Puhlisht Weekly at US Michigan St 



George W. Yobk, Editor. 



Jl.OO a Year — Sample Copy Free. 



38th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 27, 1898. 



No. 4. 



Proper Size of Brood-Chamber — Swarm or 

 Parent Colony for Honey ? 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A subscriber to the American Bee Journal wishes me to 

 tell through its columns how many standard Langstroth 

 frames I would use in a hive, when working exclusively for 

 comb honey; and also which will do best at producing comb 

 honey, the prime swarm or the old colony, where but one 



swarm is allowed from each old colony in the spring. As these 

 are reasonable questions, I will try to answer as best 1 can. 



Regarding the first, I would say that I would use just as 

 many standard Langstroth frames in the brood-chamber, when 

 working for comb honey, as the queen had occupied with 

 brood when the honey harvest commenced in earnest from clo- 

 ver, basswood, or whatever else gave, iu my locality, a suffl- 

 cient flow of nectar so the bees could make a business of stor- 

 ing surplus honey, according as any one honey tree or plant 

 abounded in the locality where I resided. For this reason I 

 would use a 10-frame Langstroth hive; that is, I would use a 

 hive that would hold 10 Langstroth frames, and have It so ar- 

 ranged that I could reduce it to only a four-frame hive, should 

 I find any queen at the commencement of the honey harvest 

 that would not keep more combs than that number occupied 

 with brood; or a five, six, seven, eight, or nine frame hive, just 

 in accord with the prolificness of the queen. 



There are a very few queens which will fill 10 Langstroth 

 frame with brood, when they are laying at their best, hence 



Offlelal Bird's-Eye View of the Trans-Mlssisslppi and InteriMtional Exposition, Omaha, Nebr. 



