menu_book Chapter 10

Section 10 of Beekeeping for All. A Manual of Honeycraft by Ticknor Edwards. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Preparing for the Honey Harvest. In preparing for the honey harvest, it must be decided in the outset whether we will employ the two sizes of frame, the standard for brew chambers and the shallow for extracting crates,

or whether we will use only the large standard frame for all purposes. There is much to be said in favour of both methods. No doubt, in honey production, racks of shallow frames are easier to handle. The bees fill them more quickly and we do not create so large an empty space in a hive when we put on a shallow crate, as happens when a crate of the large standard frames is given. This means that the hive temperature is not lowered so much in the

first case, as when the big rack of ten standards is put on to draw away heat from the brood nest. Moreover, towards the end of the season, it is easier to get shallow frames finished and sealed, and so there is less raw honey to be discarded. On the other hand, by the use of one size of frame only throughout the apiary for both brood and honey, we effect a simplification in procedure. The larger racks mean less frequent interference with

the hives. There is less wood in the total cubic area of the surplus racks, and so more room for honey storage. The rate of storage itself is, I think, slightly more rapid with the larger frames. Finally, there is this decided advantage. We have always a supply of fully worked out frames in readiness on which to hive swarms and driven bees, and for filling up brood chambers when we are dividing colonies. Shallow frames are suitable

only for honey storing. The beekeeper must weigh the evidence on either side and decide the matter for himself. My own preference is for the standard frame only. It is rather cumbersome to handle, and sometimes difficult to uncap cleanly when extracting. But the two points, a slightly larger honey yield and the fact that all honey frames are, at a pinch, equally available for brood raising, just turn the balances, in my opinion, in

its favour. I admit, however, that I am in the minority here. Perfect combs, built straight and true within their frames, are an absolute necessity in modern scientific beekeeping. These are to be secured, first, by strict verticality in the hive itself, second, by the frames hanging in the brood chamber true and parallel with each other and with the sides of the hive, and third, by joining the frames up correctly and furnishing the hive

in the proper way. A fourth essential in obtaining straight combs is to supply these new frames to the bees only just before they are needed for the expansion of the colony. The different parts of the frames are sold by the dealers in bundles, needing only to be assembled. The parts usually dovetail together, but the dovetail joints must never be relied on to keep the frame intact. Each joint should be finished with a wire brad driven firmly home,

or the frames may come asunder at critical moments when being handled, and bees may be killed as well as the comb destroyed. The most common form of frame is that with a longer tudinal saw cut in the top bar to grip the edge of the foundation sheet. I have always used this slotted bar in my own practice and have little fault to find with it when made of sufficiently stelt material. One often hears the complaint, however, that the groove

which is left on the top of each bar is a frequent hiding place for the larvae of wax moth. This difficulty can be got over by using bars without the saw cut and affixing the foundation to the undersides of the bars by a runlet of melted wax. The work of getting comb frames ready for the hives is rather tedious than difficult, but by preparing a good many at a time the various details can be systematised and the labour lightened by

being rendered automatic. Each frame consists of four pieces, the long top bar, the two sides and the bottom strip. The materials and tools needed are the three kinds of frame parts in three separate heaps conveniently to the hand. Sheets of pure beeswax foundation measuring 13 inches by 7.25 inches and weighing about 8 sheets to the pound. 3.25 inch brass gimp pins, a reel of tinned wire, a small pair of round nose pliers and an ordinary

light hammer. The side pieces are first taken and through the flat of each of them two pins are driven exactly in the centre and 1.5 inches from each end. Then one of the top bars is laid flat on the table with the longest part of the saw cut uppermost. Two side pieces are pressed into place on the bar, the points of the pins being inside. A bottom strip is now laid across the side pieces and hammered home, first taking care that the dovetails

coincide. Wire nails are now driven through the four dovetail corners to make all fast and the frame trued up with the hammer square in every direction. Finally the four pins which point inwards through the side bars are bent into hooks by means of the pliers, the hooks of each side pointing away from one another. We are now ready to begin wiring. There are many different systems of wiring a comb frame, but no doubt the best for our

purpose is that shown in the sketch of figure 26. The frame is held with the bar uppermost. The wire is attached to one of the upper hooks, carried across to the opposite hook, then downwards to the lower hook on the same side and across the frame again. The final operation is to pass the wire over the upper strand and pull it firmly downwards, fastening it off securely at the lower hook opposite. The process is really quite simple, but will be

