^i)-(i-i>-i)4-i)'#(i-4)'(i-i)"i)-i)4-(§-i)'i)'i>«(i-i)4-&-(i-i)4-^^ 



# 



^») 



■m 





s 





->^» 



/'Jl 



J^'f)«f)'(f-(f-(f-(f'(f'(f-f)'f)-(f-(f'(f-(f-<f-(f-(f-^^ 





39th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL, NOVEMBER 30, 1899, 



No, 48, 



A House-Apiary and Its Manag-ement. 



BY EDW. S. GOUDGK. 



I HAVE a bee-house which I built two years ag-o, 

 the convenience of which far exceeds what I had ex- 

 pected, as I now manag-e my bees with about one-quarter 

 of the labor that was formerly necessary. Years ago the 

 idea of a house or shed for the hives was considered, but on 

 account of adverse reports of their advantages in the bee 

 papers and books, I 

 let the matter drop. 

 But in the summer of 

 1897 my 10 colonies 

 gave me so much 

 work, unpacking and 

 storing away cases, 

 shading the hives, 

 carrying supers, and 

 iixing up for winter, 

 etc.* that I began to 

 contrive some plan to 

 lighten the work, and 

 the bee-house shown 

 in the picture is the 

 result. 



I now have no win- 

 ter cases to bother 

 with, such as keeping 

 the covers water- 

 proof, lugging about 

 and storing them 

 away, etc.; no more 

 shade-boards to ag- 

 gravate me : the su- 

 pers are kept just be- 

 hind the hives, where 

 they are alwaj's handy ; the building is a bee-house, a 

 honey-house, and screen-house, all in one. It protects the 

 hives from the sun, wind and rain, and also keeps the bees 

 snug during cool spells. The supers, when taken off, are 

 stored, comb honey is sorted, and all extracting done right 

 on the spot. A hive can be opened without the hindrance 

 of robber-bees, and other work such as feeding, etc., is done 

 with far less time and labor than if the hives were outside 

 as ordinarily. 



The bees become accustomed to the noise of extracting, 

 etc., but I think it best not to disturb them by entering the 

 house after dark, and if I need to go into the building be- 

 tween Nov. 1 and April 1, I take care to do so quietly. 



My bee-house was built for S colonies only, which num- 



Housc-Apiary of Mr. Edw. S. Goudgc, of Nova Scotia. 



ber is what I have now, my regular occupation making it 

 unwise to keep more. 



I believe that if there is prejudice against bee-houses it 

 is because they are not always planned rightly, which 

 makes all the difference. . 



In building the house, while aiming at the desired fea- 

 tures, I also tried to avoid the undesirable ones. I under- 

 stood that with bee-houses the danger of losing young 

 queens was great, so I overcame that by not setting the 

 hives too close together, and by making the entrances con- 

 spicuously different. 



The hives occupy the south half of the building, spare 

 supers, etc., being stored against the opposite wall, about 3 

 feet back of the hives. There is about 20 inches of space 

 between each two hive, in which I set empty hives ready for 

 swarms when in season. The 5 colonies set in a row about 

 10 inches back from the wall of the house, and each en- 

 trance opens into a separate niche, which is painted so as 

 not to look like any of the others. The hives rest on the 



floor, and each has 

 its bottom-board, so 

 that a colony can be 

 lifted without the 

 bees spreading over 

 the place. liy not 

 having one hive 

 above another, 6 or 8 

 supers can be added 

 if necessary. 



When a swarm is 

 expected from a cer- 

 tain hive, an empty 

 one is put alongside, 

 and setting between 

 two hives its en- 

 trance opens on two 

 niches; but only half 

 the entrance is left 

 open, that is, the half 

 nearest to the hive 

 from which the 

 swarm is expected, 

 the other half being 

 closed with a block 

 made for the pur- 

 pose. When no 

 the half entrances are 



swarms are to be attended to. all 

 closed with blocks. 



I control the swarms by having the cjueens dipt, and 

 when the swarm is in the air the queen is secured in a small ' 

 cage, and a trap (having two escaping cones), made to ad- 

 just to the entrance of the colonj- that swarmed, prevents 

 any bees going back, but allows those that wisli. to go out. 



When the swarm commences to return and crowd about 

 the entrance, the queen is liberated either amongst them 

 near the entrance into the empty hive, or else we put her 

 into the hive from inside the house. The bees are a very 

 few seconds in finding the entrance into which we wish 

 them to go, and the swarm hives itself in a way that would 

 please anj' bee-keeper. 



