THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. January, 



HOFFMAN FRAMES, QUEENS, ETCETERA. 



A New i'ork ''Dutchman*^ Finds Some Things Which Do, and Others 



That Do Not Accord With His Own Ideas, and ''Speaks 



His Piece/' 



By P. W. Stahlman. 



FRIEND HILL:— First, I wish 

 to say a few words in regard to 

 the Hoffman frame. In some 

 few ways it is all right, but in all 

 other ways it is wrong. It has a 

 great thick top-bar, which is favor- 

 able to keeping the bees worn out in 

 going long distances to enter the su- 

 per; and they will not enter the super 

 as readily as with a thinner top-bar. 



Next, those great side-whiskers, 

 called "spacers," on the end-bars are 

 a perfect nuisance. The world may 

 be in favor of Hoffman frames, but I 

 would not take enough of them as a 

 gift, to fill all my hives. Some bee- 

 keepers plane off the projecting 

 spacer, even after combs are built, 

 and use instead a spacing staple. 



We do not all see things in 

 the same light; so let those who like 

 the Hoffman have them, but let us 

 have something better. 



"Now comes the one great point up- 

 on which I am as firm as are the 

 friends of the Hoffman frame, and 

 that is the matter of queens. Though 

 I have kept bees but sixteen years, a 

 man ought to learn a few things in 

 that time. If he doesn't, he might as 

 well sleep his life away as to attempt 

 to keep bees for dollars and cents. I 

 have bought queens from a number of 

 breeders. Some were good and many 

 were poor affairs. I know from ex- 

 perience that a queen which has been 

 jammed around and abused in the 

 mails is not so good as one reared 

 right in the apiary where she is to be 

 used. They will be superseded sooner 

 and are often shorter lived. 



I believe in rearing queens from the 

 best stock, and in the infusion of new 

 blood to keep up the vigor of the 

 colonies. A queen that cannot keep 

 an eight-frame hive overflowing with 

 hees, ought to go to the bone yard. 

 Such queens are kept at a loss. 



To rear my queens I have a number 

 of small hives, each holding five 6x7 

 frames. These I set anywhere in the 



yard and stock them with a few bees 

 (a quart is plenty), and a queen. Ir 

 due time these little hives will be 

 well supplied with eggs, and the queei 

 may be taken to use, or to be destroy 

 ed, and a queen-cell about due t( 

 hatch may be given them, and all wil 

 be well. This may be done all througl 

 the season, when drones are present 

 and by selecting a great improvemen 

 in stock may be made. 



I hear someone ask. "How do yo 

 winter these little colonies?" And th! 

 advice, "Better use standard frame 

 and unite in the fall." My answer is 

 Here is the advantage of small hive; 

 Before cold weather comes on, o 

 here, before buckwheat ceases t 

 yield. I tier up four of these little co 

 onies, which gives me three exti' 

 queens to sell. I also have a gooi 

 sized colony with which to go inVi 

 winter quarters, and which will wi 

 ter as well as any, and go through tl 

 spring as well. By dividing up in tl 

 spring I am ready to "go it again 

 You need not rob your other coloni 

 of two frames of brood and bees, ai 

 thus weaken them and lose the whi 

 honey crop. And when fall com 

 and you find a number of your lar; 

 colonies queenless, you need not wa 

 around with your lip almost touchii 

 the ground, saying, "I don't knc 

 what to do." If you have the ext 

 queens in the small hives you c: 

 unite one with the queenless color 

 Then they are welcome. 



Again, these little colonies will ta 

 care of themselves to an astonishii 

 degree. I have not fed any all t 

 season, and all have a great plenty 

 winter on. You can see some 

 these little hives in the picture — soi 

 of them four stories high, ready i\ 

 winter. Most of the small hives a 

 hidden by the large ones, and canr 

 be seen. 



A queen can be found more read 

 in such a hive than in a large one, a 

 their mating is almost certain, a 



