1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



471 



ti'acted honey in one of the poorest seasons we 

 ever had. all of uiiich had been sealed in the 

 combs, and the colony occnpied eight stories of 

 the hive, and built out one full set of combs 

 from foundation. The best yield of any of my 

 other colonies did not exceed r35 lbs.: and in ev- 

 ery instance the colony having the most brood 

 by .June 1 made the most honey. It will be seen, 

 therefore, that the common eight-frame hive is 

 too small to cut a gi'eat figure in comb-honey 

 production (or extracted either for that mat- 

 ter), unless it be used in more than one story in 

 the development of brood. But. as already 

 stated, two stories give more breoeding room 

 than the average colony is capable of occupying 

 before the main harvest. The size of tlie hive, 

 therefore, should be suited to the average colo- 

 ny, which, as stated, is a capacity of about 1600 

 square inches of brood comb. 



Every effort in the development of brood in 

 our colonies should be made up to the time the 

 main harvest begins, when the sections should 

 be put on. It is then advised to practice 



CONTEACTION OF THE BROOD-NEST 



and limit the queen to one story of the hive by 

 the use of a queen-excludei'. Place the case of 

 sections on the queen-excluder: and if there is 

 one or two other stories of brood, set all on top 

 of the case of sections. Should the combs be 

 old and black, I place what I call a brood -board 

 between the case of sections and the upper sto- 

 ries of brood. This is simply a thin board cleat- 

 ed around the edges so as to make. a bee-space 

 on one side, and pi-ovided with a single strip of 

 two-i'owtKl zinc at one side. Mine are made 

 like the wood-zinc queen-excluder, except there 

 is but one piece of excluder zinc, the rest of the 

 surface being closed. In placing brood above 

 thequeen-excluderor the brood-boaixl. it should 

 not be forgotten that a % auger-hole must be 

 mad(^ in the front end of the story for the 

 lirones to get out. This is easily closed by a 

 common cork when not needed. 



The use of the brood-board limits the storing 

 of honey in the upper story as the brood hatch- 

 es out. so that the energies of the colony in stor- 

 ing surplus are centered in the sections. It al- 

 so prevents the combs in the sections from being 

 travel-stained except at the extreme outside. 



If the bees swarm they are to be managed as 

 set forth in my new book, thus preventing in- 

 crease. Care must be taken that plenty of sec- 

 tion room be provided, else the whole hive is li- 

 able to become clogged up with burr-combs. 

 The sections may be removed as fast as com- 

 pleted, and empty ones su1)Stituted, handling 

 four at a time in the wide frames: or. if a case 

 of sections is found not quite all sealed up it 

 may be lifted to the top of the upper story until 

 completed, and a case of empty sections put 

 down on the queen-excluder. Thus two and 

 often three cases of sections will be needed. 

 By raising up the sections just before the combs 

 are sealed to the top of the uppei- story, the 

 brood-board is not necessary: hut in this ca.se 

 we shall get the story full of honey as the brood 

 hatches out. This honey, however, will be 

 available for winterings or it may be extracted. 

 I generally leave it for the bees, but often ex- 

 tract a part of the combs. If we leave it we are 

 always sure of the necessary stores for winter, 

 without fall feeding, provided we leave the 

 queen-excluder on the first story. After remov- 

 ing the sections at the close of the harvest we 

 place the full story of honey down on thequeen- 

 excluder. In this manner we compel the eco- 

 nomical useof honey left them: but if we take 

 away the queen-excliiderat the time of remov- 

 ing the sections, and bring the two oi- moi-e sto- 

 ries of the hive together, the queen will go into 

 the \ipper story, and the result will be brood in 



both stories, and so much honey is consumed 

 that the colony may require feeding for winter 

 in case of failure of fall flowei's. which would 

 not be the case if the excluder had been left in 

 place, and the queen confined to the lower sto- 

 ry. Bees, to be profitable, must be self-support- 

 ing, and we can ill afford to be obliged to feed 

 our bees for winter. But with a large brood- 

 nest full of honey at the close of the harvest, as 

 we have heretofore managed, we ai'e sure to 

 have a great waste of the stores in unnecessary 

 brood-rearing. Ai\n- the first of June one sto- 

 ry of the Nonpareil bee-hive is ample for brood- 

 rearing the rest of the sea.son, even where fall 

 honey-flows are the ruh' and not the exception, 

 as in most localities: and it will be found that, 

 on the first of October, the colony will have ful- 

 ly as many bees as where the queen is not limit- 

 ed in brood-rearing during the latter part of 

 July and fore part of August, when the colony 

 is disposed to rear almost as much bi'ood as iii 

 the great brood-rearing month of May. 



On the first of October, or thereabout, the ex- 

 cluder must be removed. Should we forget it 

 we shall be sure to lose the queen, as the bees. 

 in the course of the winter, all go up into the 

 upper story, leaving the queen alone below the 

 excluder. 



BUKK-COMBS. 



One of th(^ remarkable features of this new 

 management is the fact that it almost entirely 

 obviates burr-combs with top-bars of brood- 

 combs one inch wide and % thick. But if we 

 place a case of sections on the top of the two- 

 story hive, or if, in hiving swarms in a single 

 story as advised with a case of empty sections, 

 we shall be sure to get many burr-coiiibs. Aft- 

 er hiving a swarm in a single story, it is best to 

 take a case of sections, in which the bees ai-e 

 well at work, from the parent colony, and place 

 over the queen-excluder on every swarm. If 

 one can not be taken from the parent colony, 

 take one from any otiier colony in the apiary, 

 taking bees and all, and place upon the swarm 

 just after hiving. As tending to prevent ab- 

 sconding. I regard it fully as good as a frame of 

 brood. Then we can be sure to prevent burr- 

 combs below the excluder, and save much labor 

 besides. When we want to examine the brood- 

 nest we can very readily do so at any time. 



I have thus given some of the principal ad- 

 vantages of the storifying hive in connection 

 with the use of a queen-excluder: and, as will 

 be seen, the.se advantages are such as to give us 

 the utmost control over brood-rearing, the eco- 

 nomical use of the stores, and the most profita- 

 ble honey production. Add to this the compar- 

 atively easy management of these small hives, 

 and their superior wintering qualities, it must 

 be granted that we have the Nonpareil of bee- 

 hives. Dr. G. L. Tinker. 



New Philadelphia, ()., May 10. 



[Thei-e are some pi'etty things in your hive 

 and system: but there is just one point that I 

 wish to disagree svith you on. As to the propei' 

 size of brood-nest, some of the largest comb-hon- 

 ey producers in the world agree that the capac- 

 ity of the eight-frame brood-nest is about right. 

 Not all of them use the same fiame: but they 

 argue for that capacity of brood-nest. Let us 

 name over atfew of Ithem: Capt. J. E. Hether- 

 ington, with his 300(J colonies: P. H. Elwood, 

 with his 1300: J. F. Mclntyre, who produces car- 

 loads of honey every season: C. C. Miller, a 

 modest bee-keeper who has produced tons of 

 honey: W. Z. Hutchinson: C. A. Hatch: Adam 

 Grimm, who in his day was a prince among bee- 

 keepers, and whose profits from his eight-frame 

 L. hives were sufficient to enable liini to estab- 

 lish a bank; and, besides, a galaxy of bee-keep- 