rendered clearer still by a study of the illustration. A good plan is to cut the wire into lengths before commencing work, and each length should be stretched before use. In wiring comb frames much depends on getting the wire quite taut. After it is fastened off it should give out a high clear note like a harp string when struck by the finger. With a little practice, the beekeeper will come to use the intensity of this note as an indication of whether the

frame has been correctly wired or not. Any slackness in the wire is fatal to straight comb building here after. The last step that should be taken in preparing comb frames for summer use is to insert the sheet of foundation in the saw cut of the top bar. It will be found that the sheet cannot be pushed into the saw cut until the latter has been sprung open by some means or other. Every beekeeper has his own device for effecting this. Without

wasting space in enumerating the advantages and disadvantages of many methods, I will describe the one that, in my own experience, has proved both simple and practical. I have a piece of 1 inch flat board, 18 inches long and 12 inches wide, in the centre of which are two spikes, made of nails with their heads filed off, driven in 3 eighths of an inch apart and 3 eighths of an inch high. The spikes stand in line at right angles to the length

of the board. The inverted comb frame is taken and stood upon the board crosswise, the spikes coming inside the saw cut. Now the frame is revolved upon the spikes until it stands parallel with the board, and the effect of this is to prise open the slot in the bar sufficiently to allow the edge of the foundation sheet to be dropped into it. When the frame is turned back into its original position, the saw cut closes and the foundation is securely

gripped in place. The foundation, if properly centred, should now lie against the wires approaching the frame. However, no nearer than one quarter of an inch at each side and a half an inch at the bottom. These intervals are necessary to allow for future expansion in the sheet. The comb frames thus prepared should be stored on shelves in the cupboards of the Honey House, the frames being ranged vertically side by side and close together.

By leaving the metal ends to be fixed in place only when the frames are required for use in the apiary, we economise cupboard space, as the frames thus occupy a smaller area. The work of embedding the wires in the foundation should also be left until the frames are actually needed for use. Foundation expands under heat and it is important that the embedding should be done at a time when the wax and sheet is as nearly as possible at the same

temperature as the hive in which it is to be placed. If the embedding were to be done earlier, the consequence would be that the foundation, instead of expanding in one homogenous piece, would fall into a series of curved zones caused by the wires impeding the swelling process, and this would result in irregular combs. I have given eight sheets to the pound as the proper weight to be used in all wired comb frames, because this has proved sufficient

for the purpose, and I regard the use of thicker foundation, therefore, as merely waste of money. The heavier makes are needed only with unwired frames, but these I strongly advise all beekeepers to avoid. Sections In making up sections, unlike the best practice with frames, the whole work can be done at a single operation, and the racks can be fitted

up at once and stored away, ready to be placed on the hives. For the amateur, with a niche for novelties, apart from their value as improvements, the bee appliance dealers offer many varieties of sections. For the practical honey producer, however, there is only one kind. The two-way section, that having a b-way cut out of the top and bottom edges only, and without internal grooves or split tops, is the best for many reasons. The split top is unnecessary because

the foundation can be fixed perfectly well without it, and it is undesirable because with it the foundation seldom hangs plumb. The internal grooves are also to be avoided because, if the square of foundation is large enough to fit into them, it is too large and will assuredly buckle under the heat of the hive. The same process is used for the bottom section. The second precaution as to allowing room for expansion must be observed in making

up sections as for frames. There is no positive objection to four b-ways in a section instead of two, so far as sound beemanship is concerned, but the four-way has no proved advantages, while on a shop counter it undoubtedly looks smaller than the two-way. A final recommendation of the two-way plane top section is that it is somewhat cheaper than any other. In preparing sections it is well to proceed in the same wholesale methodical way as when fitting up

frames. The entire batch should first be folded, the dovetailed corners brought together, and the hull trued up square. Then the work of fastening in the foundation should be carried through in one operation for all. Finally, the complete set of racks should be filled together and put away out of the reach of damp, dust, light or vermin. As received by the merchant, the sections are packed in 50 or 100 lots, each section consisting of a

long flat strip with dovetailed ends, and three transverse V-shaped cuts denoting where it is to be folded at the corners. At the back of each strip, where the V-cut comes, the wood is very thin. If the sections have been in stock some time and the wood become dry, they are liable to break at this point when being folded. It is always safer, therefore, to run through the entire batch before commencing to fold, giving each a wipe on the back with

