PEARCE METHOD OF BEE-KEEPING 



CHAPTER I 

 How I Discovered My Present Method of Bee Keeping. 



Twenty years ago I began to put bees in buildings. One 

 of the first I put up in a stable loft. I had known for some 

 time that bees had been kept in small rooms or large places 

 prepared for them and left to themselves to build their 

 combs as they pleased. I was told that they would event- 

 ually fill these upper rooms or boxes, and stay there from 

 year to year and would not swarm out, and that the people 

 of the house Gould go up in the winter when the bees were 

 dormant and open these places and cut off honey for them- 

 selves as wanted. This looked attractive to me, but it was 

 said that the moths would get in and destroy the bees, and 

 I did not like this chunk honey, as it would not be neat and 

 nice, so with this much information I started in to see if 

 I could devise something with our movable frame hives, 

 large enough so the bees would not swarm and the moths 

 could not destroy them, and that we might get the honey 

 in nice one-pound boxes, as we were getting it out in our 

 bee yard. 



The first outfit that I put up was three hives set side 

 by side. I cut holes into these outside hives from the middle 

 one, for the bees to go through. Then I let the bees fiy 

 out doors from the middle hive, and I put my surplus cases 

 on the middle hive. The bees soon began to fill these cases, 

 but to my surprise and regret, I could not get the bees to go 

 into these s ide hives . This, I saw was of no use and I took 

 away these^ide hives and shut up the openings and put 

 one of them on top of the middle hive. Very soon the queen 

 began to fill this body with brood instead of swarming out, 

 and I soon had seventy-five pounds of nice comb honey in 

 the cases and was delighted. I then saw that I had been 

 making a mistake in making my hiv e broa d instead of high 

 r5~enl S;g e it. u uFbee-ke^ers tTunkTSiany of theinTThat 

 "ihej should have a larger hive than the eight frame, and 

 add ten, twelve or even fourteen frames in width instead 

 of putting two of the eight-frame hives, one above the other, 

 as I did twenty years ago, making a tall hive more like a 

 hollow tree — the natural home of the bee. 



This hive is about a quarter larger than the Quimby 

 hive and is about the right capacity for a queen to 

 deposit all the eggs she wishes for the colony, so there 

 will be no swarming, if sufficient surplus cases are put on in 

 time so the honey may be carried above, to leave adequate 

 space for the queen. Then again it is about the right size 



