THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



things are pitched out for " the bees are 

 swarmingP^ They cluster high and low, 

 apart and together, near and far ; some are 

 lost forever. Great excitement and loss 

 reign, until the best part of a honey flow is 

 over and gone for ever. 



The automatic hiver will abolish all this 

 confusion and leave the apiarist with time 

 on his hands during the swarming season. 



"Prevention of increase" has been a 

 problem of no mean importance in years 

 past. There have been many pages devoted 

 to this question year after year, but the 

 hiver is to settle it all. 



With a perfect hiver one man can care for 

 a large number of colonies in several differ- 

 ent yards and employ help only at super and 

 harvest times. He will be entirely free from 

 the worry and care of swarms and can han- 

 dle his bees, as so many bees in so many 

 hives. 



For the farmer and small bee-keeper, who 

 cannot devote time to the work, the hiver 

 will be a genuine boon, add profit to the 

 work in larger quantities of honey ^'.nd few- 

 er starving nucleus swarms. 



Phenomenal yields of honey will follow in 

 the wake of the self-hiver. With the hiver 

 it will be optional with the bee-keeper 

 whether he shall increase his colonies or 

 not. If he desires increase, simply lift off 

 the upper hive and place on a new stand ; if 

 not, l«t them remain tiered up. 



Re-queening, queen-rearing, and all that 

 sort of work, will be under the thumb as it 

 never was before. In fact, the self-hiver 

 will be the cure-all of the ills of bee-keeping. 



[For illustrated description of the latest 

 arrangement of the Pratt self-hiver, see the 

 Extracted Department.— Ed.] 



This arrangement also keeps the zinc out 

 of sight of the incoming bees. There is not 

 the least confusion or hindrance at the en- 

 trance. The entrance is wide and unob- 

 structed in outward appearance and the bees 

 will fly to and from it with the same freedom 

 that they enter an ordinary open slot. 



In the usual manner of applying zinc (per- 

 pendicularly on the outside) they seldom use 

 more than the two lower rows of perfora- 

 tions, but as I have it here they may use the 

 entire surface and it being after they have 

 entered their hive that they pass the zinc, 

 there is practically no more obstruction than 

 with a honey-board. Bees are used to crawl- 

 ing through small passages inside their 

 hives, but not in entering it. 



Right here, let me say that the tiered up 

 method of applying the hiver is the l)est plan 

 by a'.l odds. Hivers that allow the queen to 

 pass back into the parent colony at any time 

 will never do the work of an automatic 

 swarmer ; besides, it is a poor plan to iso- 

 late the new hive so far from the parent col- 

 ony as to place it either in front or at the 

 side on a separate stand, as a full swarm can 

 not be held together for many days, espe- 

 cially if the nights are cool or the weather be- 

 , comes rainy. The bees will abandon the 

 new hive and the queen will be left behind ; 

 they will turn their attention to one of the 

 young queens and swarm again on the first 

 pleasant day after hatching. 



With the new hive set under the parent col- 

 ony all the desirable conditions are present ; 

 it is neither too hot nor too cool : they will 

 not abandon the queen and if they gather no 

 honey for days they will hold together and 

 boom along with the vigor of a new swarm, 

 building comb and rearing brood — the 

 swarming miuia perfectly satisfied. Even 

 a week of bad weather will make no differ- 

 ence as they will borrow a living from the 

 stores in the upper hive and pack it away in 

 the combs they are building below. 



It is well to have at least two frames with 

 foundation starters in the lower hive so as to 

 satisfy the comb building instinct and save 

 the wax that might go to waste. 



I think Mr. Root is mistaken when he says 

 " a hiver should not cost more than the ex- 

 pense of hiving the swarm in the old-fash- 

 ioned way." Taking into consideration the 

 time, worry, loss of honey and bees and the 

 cost of help, the bee-keeper could afi:ord the 

 expense of quite an elaborate outfit for do- 

 ing the work, and, as it will last for years . 

 is it logical to count the first cost, providing 

 this first cost is within reason ? 



Mr. R. L. Taylor says " he can manage 

 very well with queen traps. The colonies 

 that have swarmed he picks out by finding 

 the queen and a small bunch of bees in the 

 trap. He then divides those that have 

 swarmed." This is just as I have always 

 done, but I found it such hard work and it 

 took so much time that it always set me to 

 thinking of automatic hivers in a longing 

 way. By dividing th£ bees in this manner, 

 the viyor of a new swarm is lost; it is not 

 natural and does not satisfy the swarming 

 mania. The bees will often sulk for days 

 and all the time the (pieen is in the trap they 

 are idle, dissatisfied and ill tempered, often 



