93 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



THE DANZENBAKER HIVE. 



A Demonstration of it at the Bee-keepers' 



Field Meeting at Jenkintown, Penn., 



June 26, 1906. 



BY GRANT STANLEY. 



With all respect to the inventor of the As- 

 pinwall non-swarming hive, I can hai'dly 

 make myself believe it will do all that is 

 claimed for it in the hands of all bee-keepers 

 and in all localities. Another thing, by the 

 illustrations recently shown in Gleanings I 

 am of the opinion it will prove rather com- 

 plicated and too expensive. I can hardly 

 believe we shall have a strictly non-swarming 

 hive very soon unless it be at the expense of 

 the honey crop, for the reason that it looks 

 too much like getting rich by sitting down 

 with our hands folded. Bee-keepers could 

 farm out colonies by the thousand as easily 

 as they control hundreds at present. Now, 

 after all, what is wanted more than any thing 

 else in this respect is a hive so constructed 

 that it can be successfully manipulated and 

 produce a profit to the bee-keeper in any lo- 

 cality; localities are so different that a suc- 

 cessful manipulation of colonies applied to 

 one locality will prove a failure in another, 

 though possibly only a few miles apart, and 

 vice versa. Then, too, as no two individuals 

 are alike, the bee-keeper also comes up for 

 consideration. We see two very successful 

 bee-keepers, possibly in the same locality, 

 employing entirely different systems. So I 

 say what is wanted is a hive so constructed 

 that it will readily permit of varied systems 

 of manipulation, and produce satisfactory 

 results to the bee-keeper: and if there is one 

 hive possessing these features over another 

 I believe it is the Danzenbaker. 



This hive possesses more points of merit 

 than any other hive on the market to-day. 

 In fact, I have heard of only two objections 

 to this hive, and they are these: That the 

 handling of closed-end frames is too slow and 

 tiresome, and kills too many bees, and that 

 the closed ends are likely to be coated with 

 propolis, and would have to be pried apart. 

 To the former I would say that I believe 

 closed-end frames can be handled even singly 

 more rapidly than hanging frames, while 

 they can also be handled in pairs or three or 

 four at a time; in fact, it becomes a matter 

 of handling hives instead of frames, and I 

 believe this is what most bee-keepers desire. 

 If a little smoke be blown over the closed 

 ends on opening the hive, the bees will crowd 

 to the center of the frames, and they can be 

 handled without killing a single bee. Now 



as to the latter objection, I live in a locality 

 where propolis is sometimes very trouble- 

 some, though I have also had to pry hanging 

 frames loose before I could handle them. 

 Propolis is always worse with me during wet 

 seasons; and as the fall weather with its cool 

 nights approaches it hardens and becomes 

 very brittle; but by this time I have no need 

 to handle frames. But in case they must be 

 handled at this time, if the frames are pried 

 slightly with a screwdriver or like instrument 

 they can be handled very readily. 



This hive can be quickly adjusted to meet 

 the needs of any size of colony. It is, in 

 fact, a large or small hive just as wanted. 

 If the main honey-fiow comes from white 

 clover, and it is desired to have a strong force 

 of bees by this time, a second set of brood- 

 frames can be placed on the hive during 

 fruit-bloom, and by the beginning of white- 

 clover bloom the hives will be fairly boiling 

 over with bees, and the bees of this upper 

 set of frames can then be shaken on the 

 frames below, and the brood given to weak- 

 er colonies or used for making increase. 

 This will furnish an immense force of bees 

 for the sections. If the bee-keeper resides in 

 a locality similar to that of "Alexander the 

 Great," of York State, where the main How 

 comes on considerably later, the single brood- 

 chamber will furnish plenty of bees in suffi- 

 cient time for the harvest. 



With this hive, bees will build all worker 

 comb, and as straight as a ijoard, even from 

 an inch of foundation. You don't need to 

 lift the frames out every day or two to see 

 if the bees are Ijuilding straight comb, as 

 must be done with ordinary loose hanging 

 frames. In case a colony persists in only 

 half building down to the bottom-bar, the 

 frames can be reversed, when the work will 

 be completed in short order. Where the bee- 

 keeper resorts to natural swarming for his 

 increase, by placing a super of sections with 

 starters on the hive at the time of hiving the 

 swarm, the frames and sections will be drawn 

 out together, as it seems that just enough 

 bees work below to keep the queen engaged, 

 and the rest of the bees work above in the 

 sections. 



This hive has been termed the " comb-hon- 

 ey hive;" but it is equally good for extract- 

 ed honey. The producers of extracted hon- 

 ey want a frame narrower than the standaril 

 Langstroth, and rightly so, on account of the 

 great weight in handling large frames of 

 sealed honey and the risk of breaking in ex- 

 tracting. If I were an extracted-honey pro- 

 ducer I should want my extracting-frames 

 the same size as those used in the brood- 

 chamber so that, if I wanted to use them for 

 building up weak colonies with honey or 

 making increase, they would be right at hand. 

 There should be but one size of frame in the 

 apiary. Of course, some will say they don't 

 want any Isrood reared in the frames they 

 run for extracted honey, as it will not be 

 quite as clear; but "all is not gold that glit- 

 ters;" and, after all, quality is the greatest 

 essential that comes up in the production of 

 honey. 



