. Now, won't some one 

 give me comfort by sending in a different re- 

 port — something like this? " For three years I 

 have carefully tested, side by side, 1.5 colonies 

 in eight-frame hives, 1.5 in ten-frame hives, and 

 15 in twelve-frames, and the average yield from 

 the smaller hives has fully equaled that from 

 the larger." 



NUMBERING HIVES. 



I have my hives numbered straight along in 

 rows. If no numbers are on them, I can tell 

 quite readily the correct number by noticing 

 the place in the row. But I like to see the 

 numbers on the hives; and when hives are put 



in the cellar it's absolutely necessary to have 

 numbers on them if any track of their history 

 is to be kept. 



During the summer, hives are often changed 

 from one stand to another, but it's the stand 

 that holds the number; and if a hive changes 

 its stand, it must change its number also. On 

 setting out in the spring it is often desirable to 

 set a hive on a stand different from the one it 

 occupied in the fall. So the numbers on the 

 hives must be changed. During the past sum- 

 mer the bees did so little that there wasn't any 

 need of watching the numbers closely; so, many 

 of them remained unchanged till fall. But 

 they'll go into the cellar rightly numbered, and 

 a good bee-keeper wouldn't like to leave them 

 in such a slovenly shape through the summer. 

 Most years I keep the numbers straight all the 

 time. 



As the numbers are changed so often, it is 

 important to have an easy plan for it. I have 

 pieces of tin 3Kx2 inches, painted white, then 

 the figures in black. A hole is punched near 

 the top to drive in a half-inch wire nail. You 

 will see that it's an easy thing to take one of 

 these tags oft' a hive. Just slip a screwdriver 

 under the tag close to the nail and pry it off. 

 A light hammer can be used to drive in the 

 nails, but I generally use a screwdriver. I 

 don't drive in the nails — just push them In. 

 Hold the nail between the thumb and finger of 

 left hand; push the edge of the screwdriver 

 between the same thumb and finger against the 

 head of the nail, and, while pushing hard 

 against the nail, keep the thumb and finger 

 holding tight to the nail, so it can't turn to one 

 side or the other. You'll find it isn't hard work 

 to push the nail in, and you'll not make the 

 bees cross, as you will by hammering. 



CROSS BEES. 



Speaking of making bees cross, my bees were 

 very cross two or three years ago. I hardly 

 know why. This year they're very goo_d-na- 

 tured. I hardly know why. It must be in the 

 bees themselves, for this is one of the poorest 

 honey years I ever knew, the time of all times 

 when bees ought to be cross. The only reason 

 I can think of is, that I have made it a practice 

 for the past few years to kill the queen of any 

 colony that showed too much bad temper. In 

 an apiary of a hundred colonies, two or three 

 cross colonies will furnish enough stings to 

 make it appear that every colony in the yard is 

 savage. I am just a little inclined to the opin- 

 ion that a queen has an influence upon the tem- 

 per of a colony, independently of the kind of 

 bees she produces. When I've killed the queen 

 of a cross colony, I've noticed that I didn't have 

 to wait till there was time for all the bees to be 

 changed, but that the bees were good-natured 

 before the new generation came on the stage — 

 at least it seemed that way. We know very 

 well that a queenless colony is generally cross- 

 er for its queenlessness. When it receives a 



