634 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



LONG HIVES vs. TIERING UP. 



Ones/ion.— Why do not these working for 

 exfracted honey use a long hive, holding the 

 same number of frames that they wish to use 

 in one story, instead of tiering up several 

 hives, one on top of the other, as is advised in 

 our bee--Dapers, and quite generally practiced ? 

 I am of the opinion that a long hive would be 

 more convenient, and that less time would be 

 consumed in the manipulation of it. 



Ansiver. — The above brings to my mind 

 what happened years ago; and as it will serve 

 to answer the correspondent's question I will 

 speak of it here. 



Some twenty or twenty-five years ago Mr. 

 D. L. Adair, of Kentucky, was quite a promi- 

 nent bee-keeper and vniter for our bee-papers. 

 He used and advocated a long hive, to be used 

 on the principle of spreading frames out hori- 

 zontallv, instead of tiering one hive above the 

 other, 'claiming that, thereby, a colony of 

 bees could be kept in a normal condition, and 

 while in said condition no swarming would be 

 the result. This he termed the " Long-idea " 

 hive. Being always ready to test all "new 

 ideas," I made two' hives, each four feet long, 

 during the next wnnter. One of these I work- 

 ed for extracted, and the other for comb 

 honey, on the Adair plan. The one worked 

 for comb honev swarmed, either because the 

 "idea " was faulty, or because I did not know 

 how to fully manage such a hive, or both; so 

 after repeated trials to keep them at work in 

 the four-foot hive I let them have their own 

 way, when they had swaraied after being 

 returned the fourth time. 



The one worked for extracted honey did 

 splendidly; but another, worked on the tier- 

 ing-up plan, did nearly or quite as well ; and 

 by practical knowledge I learned that I could 

 work a two or three' story hive much more 

 easily than I could this long one. To take 

 the frames out, the person's back must be 

 bent just enough to make it the hardest kind 

 of work; and the bees which were shaken off 

 the combs would crawl all over the sides and 

 top of the hive in such numbers as to make it 

 almost impossible to close it again without 

 taking nmch valuable time. With the two- 

 stor\- hive the bees could be shaken on top of 

 the 'frames in the lower hive, with but very 

 few taking wing, when they would crawl 

 below till the "hive was closed ; and the oper- 

 ator could stand erect, or nearly so, while 

 doing the work. 



But the worst thing about it was that I lost 

 both colonies during the next ^\^nter, and 

 during every succeeding winter that I tried to 

 winter bees in them. So far as I could see 

 they were prepared for winter as well as any 

 of the other hives which came through the 

 winter in good condition. I tried these hives 

 for honey several years, putting colonies from 



other hives in them in the spring, as often as 

 those in them died, but with no better success 

 than at first ; and finally, becoming disgusted 

 with them, I tore them to pieces and made the 

 lumber into other hives. For extracted hon- 

 ey, I know of nothing better than using any 

 of the ordinary hives two and three stories 

 high, according to the populousness of the 

 colony being worked. 



ITALIAN BEES NOT WORKING IN SECTIONS. 



Question. — I have had Italian bees for the 

 past two seasons, and they have made no 

 surplus honey, while from my blacks I have 

 had fair returns in section hone}\ What do 

 you suppose is the cause of this ? and what 

 course shall I pursue to remedy the matter ? 



A)iszi'e}\ — As the writer does not give infor- 

 mation as to the number of colonies he keeps, 

 it is hardly possible to tell just what course 

 should be pursued in the matter. If he has 

 ten or more colonies that persist in not enter- 

 ing the sections, it is something I never knew 

 of happening before ; but if there is only one 

 or two colonies which act that way it would 

 not be very strange. One important point in 

 the construction of a hive for comb honey 

 where Italian bees are used should not be 

 overlooked ; and that is, the brood-chamber 

 should not be too large. If the questioner 

 has a brood-chamber of from 2500 to 3000 

 cubic inches, I should not wonder at the 

 actions of the Italian bses ; for Italians are 

 more prone to store honey in the brood-cham- 

 ber than the blacks. Especially do they show 

 a preference toward storing in the brood- 

 combs over the sections if the queen does not 

 have the combs occupied with brood when the 

 honey season commences ; and if they have 

 room to store from 30 to 40 pounds of honey 

 in the combs below they will ven*' likely not 

 go into the sections at all. If bees refuse to 

 work in sections, there are various methods of 

 coaxing them to go to work. I will give two 

 or three which are usualh' successful. 



If a section, or several of them, are taken 

 from a hive where the bees are at work nicely 

 in them, and placed on the hive where the 

 bees are loath to enter the sections, carrying 

 the bees that adhere to the sections with them, 

 it will usually incite the non-working colony 

 to go to work in the sections also. If this 

 does not work, fit a piece of drone comb, con- 

 taining small larvte, into one or two sections, 

 when the bees will at once commence to work 

 in the surrounding sections. Or you can 

 drum or shake from the frames the larger part 

 of the bees and the queen from such colony 

 as will not work in sections, and put them 

 into an empty box or hive ; and when the}' 

 get to building comb nicely, put them back 

 where they came from. Where this plan has 

 been used I never knew them to fail to work, 

 going right to the sections, and building comb 

 in short order. In drumming out the bees, 

 do not drive too close, as bees enough must 

 be left to fully protect the brood. The nice 

 white comb that the drummed colony build 

 while in the box should be placed in the sec- 

 tions for "baits," for there is no greater in- 

 centive to commence work than new white 



