July, 1922 



GLKANTNHS FN BEE CUTiTURE 



445 



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EXTRACTING HOUSE ON WHEELS 



Some of its Advantages Over the Central Extracting 

 Plant 



I am operating a truck equipped with an 

 eight-frame Buckeye extractor, gasoline en- 

 gine, honey pump, uncapping outfit, and yet 

 having plenty of room for the operator to 

 work. The honey is pumped into a settling 

 tank outside which is bee-tight. The top on 

 this truck is positively bee-tight and storm- 

 proof. I built this top myself, planning it 

 for conveniences and durability, also com- 

 fort for the operator. As will be seen by 



Extracting house on wheels. Completely equipped 



with Buckeye extractor, gasoline engine, honey 



pump and uncapping outfit. 



the illustration, the top has a half curtain, 

 and under this curtain there is a wire screen 

 stretched tiglit. By raising these curtains 

 the operator is always comfortable, especial- 

 ly with the breeze from the extractor. 



I drive this truck up to my yards and in 

 ten minutes we are extracting honey. I 

 have one helper only, but each one of us 

 does a certain part of starting the work and 

 all is done with anxiety to make our usual 

 average per daj^, which is 50 five-gallon cans 

 between 8:30 to 5:00 p. m., when we clean 

 up and load our honey on this same truck 

 and start for home. I employ one man and 

 produce as many pounds as some men 

 do who employ three and four helpers and 

 haul their honey to a central extracting 

 plant. In this way my truck pays for itself 

 and makes no complaints about the bee- 

 stings. 



Another thing to be considered is the 

 breakage on combs while hauling to a cen- 

 tral place; and the most important of all is 

 the mixing of combs where foul brood is 

 existing, and I must say with regret that it 

 is found in nearly every location and state 

 I have ever been in. I always put the 



same combs back on the same colony after 

 extracting. I try not to have over three 

 to five exposed at one time and arrange my 

 supers so as to come out of the truck in 

 rotation as they went in, which can easily 

 be done if the operator inside is careful. 

 This is important, for the most of Idaho is 

 pretty well blessed with foul brood, especial- 

 ly in this section. 



I can load 120 extracting-supers at one 

 time and not tise a rope or anything else to 

 tie them down, simply closing my doors in 

 the rear end and starting. D. G. Stahlman. 



Buhl, Idaho. 



LABOR - SAVING HIVE - LIFTER 



A Handy Device for Lifting Off Supers When the 

 Brood-chamber is to be Examined 



Have you ever decided, at the close of a 

 good honey season, to requeen your apiary 

 but, as you looked across the rows of hives 

 with their three or four supers each and 

 thought of your poor old back, changed 

 your mind and put off the job till some 

 other time? If you have, do not do it again; 

 but just get your blacksmith to make a 

 machine like the one in the picture, then 

 persuade your mother-in-law or your neigh- 

 bor 's boy to get hold of one end while you 

 hold on to the other, slip it over the top 

 and down to within a few inches of the 

 brood-chamber, then smile as you see those 

 supers suddenly ntove off and finally back 

 again so gently that the workers in them 

 hardly know they had been moved. 



This liive-lifter is slipped down over the hive or 



the pile of supers, then as the handles are lifted 



the bars at the side grasp the hive firmly. 



The contrivance is made of three-eighths 

 or five-sixteenths inch iron, the hand pieces 

 being 14i/^ inches long with one end turned 

 down 1% inches. The side pieces are 17 

 inches, with the lower part of the ends 

 turned so as to catch the hand pieces when 

 they go below level. This keeps the lifter 

 straight when one picks it up and holds it 

 out for the other to take hold. The cross- 



