In starting an apiary it is of great importance to adopt a hive that
will prove satisfactory to the manager, in all its features, for the
present as well as for the future. It is not an easy matter after an
apiary has been started and hives and appliances have accumulated,
to change the sizes or dimensions of such, if they should not be
satisfactory. In the different manifestations of the hive we find that
it is necessary to have brood frames and sections interchangeable, in
fact, it is still more convenient to have all the different parts of
the hives as uniform as mechanical workmanship can produce them, so
that frames, honey-boards, division-boards, covers, sections, mats,
&c., may be picked up anywhere and adjusted to any hive desired.
The use of separators is another feature of this kind; if once adopted
and the bees arranged accordingly, it may cause considerable trouble
to remodel a lot of appliances, especially if separators of any
perceptible thickness are used.
In the BEE JOURNAL for Feb. 2, Mr. Heddon gives some very good hints on
“hive and section making,” but we can not endorse all his points, and
in this article we refer in particular to his closing sentence.
It seems strange to us that Mr. Heddon pronounces separators
“nuisances,” whilst other prominent bee-keepers, and we believe the
majority, use them and advocate their use. It must certainly be a query
to young beginners, who seek information amongst the contributors of
the JOURNAL, to encounter such square contradictions. Our experience is
about as follows:
The 2 first years of our experience in bee-keeping found us equipped
with open surplus cases, we mean by surplus cases the adjustable
half-story, with the proper number of frames containing sections. The
seasons were good and the crops abundant, but the shape of a good
share of our honey was anything but desirable; it was not uniform in
thickness nor even; some being thick on one end and thin on the other,
some were missed entirely, whilst the adjoining one bulged out to take
up the space; in short, the variations were many.
To glass and crate this honey for market cost us considerable trouble
and we concluded to try separators. The 25 cases we had prepared and
used the next season at our honey apiary proved to be a success; the
honey was “just splendid;” the sections in shape, thickness and weight
were as near perfect as could be desired, and we decided at once to
produce honey in no other way. However, we were not entirely satisfied;
we knew separators were objected to by some bee-keepers on account of
a smaller yield. Mr. Heddon says, on page 33 of the JOURNAL, “These
separators cost me too great a portion of my surplus crop.”
To satisfy ourselves on this point we used the following season about
100 cases, rigged as the first 25, with separators, which we scattered
in our different apiaries side by side with open ones. The result
was that we noticed very little difference, if any, in the amount of
honey stored, and the editor’s opinion, on page 59, was exactly our
experience.
Again, Mr. Heddon claims the first cost and trouble of manipulating to
be objectionable. We admit separators are an expense, but they need
not be very costly. We use basswood, costing us less than a cent each,
and even at twice that cost, would it not be economy then to expend
a comparative small amount if we can thereby produce honey in much
more attractive shape? Besides we claim separators lessen the trouble
of manipulating instead of increasing it. The reason we use wood is
because it is cheaper than metal and we believe better adapted, on
account of its being the most natural material for bee-habitations.
Since we introduced separators the percentage of unfinished honey is
greatly reduced. At the end of the honey season we formerly found
open cases almost filled with comb and honey and not one single
finished section among them. This is not so much the case since we
use separators; when the flow of honey begins to diminish, we have
noticed our bees to be at work in a portion of the sections, whilst the
remainder would not be occupied at all; we have also taken off cases
at the end of a honey flow, which were entirely empty, except 2 or 3
sections, and these were finished and marketable. To be sure these are
extremes, but it shows the benefit of separators.
It might appear from the last part of this article, that we apply
surplus cases regardless of the working capacity of our colonies.
Circumstances may sometimes compel us to do so, but we aim to give our
bees no more surplus room than they can occupy.
Naples, N. Y., March 6, 1881.
For the American Bee Journal.
Texas for Bees and Honey.