AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



Topics of Interest. 



SoinetMii Aljont Honey-Houses, 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



During the last few months I have 

 received several inquiries about building 

 honey-houses, a shop and honey-house 

 combined, place for honey, extracting 

 rooms, etc., in new buildings, and in 

 those already built ; and from these 

 many inquiries, I judge that I can do no 

 better at this time than to tell the 

 readers some of my ideas about honey- 

 houses. 



In the first place, I would say, that I 

 should not want extracted and comb- 

 honey, and the work necessary for each, 

 art in one room. My experience teaches 

 that it is best to have a room for comb- 

 honey, one for extracted-honey, and a 

 third room large enough to do all the 

 general work for botli. Now, any build- 

 ing can be cheaply lined (so as to 

 exclude bees) with half inch stuff, for 

 this general work room, and the storage 

 rooms built on the south side, so as to 

 make them convenient, airy, and suffi- 

 ciently warm to ripen honey thoroughly. 



If I were building a shop I would build 

 it so that I could partition off these two 

 storage rooms, one on the southwest and 

 the other on the southeast corner of the 

 same, having the body of the shop for 

 doing work of all kinds pertaining to 

 the apiary. I should build it two stories 

 high, and use the upperstory for storing 

 everything not in use, or liable to be 

 used for some little time. If I did not 

 wish to build a shop, I should use any 

 old building I had, lining and fixing it 

 as in the case first given for a room for 

 general work, for such a room is certainly 

 necessary. 



Having given a little outline of what I 

 would have for a general work room, I 

 will next speak of a room for storing 

 comb-honey. This need not be larger 

 than 8x10 feet, for storing all the comb- 

 honey from 100 colonies in the Spring, 

 even should they produce as high as 

 200 pounds per colony, on an average. 

 Whether built in with the shop, or at 

 the side of another building, this honey 

 room should have a good foundation 

 under it, for if you should happen to get 

 a large yield of honey, it will need con- 

 siderable strength to support it. 



Use good, substantial sills, and place 

 the sleepers very closely together — not 

 further than 8 inches from center to 



center. Now, do not think this too 

 strong, and place these sleepers further 

 apart, for if you do you will repent when 

 you get from five to ten tons of honey in 

 your room. I would have the room 9 

 feet high, and if built separate from the 

 shop, I would have a tin roof on it, and 

 paint it a dark color, so as to "draw the 

 sun,'' but if in a shop, of course no roof 

 will be needed, as the upper floor will 

 take the place of the roof. 



For all of this work I would use good 

 hemlock wood, for this holds a nail well, 

 is strong, and does not easily decay. For 

 the floor, I would use 134 matched 

 spruce, as this wears smooth, and is 

 easily kept clean ; while for the sides I 

 would use common pine ceiling. If all 

 is put together as it should be, you will 

 not be bothered with mice, bees, or any- 

 thing of the kind, getting in, if you keep 

 the door shut when you are not about. 

 This door is to be on the side next to 

 your general room, of course. . 



I would have windows in one side and 

 in one end, which are to be opened in 

 warm, dry weather, so as to thoroughly 

 ventilate the room and pile of honey. 

 Over these windows, on the outside, is to 

 be placed wire-cloth, so the windows can 

 be left open at pleasure, without any 

 fear of robber bees. To let the bees out 

 which may chance to come in on the 

 honey as it is taken from the hive, let 

 this wire cloth run 10 inches to a foot 

 above the top of the window, nailing on 

 % inch strips, so as to keep the wire- 

 cloth out that far from the sides of the 

 building, thus giving space for the bees 

 to crawl up on the cloth to the top 

 when they are on the outside. No rob- 

 ber bees will ever think of trying to get 

 in at this entrance, so your room is kept 

 clean of bees and flies all the while. 



This completes the building, except 

 that we want it painted some dark 

 color, so that the rays of the sun may 

 keep it as warm as possible. The door 

 should be in the center of one side^ so 

 that on each side of the room a platform 

 can be built, upon which to place honey. 



Perhaps all will not agree with me, 

 but I think that all section-honey should 

 be stored in such a room at least a month 

 before crating, to ripen and sweat out. 

 I know it is a saving of time and labor 

 to crate it at once, but I think that it 

 pays for all this extra time and labor in 

 the better quality and appearance of the 

 product. 



For the platform, I take pieces of 

 2x12 plank, and cut them the desired 

 length, spiking two pieces together, thus 

 making them 4x12, using three of these 

 on a side, set on edge. The length of 



