Chapter II: Hives (2)

When hives are not painted, the grain should never be crosswise, having the width of boards form the height; not that the bees would have any dislike to such, but nails will not hold firmly, they draw out in a few years. The size, shape, materials, and manner of putting together, are now sufficiently understood, for what I want. Sticks half an inch in diameter, should cross each way through the centre, to help support the combs. A hole about an inch diameter in the front side, half way to the top, is a great convenience for the bees to enter when coming home heavy laden.

It now remains to make the top, cover, and boxes, (the bottom-board will be described in another chapter.) The tops should be all alike; boards fifteen inches square are just the right size; three-fourths of an inch is the best thickness, (inch will do;) plane the upper side, rabbet out around the edge of the upper side one inch wide, and three-eighths deep; this will leave the top inside the rabbeting, just thirteen inches.

SIZE OF CAP AND BOXES.

A box for a cover or cap, that size inside, will fit any hive. The height of this box should be seven inches. Of course other sizes will do, but it is best to commence with one that we can adhere to uniformly, and no vexations arise by covers not fitting exactly, &c. I think this size is as near correct as we shall be likely to get; we want all the room in the boxes that the majority of our stocks demand for storing in a yield of honey,[4] at the same time not be necessitated to give too much of the room in the height. They will commence work in a box five inches high, much sooner than one seven or eight. To give the requisite room, and have the boxes less than five inches high, would require more than thirteen inches on the top, this would make the hive too much out of shape; it would appear top-heavy.

[4] I have added a side box occasionally, but it has seldom paid
me for the trouble.

MINER'S HIVE.

Miner's Equilateral Hive has a cap somewhat smaller than this in diameter; consequently, if we have the requisite room, it must be in its height. But by making the cap of his a little larger, and a few trifling alterations, it would do very well for a patent. And if any one _must_ have a patent hive, my advice is to get that; it costs but two dollars for the right of using, and is nearer what we want for bees, than any I ever saw. I prefer rabbeting around the edge of the top, instead of nailing on a thin board the size of the inside of the cover, with room for a slide under it; it affords too nice a place for worms to spin their cocoons. Also, without the rabbeting water may get under the cap, and pass along the top till a hole lets it among the bees. As for slides, I do not approve of them at all; in shutting off communication, it is almost certain to crush a few bees. This makes them irritable for a week; they are unnecessary for me, at least. We will now finish the hive.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING HOLES.

After the top is got out as directed, strike a line through the centre, three and a quarter inches from this, make another on each side, now measure on one of the last lines, two and a half inches for the first hole, two inches for the next, and so on till five are marked on this, and the same number on the other side, ten in all; these holes should be about an inch diameter, a pattern three and a quarter inches wide, and thirteen in length, with places for holes marked on it, will save time when many are made. When this top is nailed on, the hive is ready. A less number of holes is often used, and one is thought by some to be sufficient; experience has satisfied me that the more room bees have to enter boxes, the less reluctance is manifested in commencing their work in them; but here is another extreme to be avoided: when the holes are much larger, or more of them, or even one very large one, the queen is very apt to go into the boxes and deposit her eggs, which renders the comb tough, dark, &c., also bee-bread is stored near the brood. Dr. Bevan's and Miner's cross-bar hives are objectionable on this account, they offer too free access to the boxes; we want all the room that will answer, and no more.

A SUGGESTION.

Mr. Miner's cross-bar hive is intended to make the bees construct all straight combs, and probably will do it. But the disadvantage of bee-bread and brood in the boxes will not be made up by straight combs.

For the benefit of those who have been made to believe straight combs _all important_, and perhaps have purchased the right to make the hive, and had some constructed, and have found bee-bread in their surplus honey, I would suggest an improvement, (that is, if it is thought the straight combs will pay. If you have not the right for the cross-bar hive, and you wish to use it, I would say, buy the right, and remove all grounds of complaint with him.) Put in the bars and hive your bees as he directs. After all the combs are started, instead of setting the open bottom boxes (which are also unsuitable for sending to market) directly on the bars as he recommends, take off the cloth, and with screws fasten on a top with ten holes, that I have just described; and then you will have the straight combs, and surplus honey in the boxes pure.

GLASS BOXES PREFERRED.

