Shallow Hives, or Deep?
Mr. Editor:—In the September number of the Journal, Dr. B. Puckett criticises an article of mine in the July number, and asks me to explain wherein the shallow Langstroth hive is lacking.
When I wrote the article referred to, my object was to show that the shallow hive could be altered to a different form, and that those who were using it, and considered it too shallow, need not throw their hives away. I said it was not a good hive for wintering in the open air, or for early spring. I did not think it necessary to give my reasons in detail, why it was not good; for that matter I considered had been already fully discussed in the Journal. But as Dr. P. requests it, I will explain.
For wintering in a cellar, the hive is perhaps good enough. But I do not want to be obliged to house my bees. Sometimes I have plenty of room in the cellar, and sometimes not. If the hives are of suitable form for wintering in the open air, I can let them remain out, when it is not convenient to carry them in. But the great objection to them is in early spring. Dr. P. asks if it is the fault of the hive that the old bees die off, or that bees are destroyed by cold winds? Of course it is not. But if a swarm is not breeding enough to make up that loss, there must be a fault somewhere. When we take bees from the cellar, we expect that they will have brood in all stages, from the egg just laid to young bees just gnawing out. We expect too that the queen will continue to deposit eggs, even more rapidly, because of the excitement produced by the bees flying, and especially if they are fed rye meal, as mine always are. I said, after they had been out a month, there appeared to be fewer bees than when first carried out. We expect a loss the first day or two after taking them out, but soon afterward, the bees should be increasing; and at the end of a month, which brings it into April, there should be a decided increase. In deeper hives, according to my experience, it is so; and the deeper the hive the greater the increase.
The reason why the shallow hive is not good for early spring, as I understand, is this: as soon as severe weather is past, we want to confine the animal heat as much as possible to the hive, that the bees may breed rapidly. Consequently we shut off all upward ventilation. The coldest part of a hive is near the entrance and so along the bottom board. The farther the bees get from the bottom, the warmer they find the temperature. These hives being so low, before the bees get out of the way of the cold air coming in at the entrance, they are bumping their heads against the top. And, instead of spreading the brood in a circle, which is the best form to economise heat, they are obliged to carry it along horizontally, and after all work at a disadvantage.
In a tall hive they can draw up and get well out of the way of the cold air from the entrance. The top of the hive being small, the animal heat, brood, and bees are all compact, and in the best condition for rapid breeding. The faster they breed, the faster they can breed, as there are more bees to keep up the heat; and as it naturally ascends, the smaller the hive is across the top, the more compact the heat will be kept.
A friend, who for some years has been using a very tall hive, after trying for a long time to persuade me to use some of them, finally gave me one in the spring of 1868, and requested me to put a swarm into it. Says he—“You may let it stand anywhere through the winter; the bees will be sure to do well.” I have used it, and found that the bees increase in it nearly twice as fast in April and May, as in the shallow hive. The result is the same in his apiary.
Mr. Alley, who at one time so vigorously advocated the shallow hive, has since become convinced of his error, and invented what he calls the new style Langstroth hive. The shallow frames are set up endwise, which gives it extreme depth. In the September number of the Journal, 1869, page 54, he says—“I examined fifty stocks of bees in shallow hives last spring (and many of these were larger colonies than any I had); but none of them had as much sealed brood as mine.”
When he first got up this hive, and before any of them had been used, a friend of his had one, and was requested by Mr. A. to show it to me and get my opinion upon it, not letting me know where it came from. I refused to express an opinion, except on the point of wintering, in which I considered it could not be beat.
The great depth of combs, together with the protection given by the outer case, makes it one of the best hives for wintering that I have seen. It has a large amount of box room for surplus honey, which is needed for a swarm that has been well wintered, and that has increased well during the spring. But let him just turn the frames down to a horizontal position, making it a shallow hive, and I will guarantee that one-half of the box room will be ample.
I have attempted to explain wherein the shallow hive is lacking, and now have a favor to ask of Dr. P. He says: “The Langstroth hive could be made deeper very easily, without Mr. R.’s patchwork.” Will he tell us how it can be done, and still retain about the same number of cubic inches?
Calvin Rogers.
West Newberry, Mass., September 10, 1870.
Honey is the most elaborate of all vegetable productions.
[For the American Bee Journal.]