a damp sponge. A very few minutes will account for a large number of sections in this way, and in the long run the trouble is more than paid for. Broken sections are good for nothing but to be thrown away. No block should be necessary in folding sections if the beekeeper is possessed of an ordinarily straight eye. But in fixing the foundation exactly in the centre of each section, a proper gauge block is, of course, indispensable. This gauge consists

of a piece of hard, smooth wood measuring 3 7 eighths of an inch square and a shade less than an inch in thickness, nailed onto another piece an inch or so larger in all directions. If the section is fitted over this gauge and the 3 3 quarter inch square foundation laid inside it with one edge close against the upper part of the section, the foundation should come exactly in the middle. Nothing remains now but to fix the foundation

in place. For this purpose a vessel containing melted wax must be at hand, the wax being kept in a fluid condition over a small spirit lamp. The gauge, with section and square of foundation accurately fitted upon it, is held in the left hand with its upper part slightly lowered and a slant. Into the angular channel, formed by the top edge of the foundation and the underside of the section top, is now dropped a little of the melted wax, and the gauge

is tilted rapidly from side to side that the wax may run to and fro in the channel until it becomes solid. The section is then removed, reversed on the gauge and the same process repeated. Finally it is stood upright on a perfectly level table to allow the wax to set hard. If the thing has been properly done as described it will be found that the foundation hangs dead true and quite fast in the centre of the section, with no tendency to get out

of the perpendicular, as is always the case when the split top device of fixing the wax sheet is employed. The best instrument for dropping the fluid wax into place is an ordinary household teaspoon with the end of its bowl nipped up into a fairly sharp point. Section foundation should be as thin as possible, no more than 23 to 30 full sheets to the pound, and with all foundation it is important to fix it the right way up. Foundation should

hang so that two of the six straight lines indicating the sides of each cell are vertical. A horizontal cell side is unusual in a naturally built comb. An ordinary section rack for placing on the hives will hold 21 of these prepared cases in seven rows of three. Between each row is inserted a flat piece of slotted tin or thin wood which is called a divider, the hole being wedged up together by a dummy board and spring. The dividers are employed not

only to secure a flat surface on each side of the comb, but also to prevent the encroachment of the comb of one section upon the space of the next, thus securing an invariable definite weight. The bees draw out each side of the comb until it is precisely a quarter of an inch from the divider, a flat comb surface being in this way secured throughout the whole section. Stock division. Beekeepers who have only a small number of hives and who wish

during the coming season, rather to increase their holding in bees than to obtain a maximum yield of honey, would do well to adopt the following plan of stock division which is based on the system of Mr Alexander, one of America's biggest and most successful bee men. The main object of the plan is to augment the number of colonies in the apiary without relying on the wasteful and uncertain method of natural swarming, such increase being obtained

without in any way checking the queen's egg laying activities nor interfering with the work of the bees. The time for the operation is that verging on the natural swarming period for the district, which for southern England would be normally from the second week in May onward. A good average strong stock is selected for division and the best hour to deal with it is towards midday in summer time when many bees are flying. A spare hive is

previously furnished with a set of empty brood combs or failing these with frames of foundation. The old hive is lifted from its stand and brought forward about a yard, the new hive being stood in its place. One comb frame is removed from the centre of this new hive. Now open the old hive and take out one of the best of its frames of brood and put it in the vacant place in the new hive, making sure that the queen is upon it. Over the frames

put a sheet of excluder zinc. The empty frame, which you have just taken from the new hive, should now be put in the vacant place in the old one and the old hive stood on top of the excluder zinc, packing all round snugly in such a way that there is no means of egress or ingress to the old hive except through the new hive below. Great care must be taken to remove any sign of a queen's cell from the frame of brood dealt with as above described.

It is essential to the success of the plan that no queen raising operations should be permitted. You now have the stock in two brood nests divided by a queen interceptor, the queen herself being below. Leave the stock thus for five days and then open the upper box, going over the combs carefully and destroying any queen rearing preparations that may have been set in course. After another five or six days take the upper box, which is the

old hive, entirely away, establishing it as a new colony on a station in another part of the apiary. This new colony will be populated mainly by young bees and will, of course, be queenless. It should be left thus for about 24 hours when a good fertile queen should be introduced. The net result of this plan, if properly carried out, is that you have turned your one stock into two at the single expense entailed in the purchase of a queen.

And even this can be avoided if, instead of giving the new stock a fully fertile mother bee, you introduce a ripe queen cell or virgin queen from one of your other hives. This, however, involves loss of time while the queen is making ready for her life's business. Economically the better course is to order a fertile queen of good strain from some reputable queen breeder.