ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



1^3 



sent out, two years ago, two thousand 

 notices by mail to those who would 

 naturally come to Chicago to see the 

 fat-stock show, or to trade. It cost us 

 $35.00, including postage, and we got 

 in thirty-one or two dollars in money, 

 and no doubt got some increased at- 

 tendance. 



Best Comb Honey Hive. 



"What is considered the best hive 

 for comb honey; if there is a prefer- 

 ence?" 



Mr. Horstmann: I would consider 

 the eight -frame hive the best for comb 

 honey. My reason is the same as Dr. 

 Miller's, because you can build up your 

 colony strong by using two hive-bodies 

 until the flow begins, then take off one 

 of the hive bodies and put on the 

 super. I think you can get more and 

 better honey from the eight-frame hive 

 than you can from a larger or a 

 smaller hive. 



Mr. Moore: Do you find that there 

 is a tendency to swarm when you have 

 a large number of bees in the super? 

 Would it be better to put the super on 

 before the honey-flow began, and pre- 

 vent the liability of swarming out? 



Mr. Horstmann: I find the best way 

 is to have a few empty combs in the 

 section. You always have some in the 

 fall that are not full. I usually extract 

 the honey from the unfilled sections, 

 put them in the first supers, and the 

 bees will get to work right away. When 

 that super is half full of honey, I will 

 raise that up and put another over the 

 brood-nest, and by the time the honey 

 is almost capped, I will raise it up ond 

 put another super on, and the danger 

 of swarming will be very small. I have 

 not had a swarm in my apiary for 

 three years. 



Mr. Moore: Would it pay to keep 

 a few dozen or a few hundred bait- 

 sections and have them perfect! 

 empty of honey, and put from one^^ 

 five in the middle of each super as 

 bait? 



Mr. Horstmann: I usually put them 

 around the edge of the super. Almost 

 every bee-keeper will have them in the 

 fall. I put in a frame that holds 

 about eight or ten sections, and I put 

 them in the extractor, and then I can 

 set the empty sections in any hive- 

 body and give the bees a chance to 

 clean them out clean. I usually have 

 a hundred or a hundred and fifty of 

 them, and find them a great advantage 



— don't need any honey there at all; 

 just having the empty cells will at- 

 tract the bees and reduce swarmins. 

 I believe the bees get a swarming fe- 

 ver like a hen gets a sitting fever, and 

 if you can prevent them from getting 

 the swarming fever you are all right. 

 If you use an eight-frame hive they 

 must have closer attention than with a 

 larger hive. By having a large force 

 of bees from two hive-bodies, sixteen 

 frames, you will have them go up in 

 the super in a great rush, and your 

 comb honey will be that much nicer. 

 The comb honey that I got here yester- 

 day, I don't think any one would care 

 to see nicer honey than that, and that 

 was in an eight-frame hive because It 

 was in an eight-frame super. So it is 

 evident that the eight-frame hive is A 

 No. 1 for comb honey. If it was not. 

 Dr. Miller -n^ould not use it. I have 

 great confidence in Dr. Miller's bee- 

 keeping, although he will not come 

 out straight and say the eight-frame 

 or the ten-frame hive is the better. 



Mr. Moore: I think that these gen- 

 tlemen, when they go before the bee- 

 keepers and say an eight-frame hive is 

 the best for comb honey, ought to do 

 as we did at school; they ought to take 

 the eight-frame hive and put it to the 

 second ^xnver. They mean sixteen 

 frame, becSbU^fe it is the eight-frame 

 hive raised toHhe second power. 



Mr. Horstmann: I don't see how the 

 Secretary can call that a sixt^en-frame 

 hive. I have them sometimes piled up 

 ten stories high, but it is still an eight 

 or a ten -frame hive. Tou have got to 

 call it that size. We simply use that 

 double colony for a while, then we 

 will take away that extra hive-body in 

 the honey- flow, and we will cap it over 

 quickly and get it off the hive nice and 

 clean. It is an eight-frame hive if you 

 use an eight-frame hive-body. There 

 is no such a thing as a sixteen-frame 

 hive. I have a twenty-seven frame 

 hive. There are three divisions in it; 

 I can call that a twenty- seven frame 

 live. It is nothing else but a twenty- 

 seven frajne hive. But if I use a five, 

 six, eight or ten frame, you have got to 

 call it that hive. 



Mr. Macklin: I would like to ask 

 if the queen goes up in the body above. 



Mr. Horstmann: She will go, but 

 there is such a small amount, it does 

 not amount to anything. If you use 

 full sheets of foundation, the chances 

 are that she will not go up. But if 

 they do put pollen in a couple of sec- 



