THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



69 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Those Six Frame Hives. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



On page i^ of the Bee Journal, 

 Mr. I). G. Parker asks about those 6- 

 frame hives, I mentioned on page C26 

 of the 15ee Journal for 1883. 



In order to make all plain, I will say 

 that the hive which I use mostly is 24 

 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 12 

 inches deep. As the frames are but 

 llj^xll>4; inches square, they must, of 

 course, go the short way of the hive. 

 Five inches from either end of the 

 hive is placed a slotted division-board 

 }4 of an incli thick, the slots being so 

 arranged as to form openings at the 

 right place for the bees to work to the 

 best advantage in the sections, which 

 are to be placed in each of these .5- 

 inch spaces, which are partitioned off 

 for said sections. This leaves a space 

 12x12x13}^ inches for the brood-cham- 

 ber, in which is placed 9 Gallup 

 frames. The entrance to the hive is 

 a Js-inch slot cut from the bottom of 

 the hive the whole length of the brood 

 chamber (or I8I--3 inches long), and is 

 regulated by entrance blocks. When 

 the bees are being prepared for win- 

 ter, the sections are taken out and a 

 strip of common cotton cloth spread 

 over the frames, and down each side 

 over the slotted division-boards. The 

 5-inch spaces are now filled with chaff, 

 and a chatt or sawdust cushion placed 

 over the frames. Thus the bees are 

 during the winter. (Please bear in 

 mind that I do not manufacture hives 

 for sale, nor keep for sale the pamphlet 

 describing my hive.) When spring ar- 

 rives the bees in these hives packed 

 ■with chaff, etc., are stimulated by 

 spreading the brood, and by other 

 ways familiar to the apiarist, till the 

 9 frames are filled with brood. 



As the weather is always changeable 

 in the spring and early summer, the 

 chaff packing is a great help to the 

 bees, by the way of enabling them to 

 maintain an even temperature, and 

 thus our hives are filled with brood a 

 little earlier in the season than they 

 otherwise would be. 



As it is still too early for swarms 

 to issue to the best advantage for the 

 production of honey, and desiring all 

 the bees possible at this season of the 

 year (these bees are in reality our crop 

 of honey). I remove the chaif and 

 cotton cloth from one of the .5-inch 

 spaces, and place three frames of 

 brood taken from the brood-chamber 

 beyond the slotted division-board, 

 placing empty combs in the brood- 

 nest in place of the removed frames 

 of brood. In a week the other end of 

 the hive is served in the same way, 

 ■which gives me, -as will be seen, 15 

 frames m a hive, thus securing a large 

 force of bees with no disposing to 

 swarm thus far. As the brood in the 

 frames which are set over in the .5- 

 inch space, should be all sealed when 



set there, it will be seen that in 12 

 days the bro(xl should be all matured, 

 and as the queen rarely goes into these 

 spaces to deposit eggs. We have 

 these combs empty of lirood,or nearly 

 so, when the llowers begin to secrete 

 honey. They can now be taken out 

 and reserved for new swarms. If any 

 of the combs we wish to take out still 

 have brood in them, they can be used 

 in forming nuclei, or building up 

 those already formed. AVhen I have 

 decided that it is time to put on the 

 sections, I take out the six combs 

 which are in the side box apartment, 

 and set in one tier of sections next to 

 the division-board. (The 5-inch space 

 accommodates two tiers of sections.) 

 I next take from the brood-chamber 

 two frames of imsealed brood, and 

 place behind tlie one tier of sections ; 

 placing two frames of the empty 

 comlis, taken out of the 5-iuch spaces, 

 in the brood-nest where the unsealed 

 brood was taken from. I now put 

 sections on top and close the hive. 



By placing the frames of unsealed 

 brood behind the tier of sectious, I 

 virtually have the two tier of sections 

 in the centre of the brood-nest, in 

 which case the bees go to work in 

 them at once, if there is any honey to 

 be obtained. Such a course also has a 

 tendency to keep the bees from 

 swarming. At the end of a week the 

 two frames of brood are taken out 

 from behind the sections and placed 

 in nuclei, or where we can use them to 

 the best advantage, and the tier of 

 partially filled sections pushed back 

 so as to place an empty tier between 

 them and the brood-chamber, when 

 we have a complete number of sections 

 on the hive, and have done it in such 

 a way that we have secured the great- 

 est working force possible, and have 

 also enticed the bees into the sections 

 at the proper time, and that -^vith but 

 little disposition to swarm so far. 

