§ V. NEIGHBOURS' IMPROVED COTTAGE HIVE.
Our improved cottage hive (shown [page 113]), is neatly made of straw bound with cane, and therefore very durable.[20] The lower hive is covered with a wooden top, having in it three holes, through which the bees convey their honey into three middle-sized bell glasses with ventilators, which, when filled, hold about six pounds each. There is a hoop at the bottom, another round the top of the lower hive; to this the wooden crown-board is fastened. These hoops are a great improvement, and are less liable to harbour insects than if straw alone were used. The floor-board, as its name implies, is a wooden board one inch and a quarter thick, with a projection of three or four inches under the entrance to form an alighting-place. This entrance is cut out of, or sunk in, the board. There are three windows in the lower hive, each closed with a shutter; these are very useful and interesting for inspecting the progress made. Across the centre window is a thermometer, enclosed at the sides by slips of glass. The window shutters, being of oak colour, add very much to the appearance. The upper hive, which is merely a cover for the glasses, is made like the lower; a hoop is worked into the straw, and is sufficiently large to allow the cover to drop over the crown-board, keeping the whole close, and preventing wet from drifting in. A zinc ventilator, ornamentally painted, forms the apex; this is useful in letting the confined hot air pass away in warm weather. The ventilator is opened by raising it. The lower or stock hive is fifteen inches in diameter and nine and a half in depth outside; its weight, when empty, is seven pounds and a half. The cover, or top hive, is twelve inches deep and fifteen inches in diameter; the ornamental zinc top being four inches deep. The whole is about twenty-four inches high. The weight of a hive packed, including glasses, is about eighteen pounds.
[20] This is the hive referred to by the "Bee-Master" of the Times (Dr. Gumming) when he says: "The second kind of hive I alluded to is made of straw, and may be purchased at Neighbours', in Holborn.... It is so well made that it will last very long. I have had one in constant use during ten years, and it is still as good as when it was bought."
These hives have a tasteful appearance in the garden, but they require some further protection from the weather in the form of a cover or of a bee-house—contrivances that have yet to be described. In extreme cold weather a little additional protection, by having matting folded round them, will be advisable.
One of the advantages of this and the preceding hives over the ordinary cottage hive is that they afford ready opportunity for the humane management of bees. The bell glasses also give the owner the power of taking honeycomb of pure quality, free from the extraneous matter known as "bee-bread," instead of combs that are darkened by having brood hatched in them. By this system we have combs newly made and used only for depositing the honey first put into them: hence the name "virgin honey." These glasses have a very pretty appearance, and, when nicely filled, are very convenient for home use or for making presents. The lower hive is the receptacle for the bees; when a swarm is placed in this hive they immediately proceed to fill it with combs for the storage of honey for their own use, and for cells to breed in. This hive remains undisturbed.
The best mode of tenanting a hive of this description is by placing an early and strong swarm in it, which may be generally procured of a neighbouring bee-keeper; if from a distance, considerable care is necessary to admit plenty of air ([Chap. V. § xi.]). For the purpose of ventilation, remove the slides and substitute perforated zinc, wrapping the hive up in a coarse cloth of open texture (dispensing with the floor-board during transit when the distance is great and the temperature warm). It is necessary only to send the lower or stock hive to the party furnishing the swarm, taking the precaution to fix the slides at top with tacks, as the hive has to be inverted to receive the bees. Some older bee-keepers prefer to give it a little dressing with syrup, beer, or herbs; there can be no objection to the first, but other scents may not be pleasant to the insects and are far better avoided, as also are the sticks so often inserted, they being almost certain to cause crooked combs. The bees, if swarming, are shaken into the hive, as described in [Chap. V. § i.]; if transferred from another hive, the directions will be found in a following section of the same chapter. Towards evening close the entrance, and remove them to the exact position they are intended permanently to occupy. Success depends on this, and also on their careful removal on the evening of hiving. The following morning they will labour in their new location, marking well their habitation before they take flight, and not failing to return to it loaded with luscious store.
The general directions must be observed in applying the supers ([Chap. V. § xiii.]). When the time arrives the thermometer will rise rapidly to 100 degrees or upwards. To prevent swarming the zinc slides on the wooden top must now be withdrawn, and the bell glasses put on, covered and protected by the upper hive; a day or two after which all signs of swarming will at once disappear, the bees now having increased storage-room, which they will readily fill with comb. The ventilator should always remain open during the day, to allow the hot air to pass away from the interior, thereby contributing to the whiteness and beauty of the work; the bees enjoy the refreshment of coolness thereby afforded, and they work the faster for it. At evening all ventilation should be stopped, and the glasses wrapped round with some warm material. We now supply flannel-lined baize bags to each glass sent out with the hive.
The directions for taking honey are much the same as usual ([Chap. V. § xiv.]). A slide seven inches and a half square is furnished with the hive, and is useful to remove the glass upon. The holes in the wooden top of this hive are of a peaked shape, to act as a preventive against slaughtering any bees whilst pushing the slide in for the purpose of removing the glass when full. The tacks before alluded to should be removed from the slides when the hive is fixed in its place. The entrance slide is very serviceable during the winter months to lessen the passage-way, thereby preventing the admission of too much cold air; it is also occasionally useful on a summer evening to lessen the entrance when moths are troublesome, for if there be only a small opening the bees can guard it and easily repulse intruders. During the time of gathering they require the whole width to remain open.
The pedestal, shown on the right in the next figure, as originally sent out, has a hole through each of its feet, and must be firmly fixed in the ground by means of the four iron pegs supplied with it for the purpose; to prevent rotting, it is well also to place a brick under each foot. The hive must then be made fast to the stand as a precaution against high winds. The latter is about twenty-two inches in height.
The simplicity and easy management of this hive have rendered it an especial favourite, combining as it does real utility with many conveniences to satisfy the curious. Not a few bee-keepers desire to unite the two qualifications, and no hives combine these advantages in a greater degree than the one we are now describing.
A cheaper form of this hive is here represented, of precisely the same size and construction, with the exception that it has no windows or thermometer. The apiarian with this hive will therefore have to trust more to his own judgment as regards the likelihood of swarming, and must watch the appearance the bees present at the entrance. When it is time to put on supers in order to prevent swarming, premonition will be given by the unusual numbers crowding about the entrance, as well as by the heat of the weather, making it evident that more room is required for the increasing population. At Michaelmas the directions as to weighing must be attended to (see [Chap. V. § xviii.]).