Having told how I make a hive, I will now give some reasons for preferring a particular kind of boxes. I have taken great quantities of honey to market, put up in every style, such as tumblers, glass jars, glass boxes, wooden boxes with glass ends, and boxes all wood. I have found the square glass boxes the most profitable; the honey in such appears to the best possible advantage, so much so, that the majority of purchasers prefer paying for the box at the same rate as the honey, than the wood box, and have the tare allowed. This rate of selling boxes always pays the cost, while we get nothing for the wood. Another advantage in this kind of boxes is, while being filled, the progress can be watched, and the time they are finished known precisely, when they should be taken off, as every day they remain after that, soils the purity of the combs.

GLASS BOXES--HOW TO MAKE.

_Directions for making._--Select half-inch boards of pine or other soft light wood, cut the length twelve and three-quarters inches, width six and three-eighths inches, dress down the thickness to three-eighths or less, two pieces for a box, top and bottom, in the bottom bore five holes throughout the centre to match with those in the top of the hive, (the pattern used in marking the top of hives is just the one to mark these). Next, get out the corner posts, five-eighths of an inch square, and five inches in length; with a saw, thick enough to fit the glass, cut a channel length-wise on two sides, one-fourth of an inch deep, one-eighth from the corner, for the glass. A small lath nail through each corner of the bottom into the posts will hold them; it is now ready for the glass--10x12 is the right size to get--have them cut through the centre the longest way for the sides, and they are right, and again the other way, five and five-eighths long for the ends. These can now be slipped into the channels of the posts, and the top nailed on like the bottom, and the box is ready.

GUIDE-COMBS NECESSARY.

It will be found a great advantage, previous to nailing on the top, to stick fast to it some pieces of guide-combs in the direction you wish the bees to work. They are also an inducement for them to commence several days sooner, than if they had to start combs for themselves;[5] a piece an inch square will do; it is well to start every comb you want in the box; two inches apart is about the right distance to look well. To make these pieces hold fast, melt one edge by the fire, or candle, or melt some bees-wax, and dip one edge in that, and apply it before cooling; with a little practice you can make them stick without difficulty. For a supply of such combs, save all empty, clean, white pieces you can, when removing combs from a hive.

[5] A line of bees-wax made with a guide-plate, or other means,
is found to be of but little use.

If you have any way superior to this for making glass boxes, so much the better, make them so by all means: "The best way is as good as any." I give my method to be used only when better is not convenient. If you sell honey, I think you will find it an advantage to have glass boxes made in some way. Two of this size when full weigh 25 lbs. If preferred, four boxes six and three-eighths inches square, can be used for a hive instead of two; the expense of making is a little more for the same number of lbs., yet, when it is in market, a few customers will prefer this size.

WOOD BOXES.

For home consumption, the wood-box will answer equally well for all purposes of obtaining the honey, but will give no chance to watch the progress of the bees, unless a glass is inserted for the purpose, and then it will need a door to keep it dark, or a cover over the whole like the one for glass boxes, may be put on. Wood boxes are generally made with open bottom, and set on the top of the hive. A passage for the bees out of the box to the open air is unnecessary, and worse than useless. They like to store their honey as far from the entrance as possible. Unless crowded for room, they will not store much there when such entrances are made.

Whether we intend to consume our surplus honey or not, it is as well to have the hives and covers made in a manner that we can use glass, when we are likely to have some to spare. I am not sure, but it would pay to make hives in this way, even if glass boxes were never used; the rabbeting prevents light as well as water from passing under the cover; imagine a box set on a plain board nailed on for a top, without the rabbeting; the warping or bending admits the light and water, especially when hives are out in the weather, (and I shall not recommend any other way of keeping them.)

COVER FOR HIVES.

I have termed the cap or box a cover; but this should also be covered with a board laid on, if nothing else. A good roof for each hive can be made by fastening two boards together like the roof of a building; let it be about 18 by 24 inches; it being loose, can be changed in accordance with the season; in spring, let the sun strike the hive; but in hot weather let the longest end project over the south side, &c. You can ornament this hive, if you choose, by mouldings or dentals, under the top, where it projects over the body of the hive, also the cap can have the top projected a little and receive the same addition.

JARS AND TUMBLERS--HOW PREPARED.