 Xow, as the sections begin to get 

 filled, and the brood-chamljer remains 

 undisturbed, a part or all of the colo- 

 nies will soon swarm (I should be 

 pleased if they would not do so). 



Xow to secure the most honey for 

 the rest of the season, we proceed as 

 follows : When a swarm issues from 

 a hive, the old colony is moved to a 

 new stand, and the swarm hived on 

 the old stand, which secures us nearly 

 all the working force from the parent 

 colony. A part of the sections are 

 taken from the old hive and taken to 

 the new hive. In this new hive is 

 placed 6 Gallup frames {in some I have 

 used only 4, but do not like it as well 

 as 0), and next to these frames are 

 placed a tier of empty sections, while 

 back of this tier is placed a tier of 

 those partly full, taken from the 

 parent colony. The top sections are 

 now put on. and the swarm is hived. 

 The work done in the sections by a 

 swarm thus treated for the next ten 

 days, is almost marvellous. 



During the first week after moving, 

 the old colony will do but little work, 

 but at the end of this time they begin 

 to be populous again, and in a few 

 more days are in a flourishing condi- 

 tion. As soon as the young queen be- 

 gins to lay, 3 of the 9 "brood combs are 

 taken out (thus leaving only 6), and 



the sections brought up to these 

 combs when all are in the best possi- 

 ble condition to give a good yield of 

 comb honey as long as the harvest 

 lasts. Wlieii I first started on this 

 plan, I thought that these 6 combs 

 would not contain honey enough at 

 the end of the season for the colony 

 to winter on, but I find by experience 

 that it has a tendency to reduce the 

 brood, and I have in September from 

 18 to 22 lbs. of honey in the frames 

 with a very small colony of bees for 

 wintering." If these small colonies of 

 bees will only winter as well as the 

 large ones, I shall fully accomplish 

 my object, which is to get the largest 

 number of bees possible in just the 

 right time for the honey harvest, and 

 rear as few at other times as is con- 

 sistent with preparing for said har- 

 vest. 



This getting the bees in the right 

 condition for the harvest may be 

 called my hobby. If so, " 'tis well," 

 for I believe it one of the best hobbies 

 ever rode upon by any one producing 

 comb honey. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Some Stray Thoughts. 



W. H. SHIRLEY. 



While reading the excellent articles 

 upon Theory and Practice in the back 

 numbers of the Bee Journal, we 

 have often asked ourselves this ques- 

 tion : "How many facts have there 

 been proved, without theory first 

 teaching the way ?" 



It looks to me as though it is proved 

 beyond a doubt, that bees have win- 

 tered in all sorts of repositories, and 

 put in at all times and in all condi- 

 tions, and have come out in good con- 

 dition in the spring. 



I am not well acquainted with Mr. 

 Humidity, neither am I vpith Mr. 

 Right - Temperature, nor am I in 

 " hand and glove " with Mr. Pollen 

 Theory. But taking my own expe- 

 rience and experiments, and adding 

 Mr. Pollen Theory to it, backed up by 

 Mr. Granulated Sugar, and then Mr. 

 Pollen Theory, it seems to me, has the 

 best of the argument on wintering. 



I would like to ask bee-keepers : has 

 any one lost, or heard of any one 

 losing a colony of bees with dysentery, 

 that was fed on granulated sugar ? 

 Speak out, and let us see if that 

 " fact " cannot be turned into theory ! 



Some time ago, the plan of giving 

 the number of colonies kept by the 

 writer, at his signature, was practiced 

 by some writers, and it was favored 

 by the late convention at Toronto, I 

 think. I thought it was a good plan, 

 for it helped one to estimate the 

 " breadth " of the writer's experience. 

 (I am like Mr. Hutchinson in that re- 

 spect). But please let me add some- 

 thing more : Xumber of colonies, aud 

 then the number of years that the bee 

 business has been made a specialty. 

 That is what I want to know. I have 

 not time to read long articles from 

 some novice with 3 or 4 colonies of 

 bees and a large apiary in his head, 

 though (lis head may be ever so large. 



