CHAPTER V.
HIVES AND IMPLEMENTS.
The safest and best rule in making or selecting hives and implements for the apiary is, have them simple and accurate in construction. A plain box with frames and as few other loose parts as possible will yield in the hands of a skillful bee-master far better results than the most elaborately constructed bee palace manipulated by one who does not understand the nature and requirements of bees; in fact, the most experienced generally prefer the former. The important point to decide in connection with any proposed modification or adjunct of the hive is whether its adoption will more than compensate for the resultant loss of simplicity. While zealously endeavoring to preserve simplicity of construction, however, complete adaptability to the purpose designed must be kept in view, and should not be sacrificed because of a slight added expense. The bee keeper needs but few implements. With even a limited number of hives, a smoker, a wax extractor, and a few queen-introducing cages are the most necessary, and one or two bee veils had better be added to the equipment, the total cost of which need not exceed $5 to $6. If the intention be to produce comb honey, and but a few hives are kept, then sections folded and with starters in place had better be purchased, but with ten or more hives and time during the winter season to prepare sections for the harvest, a section folder and a foundation fastener, costing together about $3, may be profitably added to the outfit. If only extracted honey is wanted a honey extractor with one or two uncapping knives should be purchased instead of the section folder and foundation fastener, the cost of the outfit being in this case some $15 to $18. Fifty or even seventy-five hives may be managed conveniently and economically with no greater investment in implements than that indicated above, and if both comb and extracted honey are wanted the cost of the outfit, it can readily be seen, need not exceed $20.
HIVES.
In regard to the particular style or form of hive to be used to insure the best results, it should be stated that while an intelligent apiarist whose experience has been considerable may be successful with almost any hive, even with poor ones, there can be no doubt that a hive not only adapted to the nature of the bees but also to the climate of the bee keeper's particular locality, and at the same time permitting the rapid performance of all operations necessary in securing surplus honey, will very materially affect the net profit of an apiary. This being the case, the original cost of a hive, whether a dollar or two more or less, is of small importance compared with the desirability of securing convenience and simplicity in its management and of promoting the welfare of the bees in winter and summer. Frame hives managed with intelligence and skill are essential to the greatest success. Inaccurately made frame hives, neglected, as is too frequently the case, so that the combs are built irregularly between or across the frames, are not one whit better than box hives. Even an accurately built frame hive, if no attention is given to the spacing of the frames when combs are being built, will soon present no advantages over a box hive of the same dimensions and having the same space for supering above the brood apartment.
Fig. 22.—Ancient Greek movable comb hive. (After La Maison rustique, published in 1742.)
The frame and hive most in use in this country is the invention of Rev. L. L. Langstroth, and this hive, with slight modifications, has been generally adopted in England and her colonies. It is also becoming known and appreciated on the continent of Europe. The patent on the frame the essential feature—expired many years ago, so that anyone who may wish to do so is now free to employ the invention. It is still used by many in the same form in which it was brought out in 1852. Others have changed the dimensions of the frames and given them different names, while retaining the special feature of the inventor's principle, namely, the loose-fitting frame suspended by the projecting ends of its top bar on a continuous rabbet. The outside dimensions of the Langstroth frame most in use are 17⅝ inches long by 9⅛ inches deep ([fig. 24]). Mr. M. Quinby, one of the most practical and successful bee-masters of our century, preferred frames 12 inches deep by 18 inches Long, and these are still used by many large honey raisers. Other sizes are also used somewhat.
Fig. 23.—Dadant-Quinby form of Langstroth hive, with cap and gable roof. (Redrawn from Langstroth on the Honey Bee.)
