676 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



THE HIVES I USE, AND WHY 



September, 1917 



■p. E ADERS 

 j^ of tlie Feb- 

 ruaiy issue 

 o f Gleanings 

 may recall an ar- 

 ticle by the edi- 

 tor, Mr. E. R. 

 Root, in -which 

 he described his 

 brief visit to our home late last November, 

 at a time when roads were almost impas- 

 sable and rain was pouring incessantly. In 

 diescribing his impressions while with tis, 

 as I remember, he noted that we kept a lot 

 of bees, had a number of different sizes of 

 hives, among them some very large ones, 

 and that we also had a pair of twin boys. 

 As my grandfather and great-uncle were 

 twins, both rather extensive beekeepers for 

 their time, and both used very large hives, 

 possibly these things might be put down as 

 ''running in the family." 



In accordance with my promise to the 

 editor to send him an article giving some 

 points of management with the different 

 sizes of hives, etc., I wish first of all to dis- 

 pel any illusion held by any one that I have 

 a number of different sizes of hives by 

 choice, for it requires no argument to prove 

 that an all-around uniform equipment is an 

 asset not to be despised when it comes to 

 the matter of running a lot of bees eco- 

 nomically so far as time is concerned, not 

 to mention having supplies all alike, etc. 



If I may be pardoned for making a few 

 pereonal references, I will say that, owing 

 to circumstances over which I had no con- 

 trol, I found myself 17 or 18 years ago with 

 my wife and three children, and not $100 

 of available cash or negotiable paper. Now, 

 while a good wife and family of three chil- 

 dren are assets that many a man would give 

 a gi'eat deal for, yet the very fact of their 

 possession means something else must be 

 obtained as well — the means of making a 

 living. 



To make a long story short, as I had some 

 knowledge of beekeeping I decided to go 

 into the business as fast as I could, at first 

 working at other jobs when I was not busy 

 with the bees. Twenty-four years ago my 

 grandfather died, and a year later his twin 

 brother passed away. Each had about 160 

 colonies, which were sold by auction after 

 their deaths. D. A. Jones lived near us, and 

 for a while they both had used the Jones 

 hive; but, disliking the short combs running 

 crosswise with the enti'ance, they soon 

 changed hives and adopted the very large 

 hive mentioned by the editor, and known 

 locally as the "Byer" hive. After the auc- 

 tion sale, of course, these 300 or more colo- 



Several Different Sizes Successfully 



Used; the '^sult of Circumstances 



and Not of Choice 



By J. L. Byer 



nies were scat- 

 tered over the 

 country around 

 us, most of them 

 within a radius 

 of ten miles. 

 The inevitable 

 results followed. 

 The majority of 

 the purchasers neglected looking after the 

 bees, and in many cases were glad to sell for 

 less than cost. About the time I started in, 

 many of these lots of bees were available, 

 and that accounts for my having a number 

 of these big hives, which are too large even 

 to suit me, altho I get just as good crops 

 from them as from any other hive. 



This hive is 18 inches scjuare, inside mea- 

 sure, and 14 inches deep, taking 12 big 

 frames. Nearly all of our bees are on 

 three different sizes of frames, all L. length, 

 but of different depths. The very large 

 Byer hive being 14 inches deep, and the 

 standard L. hive 10 inches deep, the big hive 

 is just a bit over twice as large as the eight- 

 frame L. The ten-frame Jumbo is liy2 

 inches deep. In using these three sizes of 

 hives for years and hundreds of each style, 

 I can say there is no appreciable difference 

 in yields obtained, one year with another. 

 Last year, in four apiaries near home, all 

 run by myself exclusively, except for help 

 in extracting, and with localities and flora 

 identical, there was not a difference of five 

 pounds per colony average of any one 

 apiary over another. 



Is there different management for the 

 very large hives as compared with the eight- 

 frame L. ? Assuredly there is; and if a 

 mixed equipment has done nothing else for 

 me, it has certainly broadened my view- 

 pointi on the matter of sizes of hives. These 

 very large hives are, of course, run a good 

 deal on the let-alone principle. Generally 

 (and especially if we have a buckwheat 

 flow) the bees in these hives require no fall 

 feeding. They winter well as a rule and 

 in the spring, strange to say, they are 

 ready for supei's as soon as the small hives. 

 After they once enter the supers, if room 

 is given as required, practically no swarm- 

 ing I'esults; and these rousing big colonies 

 held together during the season will store 

 surplus if any is to be obtained. Of course, 

 with frames of this size full supers are not 

 handled much — it is a question of handling 

 frames instead of supers. I often work 

 alone in . the apiary, taking in honey and 

 bringing back the empty combs and ac- 

 counting for 2500 or more pounds of honey 

 in a day ; and I do not think that handling 

 frames is sucli a drawback as some think. 



