CONSTRUCTIVE BEEKEEPING 9 



ROOM 



• 



To look at the question of room and apply constructive treat- 

 ment is our aim. If the hive room is large, good results do not 

 always follow. So much thought has been put into the experi- 

 ments carried out with different sizes of hives, that the majority 

 of beekeepers have settled on a standard size, which is best un- 

 der most conditions. Some advocate one a little larger, some a 

 little smaller, but neither deviate much from the recognized stan- 

 dard. So we must conclude that the bees and their keeper do not 

 disagree greatly on the size of the hive. 



During the urge period the attention of the beekeeper has 

 mostly been given to brood rearing. To get best results he must 

 have the hive filled with bees at the beginning of the honey flow. 

 He knows that swarming results when the hive is full of brood, 

 nectar, honey and bees, so he increases the size of the hive. 



As the lack of room is not the result of one condition, but 

 of many, the added room may be more than the bees can heat. 

 Our aim then must be to determine that nice balance between too 

 much and too little room, ventilation and shade. On the correct 

 determination of this balance our success depends. 



To have in our minds a conception of brood conditions in the 

 hive prior to and at the time of the urge, will give us a clearer 

 understanding of the principal cause of the urge. By a study of 

 the following hypothetical tabulation, the conditions of a hive can 

 be seen. A ten-frame hive of Langstroth dimentions has, when 

 the frames are filled with worker cells, about 66,000 of these cells. 

 Deduct 12,000 for the ones occupied by pollen and capped honey 

 and there is left 54,000 cells for brood and nectar. 



This is about the condition of brood in a strong colony at 

 Fargo, North Dakota on the given dates. On June 23 there would 

 be in this colony 25,000 bees under 10 days and 44,440 over 10 

 days old. 



It can readily be seen that, when the hive is filled with 

 brood honey and pollen, when sunshine and flowers are tempting 



