Dec. 25, 1902. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



823 



V,J>L.^!Li^!C^«>JkLV>o;at.^4.^<VbL.^>L.^<.^!C^)U>C^^t^ 



3 Contributed Articles 



«>r^>r*rw^^«"W'W^^'^*^^»rw'^<'^*^*r^;rw-^'^ 



THE HIVE PROBLEM. 





What Size is Best, Eight or Ten Frame? 



BV R. C. AIKIN. 



I KNOW this is an old and worn subject, but I do not con- 

 sider it settled, by any means. This question, like very 

 many others pertaininjj to the honey industry, is not thor- 

 oughly understood ; we are constantly learning- by experi- 

 ence and in other ways. 



I will not say that any particular size of hive is what 

 we need, but I want to tell some things I have found in my 

 experience, and give the reader my conclusions. And, be- 

 ginning right now, when the bees are starting into winter, 

 let us trace them along through the year, and. as an illus- 

 tration consider a colony that has been on 6 brood-combs 

 through the summer. If run for comb honey, the probabili- 

 ties are that there will be some pretty solid packing of the 

 brood-combs with honey, but whether they are well filled or 

 not depends on several conditions. Notice that I say it de- 

 pends on conditions, and in discussing this question I will 

 do it from the standpoint of the apiarist producing condi- 

 tions, or meeting them so as to modify the eflFects following. 



A colony on 6 combs through the summer, and for comb 

 honey, if they had the 6 combs well filled with brood when 

 the flow began, and if the flow came on abruptly and the 

 weather hot or favorable to super-work, the nectar being 

 plentiful and the colony strong enough to start work in the 

 sections and keep it going, and //(note these ifs), the flow 

 suddenly stopped, and if the queen was laying vigorously 

 at the time and kept the combs full of brood and they were 

 so when the flow stopped ; and if that flow stopped near the 

 end of summer when the season for breeding" was about 

 over, then you have a colony with many young bees and in 

 prime shape for winter, so far as number and age go, but 

 with not stores enough to last till spring, or, if they do last 

 till spring, there will be a poor condition in the spring, if 

 not actual starvation. 



But (now don't laugh at the string of buts and ifs), if 

 you will just put right on top of that strong colony at the 

 close of the season, another 6 brood-combs solid full of 

 hotiey, then you have a colony that is in almost ideal condi- 

 tion for winter ; and not onlj' for winter, but for building 

 up nicely in the spring. Remember that we are discussing 

 the hive question, and that it is understood that the stock 

 and queen is O. K. A poor queen would be bad in the best 

 hive. 



A man ought always to be able to give a reason for the 

 faith that is within him, so I would better tell you why I 

 consider the colony just described as being in prime condi- 

 tion. They have plenty of bees of all ages. It is the com- 

 monest kind of knowledge to bee-men, that old bees would 

 not live through the winter and into the spring when and 

 until there is sufficient young bees hatching to take their 

 places. And we all know that one bee, all by itself, can 

 stand but little cold until chilled, and in like manner pro- 

 portionately a small cluster will chill quicker than a large 

 one; hence, to start the colony into winter with a big force 

 of young, vigorous bees means that they can stand much 

 cold, and when the time comes to begin breeding they can 

 supply the necessary heat. We all know these things. 



And we know that those bees will naturally cluster on 

 the original empty combs — they will be practically empty 

 by cold weather because the brood hatched out in meantime, 

 and having the solid combs above them they will consume 

 of it, following up as the honey is used, and when spring 

 comes the colony is found in the top of the hive. All this 

 time the stores have been closed to the bees — it was easy for 

 them to feed, whether warm or cold. 



There, I heard some one say that I must take away that 

 lower hive of empty combs as soon as the bees are out of it, 

 else they would waste a great lot of heat trying to keep it 

 warm, using too much honey to get the heat, wearing out 

 stores and bees both. Well, now, don't you worry one min- 

 ute about that problem, it is not a fact afall. Don't you 

 see that there is not one hive in 100 that fits the colony in 



the spring- — no, not one in a thousand, except where the 

 apiarist keeps contracting the hive a8 hin colony grows 

 smaller ; every colony under normal conditions in cold cli- 

 mates becomes too shall for its hives in the early spring. 