When jars, tumblers, or other vessels, that are all glass, are used, it is _absolutely necessary_ to fasten as many pieces of combs as you wish made, in the top, for a beginning, or fasten a piece of wood there; as they seldom commence building on glass, without a start.

Some of you may have seen paraded at our fairs, or in the public parts of some of our cities, hives containing tumblers, some of them neatly filled, others empty, and this meagre sentence written upon them, _not to be filled_! Pretending to govern the bees, as the juggler sometimes does his tricks, by mysterious incantations! I once encountered an agent of this humbug, and modestly suggested to him that I had a counter charm: that I could put a tumbler on his hive and it would be filled if the others were, however much he might forbid it by written charms! He saw at a glance how the matter stood; I was not the customer he wanted, and intimated that the show was only intended for the extreme verdancy of most visitors. It no doubt assisted in displaying his profound knowledge in bee management, which he wished to establish, as he had a little work on the subject to sell, also hives, and bees. The reader no doubt will guess as I did, the reason that those tumblers were not filled, was because no combs were put in for a start.

PERFECT OBSERVATORY HIVE DESCRIBED.

There are many things pertaining to bees that cannot be properly examined and understood, without a glass hive of some sort. Yet a perfect observatory hive containing but one comb, is not a perfect hive for the bees. We can see very well what the bees are doing, but it is not a tenement they would choose if left to themselves. It forces them to labor in an unnatural manner, is unsuitable for wintering bees, and otherwise but little profit. If the satisfaction of witnessing some of their operations more perfectly than in glass hives of another kind will not pay, it is doubtful if we get it. I will describe as briefly as possible. Two frames or sashes about two and a half feet square, containing glass, are so fastened together as to leave room for only one comb between them, about an inch and three-fourths apart. A comb of this size will not support itself by the top and edges; hence, it is necessary to put in numerous cross-bars to assist in supporting it. Outside the glass are doors to keep the whole dark, to be opened when we wish to inspect proceedings. Under the bottom is a board or frame, to keep it in an upright position, &c. Probably but few will be induced to make one. I will therefore describe another; a hive that I think will pay better.

ONE LIKE COMMON HIVE PREFERRED.

If we expect to know what bees are doing in ordinary hives, we must have one similar in every respect, in size, shape, number of bees, &c. The construction of royal cells will be watched by most observers with the greatest interest; now these are generally on one edge of the combs. The bees leave a space half an inch or more between the edges of the combs and one side of the hive, near half the length of it, apparently for no other purpose but to have room for these cells, as the other edges of the same combs are generally attached to the hive at the bottom.

WHAT MAY BE SEEN.

Now instead of having one piece or pane of glass in the side of several hives, I would recommend having one or more with glass on every side; because we might have it on three sides, and not the fourth; and this might contain all the queen cells, and we should miss an important sight. There are many other things to be witnessed in such a hive. The queen may be often seen depositing her eggs! We may see the workers detach the scales of wax from their abdomen, and apply them to the combs during the process of construction, see them deposit pollen from their legs, store their honey, feed the queen, each other, their young brood, seal over cells containing brood, honey, &c. It is further useful as a guide for putting boxes on other hives, (that is, if it is a good one, which it should be); we can easily ascertain whether our bees are gaining or losing.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING GLASS HIVE.

My method of making them is as follows: The top is like those for other hives, fifteen inches square, adapted to boxes and cover. This hive we want to be as profitable as any, giving us surplus honey, and swarms like others. Four posts are then got out, two inches square, and thirteen in length; care should be taken to have the ends perfectly square.

A frame is then to be made, just fourteen inches square outside, for the bottom; the pieces are one inch thick, by two in width, halved together at the corners. A guage-mark is then made around the under side of the top, half an inch from the edge, a post is then set inside of each corner of this mark, and thoroughly nailed, the bottom is nailed on with the posts even with the outside corners. Four pieces an inch thick, and an inch and a half wide, are fitted between the posts, even with the guage-mark on the top. Sixteen strips, about one quarter by half an inch, are got out, eight to be ten, and eight twelve inches long.

