THE USE OF CAPES OR HOODS.
Well made straw-hives ought to have a hole in the top, of about an inch
or an inch and a half in diameter, which may be closed with a cork
or stopper of wood. This stopper may be drawn out when it is found
advisable to put a cape or hood on it, so as to give the bees more room
to deposit their honey. These capes are little straw-hives capable
of containing five or six pounds of honey-comb, or more, according
to the size of the hive on which they are placed. They are made very
thin and light: the cords of straw of which they are formed are very
small, being not intended to keep in the heat, but merely to serve as a
temporary magazine for the honey.
The use of these additions will be easily understood by those who know
that it takes as long a time to hatch a bee as to hatch a chicken, viz.
three weeks.
I have already said and repeated, that, in the swarming season, the
strong and well provisioned hives are almost entirely filled with the
brood-comb, and that scarcely any of the cells will be found empty. At
that time also, honey becomes abundant; and, when fine days succeed
each other, the working bees amass an astonishing quantity; but where
is it to be stored? Moments are precious. Must they wait until the
young bees have left the brood-cells, a week or perhaps a fortnight
longer, by which time the early flowers will be cut down or withered,
never more to display their honied cups to these little reapers? What
is to be done in this dilemma? Must the young be sacrificed, and torn
from the cells, in order to make room for the riches that nature offers
on every hand? But this destruction of its posterity would ruin the
colony. Mark, then, the resource of the industrious bees. They search
in their neighbourhood for a place where they may deposit their honey
until the young shall have left the comb in which they were hatched,
and nourished, and undergone their metamorphoses; and, if they fail
in their object, they crowd together op the front or sides of their
habitation, forming prodigious clusters. It is not uncommon to see them
build combs on the outside; many did so in the year 1791, the finest
honey year I have seen since 1753. In the year 1791, I drew from one
of my straw-hives that did not swarm, seventy-two pounds of beautiful
honey-comb, merely by emptying the capes as they were filled. All
years, however, are not like that, nor any thing approaching to it.
There are middling seasons, when the bees find little more than merely
what is requisite for their own supply. There are also bad seasons,
when almost all the swarms perish, as well as numberless old hives,
when they do not receive assistance: such, among others, were the years
1812 and 1813. In the worst years there are days and even weeks of fine
weather, when the honey is abundant; but it is of short continuance.
The bees, however, at that time, will deposit their honey into the
capes; and, towards the end of summer, or beginning of autumn, when
little or no more is to be found, they remove it into the hive, filling
the cells which the brood occupied at the time it was collected.
If, during the summer, we deprive them of this treasure, which is only
deposited in the capes for the time, we impoverish them, unless it is
returned to them in twice the quantity. This was one cause of the ruin
and depopulation of so many apiaries during these two fatal years, and
my principal motive for taking up my pen is, to prevent, if possible,
the recurrence of such disasters, by making known to the public my
observations and discoveries.
If the bees have room enough in the interior to dispose of their honey,
it is needless to give them capes, for they will not build in them.
These capes are commonly placed on the top of the hive, but it is
matter of indifference whether they be on the right, on the left, or
even underneath, provided there be an accessible way of communication
between them. If we wish to attach them to the bottom of the hive, we
establish a communication between the hive and the cape, by making
a hole in the board on which the hive rests, so as to afford a free
passage to the workers. I have capes of all kinds, above, below, and on
the sides, which all succeed equally well. Those placed above have an
advantage not to be despised, which is, that they prevent the combs
from moulding during the winter, an evil to which hives are liable in
those countries where they are taken into the house, to protect them
from the frost and snow.
All those that are well stocked, produce a moisture which, having no
vent, collects in drops on the sides, and at the base of the hive,
in which the bees are kept close prisoners until the return of fine
weather. Many perish during their long captivity, and, oftener than
once, I have found large icicles in strong hives. This never happens
to those that have capes on the top: the moisture ascending evaporates
through the opening, as by a chimney; and then one has the satisfaction
of finding the combs healthy and free of mould in the spring. Care,
however, must be had to cement it all round with clay or mortar, or
some composition suited to exclude the wind, and to prevent the bees,
sometimes very impatient, from getting out during the winter.
With this precaution, very few will be found dead in the spring; and,
in well-stocked hives, the laying of eggs begins about the end of
January or beginning of February.
Capes may be adapted to wooden hives, or to those of any other
material, as well as to those of straw.
Many people place capes over all their swarms the very day, or the
day after, their emigration, and I approve of this plan for early and
strong swarms.
Capes neither prevent nor retard the issuing of swarms. I have
frequently had hives that filled them, or were in the way of doing so,
when the emigration took place, but on their numbers being diminished,
stopped the work, and returned to it again as soon as they were
reinforced, provided they did not give out a second swarm. Hives that
have capes rarely give out second swarms, and this is no loss.
The honey obtained by the capes is very pure, beautifully white, and
very superior to what is obtained by the cutting out of combs.
It sometimes happens, that the queen will ascend into the cape to
deposit her eggs, when she has not room in the interior; therefore,
should any brood-comb happen to be in it when it is intended to be
removed, let it be replaced until such time as the young are completely
hatched. The brood-comb is easily distinguished: the cells that
contain it have their covers darker, more raised, and much thicker,
than those that contain honey, the covers of which are white, flat, and
very thin.
There is no fixed rule for the time of removing the capes; it must
altogether depend on the abundance of the honey. In six years, there
are usually two bad, two good, and two middling seasons.
In bad seasons there is nothing to take away; on the contrary, some
must be given, or, properly speaking, be _lent_ to them, for the
industrious bees always repay three, four, and five fold interest on
the advances that are made them.
In good years, the capes may be emptied three or four times; and unless
this be done the bees will build their combs on the outside.
In middling seasons, strong and well provisioned hives fill at least
one cape, which may be taken without remorse, if they have not swarmed.
I seldom or never take any from those that have swarmed, because
they are thereby very much weakened. Good sense must here direct the
proprietor.
The only fixed rule which can be laid down is, never to take the capes
that are not quite filled, unless the hive happens to be very large, as
there is always abundance of honey when the labourers determine to go
to work in the capes. But beware of taking half-filled capes from small
or middling sized hives: restitution will repair but a small portion of
the evil this will do them.