 If it is a fact that the hive is always larger than the colony 

 in spring and it is a fact don't you see that all the talk 

 about having a small hive so the bees can keep it warm is 

 foolish ? 



Notice that I said this sample colony wc are speakiog- 

 of was on 6-frames to start with. They will not warm the 

 entire hive, no colony outside in winter ever keeps its hive 

 warmed. They do, however, if the cluster is large, keep 

 themselves and the comb they cover, warm, and in a large 

 measure keep the upper part of the hive somewhat warm, 

 particularly right above the cluster. It is common in very 

 cold weather for the colony to warm a spot immediately 

 above the cluster so as to melt the snow from the cover, yet 

 at the same time there is ice ( frost i on all sides and below 

 them. It is the melting of this frost and ice, and its pre- 

 cipitation upon the cluster, wetting and chilling them, that 

 kills many a colony in winter. This leads me to say here 

 that every colony should have some means of getting rid of 

 this moisture, and the way to do it is either to have the 

 hive top so warm that it will not condense on it, or have it 

 so arranged that the moisture-laden air can pass ofl^. A 

 good, large cluster will usually take care of the heating 

 question if kept dry, but they cannot get rid of the accumu- 

 lations of frost and ice. 



Here in Colorado we have a very dry air, and it is a fact 

 that bees will winter successfully in old boxes or hives that 

 are open both top and bottom, with almost unlimited up- 

 ward ventilation. The whole secret of it is that the free 

 ventilation carries off the moisture, keeping the bees and 

 combs dry ; there is no sour, thin honey and no chilled bees. 

 I have both chaff and single-walled hives, and the bees win- 

 ter fully as well, if not a little better, in the single-walled 

 ones, and breed up as quickly and early in the spring as in 

 the chaff-hives. I have thought that the chaff-hive colonies 

 were slower, and I know they show more wet, moldy combs. 



In late spring and early summer when a colony has be- 

 come strong enough to till the brood-chamber and keep it 

 warm, I think possibly the chaff is some help by keeping 

 the colony a little more even, and it is a fact that the packed 

 hive will not be troubled with robber-bees so much as the 

 single-walled. To average the quetsion, I would not give a 

 cent more for chaff hives than for single-walled, for this or 

 a similar climate. Really, I am a little skeptical about the 

 value of the chaff hives anywhere, but don't any one dis- 

 card them or change because of my skepticism regarding 

 them, in moist climates. Do this, however : Try some big 

 hives, and so manage to have some rousing big colonies in 

 these big hives to winter alongside of your little-hive colo- 

 nies, and compare the wintering and the results after the 

 next honey-flow ; but you may have to contract during the 

 flow. 



Following out some of this reasoning — and it is based 

 on experience — I conclude that there is no better shape for 

 a hive than about 12 inches square, and 20 to 30 inches high, 

 so far as successful wintering, and building-up after the 

 winter is over. The reason is plain : If they start into win- 

 ter with man}' bees they live through with a good start of 

 bees in the spring to mature the first brood ; and in winter- 

 ing they have such a good store of honey above them that 

 they have but to follow it up, and eat as they go, and in the 

 spring they are close to the top, and but a small space about 

 them to warm. It makes no difference if there is a bushel 

 of comb beneath the cluster, or if those combs be full of 

 honey — if full of honey they will be opened, and all honey 

 next to the entrance carried up, and this carrying up of honey 

 encourages breeding. The colony will not, and does not, 

 need to warm what is below them. 



But there is some reasons why we do not want a hive of 

 the proportions of 12 inches square, no matter how high, 

 and we will go further into the subject in the next article. 



Larimer Co., Colo. 

 (To be continued.) 



Growing Alfalfa for Honey in Illinois. 



BY J. E. JOHNSON. 



AS I consider honey-plants the foundation of successful 

 bee-keeping, I have been investigating and experiment- 

 ing on the same for some time. This is the plan I have 

 formed for the coming season in regard to alfalfa : 



I have an uncle living near Hutchinson, Kans., who has 