A gauge-mark one inch from posts, bottom, &c., is the place to nail these strips; very small nails or tacks will hold them. The panes of glass are to rest against them, which are held in their places by small pieces of tin, or brads. The doors are the size of the glass, 10x12, about three-fourths of an inch thick; these doors are cut a little too short, and the pieces, to prevent warping, are nailed on the ends; these are hung to a post on one side, and secured by a button on the other. On two opposite sides inside the posts, half way up, two strips, half an inch by three quarters, are nailed, with holes in them for the cross-sticks; one way is enough if you have guide-combs for a start, like those recommended for boxes, so that the sheets will be at right angles with them; otherwise, let the sticks cross both ways, about three each way will be needed, as the glass at the edges is not so good a support as wood.

The cap can be made of half inch boards; the top to project over like the hive, or let it be a little more than half an inch, it will admit a heavier moulding, which should surround it here, as well as at the top of the hive, or if it is prefered, dentals can be used, and look equally well--when no ornament is wanted, omit it. But painting seems necessary for such hives, to prevent warping, and the swelling of the doors in wet weather; these want to open and shut without rubbing or sticking, otherwise we disturb the bees every time a door is stirred. Putty should not be used to hold the glass, as the bees in the course of a few years will cover it with propolis; it is then necessary to take it out, and scrape, clean, and return it, when, if fastened with putty, it would be difficult; cold weather is the time for this operation. I am aware that a hive can be more substantially made than the one here described; but I have endeavored to make one as cheap as possible, and if properly made, will answer. The cost will be much less than many patents, and the satisfaction much more, at least, with many. When our hive contains a swarm of bees, and they are thoroughly in operation, we must not let them pass out at the bottom on every side, as they are frequently allowed to do from other hives; because, should one come out a little excited in consequence of a slight jar, accidentally given the hive, on opening the door or some other way, and should find our face within a foot of their house, peering in the window among their works, it would be very likely to give us _a gentle hint_ that it was a mark of low breeding, that we were not wanted there at all, and that it was none of our business what they were doing. To prevent this as far as possible, a bottom-board, somewhat different from the common one, is needed. Four posts of chestnut or other lasting wood, about two inches square, are driven into the earth in the form of a square, far enough apart to come under the corners of the bottom-board, (fifteen inches,) and high enough for convenience when looking into the hive. The ends of these posts are to be perfectly level, and to which the bottom is to be nailed fast. As the hive is to sit perfectly close to the board, a passage must be made through it, as well as means for ventilation in hot weather, without raising the hive for that purpose. It requires a board about fifteen inches square, planed smooth, the ends clamped to prevent warping or splitting; a portion of the centre is taken out, say six inches by ten, and wire cloth nailed over, four-ounce tacks will hold it, fasten it just enough to keep the bees from getting through; very likely it will want to be taken off occasionally and cleaned from the propolis that will be spread over it. It is easiest done in freezing weather.

Take an edge in each hand, and rock the wires a few times out of square, and it will readily crumble and fall out. In warm weather it must be scalded or burnt off. To close this space, a moving slide is fixed in grooves under-side, fastened to the posts or board. The slide is to be moved in accordance with the weather, when cold, close it, when hot, withdraw it, and give the bees as much air as possible, without raising the hive, the whole of such space is as much ventilation as ordinary hives raised an inch. (Wire cloth is needed for other purposes, it is best to procure some, even at considerable trouble and expense.) On the side of the board intended for the front, two inches from the edge of the wire cloth, a passage is cut for the bees, three-eights of an inch wide, by eleven in length. "But how is the bees to get to this place, so inconvenient, something is needed to assist them?" Certainly, Sir; an alighting board, eleven inches wide, and about two feet long, (not planed), is placed at an angle of forty-five degrees, between the two front posts of your stand, the upper end passing under the bottom, far enough back; to be just even with the back-side of the passage for the bees. The bees alight on this board, and walk up into the hive without difficulty. When the bees are at work pretty freely, and a door of this hive is opened, those that are about departing will be very likely to get on the glass, instead of through the opening at the bottom; seeing the light through the glass, they endeavor to escape by the nearest route. When so many gather here as to prevent a good view, and you wish to observe further, shut the door a moment and they will leave through their own passage, when you can open your door again, for a short time. After the hive is filled with combs, the number attracted to the glass on opening a door will be much less.

The plate on the preceding page represents a glass hive, cover, and stand. The common hive can be made equally ornamental, if you choose; this kind of stand is unnecessary for them. I use such as are recommended on page 138.