394 



May 9, 1907 



American ^ee Journal 



may object to giving such a large 

 amount of stores in the fall, personally 

 I feel that it is wise to err on the safe 

 side, and each year I am more and more 

 inclined to think that abundance of 

 good stores is one of the first requisites 

 of good wintering, and also just as es- 

 sential towards the rapid building of 

 our colonies in the following spring — 

 especially during a very backward 

 season like we are just passing through, 

 it is a source of comfort to know that 



every colony has 20 pounds or more of 

 honey in the hive, and that we need 

 not worry for fear some colonies will 

 starve. 



Aside from the matter of worry, 

 there is no question in my mind but 

 that the feeding operations — opening 

 up the hives during inclement weather 

 — and other work necessitated by bees 

 that are light in stores in early spring 

 is anything but conducive to the wel- 

 fare of the colonies. 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl, New Braunsfels, Tex. 



The Lang-stpoth or Divisible 



Brood-Chamber Hive— 



Which ? 



A correspondent from Germany has 

 written me in regard to the kind of 

 American style of hive I would advise 

 him to adopt especially for out-apiaries, 

 having read some of my articles on the 

 divisible brood-chamber hives I have 

 been using for several years. He has 

 studied American apiculture thor- 

 oughly through several of the books 

 and papers on bees and bee-keeping of 

 this country, and is well acquainted 

 with our hives, appliances, and meth- 

 ods of management. However, it has 

 been a hard matter for him to decide 

 which hive to adopt, since there is such 

 a difference of opinion expressed in 

 these books and papers. He had almost 

 decided to adopt the regular standard 

 Langstroth 10-frame hive when articles 

 like those of Alexander were read; 

 while, again, such articles as those by 

 Stachelhausen, Hand, Chambers, and 

 those by myself on the divisible brood- 

 chamber hives and their advantages, 

 changed his views and left him with- 

 out knowing what to do. 



He gives a description of the charac- 

 ter and the conditions of the surround- 

 ings under which the honey crop is ob- 

 tained, and the time of blooming of the 

 sources from which the honey-flow 

 comes, viz.: White clover blooming 

 from June 1,^ to July 15 ; basswood lat- 

 ter part of June to end of July, and 

 soon followed by the main source, the 

 heather, lasting until Sept. 15. The 

 bees are moved to the heather fields, 

 which are from 3 to 10 kilos distant 

 from where our correspondent resides. 



The honey from white clover and 

 basswood is extracted, and the heather 

 honey being too thick to be extracted, 

 is mostly sold in the comb, the combs 

 being cut from the " skeps " or frames. 

 Sections are unknown. 



He further questions me in regard 

 to using full sheets of comb founda- 

 tion in shallow frames for bulk comb 

 honey — whether comb honey built 



from such is not found " gobby " when 

 eaten. Examinations of the apiaries 

 are made every 6 or 8 days, no person 

 being with the bees between these 

 visits. I might add that my corres- 

 pondent favors a hive like the one de- 

 scribed by me, but wishes my opinion. 



Now for my advice : Since I have 

 had such excellent success with the 

 divisible brood-chamber hive, I would 

 certainly adopt it where the conditions 

 are like those given, but whether this 

 kind of hive is best for the other fel- 

 low is better found out by first giving 

 a few a thoroxigh trial. That is the 

 way I began, with no great visions be- 

 fore me to begin with, but the actual 

 practise and the success with them 

 gradually induced me to increase the 

 number in use. 



Since both comb and extracted honey 

 are the products of my dozen apiaries — 

 much like that mentioned by the en- 

 quirer — the circumstances in both cases 

 are about the same. Here extracted 

 honey is first obtained in this wise : 

 As soon as the colonies begin to get 

 crowded room is given, not on top but 

 betweeti the upper section partly full of 

 honey and lower one of the brood- 

 chamber. When this is done the sea- 

 son is already well advanced, and, if 

 the swarming season, it prevents 

 swarming to a surety. The middle 

 case is soon filled with brood, and the 

 scattering honey over that used up by 

 the bees is carried above into the upper 

 case, now an extracting super. With 

 a deeper hive, or the Langstroth, room 

 could not be given in any such way ex- 

 cept to set a shallow super on top. But 

 unless the crowded condition of the 

 brood-nest is broken up and laying- 

 room provided, swarming will go on 

 just the same; or the time-taking, 

 tedious handling of frames must be re- 

 sorted to. 



If full-depth supers are used, combs 

 can be lifted up and exchanged for 

 empty ones, but \ prefer the shallow 

 supers ; besides, the large supers would 

 be too large for our purpose unless the 

 extracted honey-flow was a very good 



one. Then the handling of the frames 

 takes more time. 



With the shallow extracting-super on 

 the hive nearly full, a second one is 

 given if needed before the flow for 

 comb honey begins. Our object should 

 be to have one super well filled on 

 every colony by this time that is to 

 store in the comb-honey supers. Just 

 before the flow begins these supers are 

 given between the full extracted honey 

 super and the brood-chamber. Starters 

 only are necessary in these, as the bees 

 will be secreting, and have an excess 

 of wax from the work done intheex- 

 tracting-supers, and work will begin at 

 once, so that by the time the main flow 

 begins, the combs will be partly drawn 

 out ready for the honey. This is an 

 ideal condition to get fine comb honey, 

 and built out excellently. The brood- 

 nest will not be clogged with honey, 

 but brood instead, and the colony will 

 come through stronger with a lot of 

 young bees for any subsequent honey 

 gathering, either surplus or for winter 

 stores. 



The advantages of shallow supers 

 are well known to many bee-keepers, 

 even to some of the opposers of the 

 divisible hive ; but just here is where 

 the divisible hive makes the shallow 

 supers more valuable, in that they can 

 be interchanged. For extracting supers 

 I prefer them. Their first cost may be 

 slightly more, but "I soon get that out 

 of them.'' Lighter weight foundation 

 can be used in full sheets, and without 

 wiring. If starters are used there is 

 not so much drone comb. When filled 

 the honey is removed by cases, in a 

 wholesale way, in a short time. No 

 use in trying to get around that. In 

 uncapping / know I can uncap 2 of 

 these faster than a deep comb, and 2 of 

 my shallow combs hold more honey 

 than one of the Langstroth size. 



For bulk comb honey they are the 

 best (and most extensively used). 

 Weaker colonies will often fill one of 

 these when they would not even have 

 begun in a deep one. and this holds for 

 all colonies during a short flow or in a 

 bad year. Besides, deep frames can 

 not be filled with full sheets of founda- 

 tion light enough for comb honey, for 

 it will be "gobby." Even shallow 

 frames are better with starters only, 

 especially when used under full supers 

 of extracted honey, as already men- 

 tioned. This also answers our corres- 

 pondent's question. Such supers of 

 comb honey are also taken off in a 

 wholesale way just like the extracted 

 honey. 



Who would think of producing sec- 

 tion comb honey in anything but shal- 

 low supers of one tier of sections and 

 the tiering-up system ? Hence. I see 

 no reason why the same should not be 

 applied to extracted honey, for it is 

 used in bulk-comb-honey production. 

 My advice is to try a few such hives 

 first and compare them with the others. 



Our %Voo«1 Binder (or Holder) is 

 made to take all the copies of the imerican 

 Bee Journal for a year. It is sent by mail 

 for SO cents. Full directions accompany. 

 The Bee Journals can be inserted as soon as 

 they are received, and thus preserved for 

 future reference. Or we will send it with the 

 American Bee Journal a year — both for $1.10. 

 Address oftice of the American Bee Journal. 



