THE “HAND” HIVE AND SYSTEM OF BEEMANAGEMENT.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XVII, Issue 2, 20 August 1918, Page 74

THE “HAND” HIVE AND SYSTEM OF BEEMANAGEMENT.

By

A. B. TRYTHALL,

Beekeeper, Ruakura Farm of Instruction.

What is . considered the best experiment undertaken at'the. Ruakura apiary : during: the last two seasons , has been a test ' of . the “ Hand ” system of working bees, for honey and increase. This system is. based on a special floor-board invented by Mr. J. E. Hand, of Birmingham, Ohio, U.S.A., : and described in his book entitled “ Beekeeping by Twentieth-century Methods.” .. An epitome, of the system is. also .given in the “ABC and XY Z of Bee-culture ” (1913 edition), certain portions of .which are embodied in this article. : ■ ■ .

One great.: advantage. of the Hand, system is that the floor-board is the only part that differs from the beekeeper's ordinary, plant, so .that all other appliances fall into line, without any alteration whatever. This floor-board (shown- in the accompanying illustration) is of double width, capable of 'taking two hive-bodies side by side,. There are entrances ,on all four sides ; those at the front and back can, be manipulated by means of a pivoted switch or lever in such a way as to throw the flying bees into either right or. left body-boxes at will, the sliding-lever closing the entrance to one side as it opens the other. The entrances -at each end are auxiliary only. , ■ - - ; iJ "-

THE SYSTEM EXPLAINED.

To explain the system of management we will presume that a stock of bees , has been placed on the left side of the Hand floor-board with the switches arranged so that the Tight entrance, is' at the. front; "' We will suppose also that the ordinary : spring management has brought the hive .up to.full, strength as early: in the season as possible. By about .the end -of October in the Waikato district the bees . should be strong enough to have fairly well , filled a . super .in addition- to their brood-chamber, and preparations ' for .'swarming might be expected at anytime.' ■ . . .wc" .• .

: > From ; about, this time,-the. Hand system . of management really commences. It consists of four separate operations, extending : over the following six to eight weeks, and for ease of reference in describing these operations we will refer to. the. hive on the left side of the floorboard as “ No. 1,” and that, on the right side as -“ No. 2-”-,v the main entrances to . either hive as “ front ” and “ back ” respectively, and the. auxiliary entrances as “ left ” and “ right.” • Details of the four manipulations are as follows: — ' ■

■ (i.) On a fine day when bees are flying, freely and numbers will be out in the.fields remove super. from No. I and place it-on right side of .floor-board. (No. 2), .and exchange the. central comb for a : comb of brood and bees, . including, the queen from No. 1 ; put on No. 2 a queen-excluder and a super of empty combs, and close the hive. / Next throw over the front switch, thus in one operation closing the entrance, to No. 1 and opening one leading to No. 2. This is done without

changing the appearance or. position of the outside entrance, which is always open full width. The returning field-bees will enter No. 2 without any hesitation and through their accustomed entrance, Thus causing no disturbance, and finding there their own queen and a small brood-nest with plenty of available space they will settle down immediately to hard work. • Now throw the switch at the back to provide a new. entrance to No. I, which has been so smoothly robbed of its field-bees, and which is now given a young laying queen to take the place of the one removed to No. 2.- ; (2.) In about eight to ten days’., time examine No. 1, and see that the young queen has been accepted and is laying freely. If the hive is very full of bees, which it probably will be owing to the continuous hatching of young bees, again throw over the back lever, thus drafting the flying-bees to No. 2, into which they will run as though nothing had happened. This will usually settle the swarming, question during the honey-flow. Both switch entrances to No. 1 being now closed, we open the auxiliary entrance at the left-hand end. . Both hives can now usually be left from four to six weeks without attention other than the giving of additional super accommodation if needed. (3.) At the end of a month to six weeks (which in the Waikato would probably be about the middle of December, and therefore the usual time for the commencement of our honey-flow) the condition of the hives would most likely be as follows : No. 1 would have brood-nest full from side to side, with abundance of bees and headed by young queen. No. 2 would have full brood-nest under excluder, with abundance of bees, and headed by the old queen, who would now be all the better for a little rest. Honey would probably be coming in nicely to the super or supers above. We now remove the excluder and supers from No. 2 and place them over No. 1, and on the top of all place an additional empty super, into which are placed all the frames of brood and bees from No. 2, with the exception of two with adhering bees and queen, which are left behind. Now close No. .1, and throw over both front and back switches, closing entrance to No. 2 and drafting the full force of field-bees from both hives into .No.- 1. Now, returning to No. 2, which we left with old queen and two good frames of brood with plenty of adhering bees, fill in the hive with eight empty combs and close up, and, as both switch entrances have been closed, open the auxiliary entrance at right end. . (4.) Eight days later examine the eight brood-frames transferred to the top chamber of No. 1, and cut out any queen-cells that may have been formed there.

In all these manipulations a careful watch must be kept to see that a supply of stores is always present in each half, so as to provide •against any possible dearth of nectar from outside.

CONDITION OF THE HIVES DESCRIBED

' The hives may now be described as follows : No. i, having a young queen who has laid comparatively few eggs, will not be likely to. cast a swarm, especially as it has a' double entrance (front and back), and an end entrance on the left, aided by a i in. space under the frames, making about the strongest combination imaginable for the prevention ■of swarming. In addition to its own brood-nest under excluder, it has any number up to eight frames of brood, in its top story, the bees

of which, when hatched, will provide an extra army of honey-gatherers. It also has all the flying-bees from both No. I and No. 2. Therefore, with such an enormous . population just as the main honey-flow is coming on, and .with only one brood-nest proper to maintain and attend to, it should be able to store the maximum amount of honey obtainable, and should require no further attention during the season other than to. be kept well supplied with' abundance of super accommodation. No. 2 is practically a nucleus hive, which should without difficulty build up by the end of the season into a good colony with plenty of stores to winter on. The old queen, after having had strenuous spring work, is forced to take a semi-rest, and therefore should be equal to good work another year ; but should there be a spare young queen on hand at any time it would be easy to supersede the former if thought fit. This hive gives the 100-per-cent. increase with little labour. When the bees are resting in winter it can be moved to a new stand of its own. Should, however, no increase be desired it is a simple matter, at the third manipulation, to kill the old queen and put her whole brood-nest on top of No. 1, instead of reserving the two frames of brood for increase as before arranged. It is necessary to add that the periods given for the various manipulations’ are only . approximate ; every beekeeper must be guided by the conditions of his own district and its flora.

THE ADVANTAGES SUMMARIZED.

I may now sum up the advantages of the system generally. The manipulations are few, easy, and cause the minimum of disturbance to the bees. . Swarming is prevented by a simple definite process. My thirty years' : experience in bees has provided me with no other way of swarm-control nearly so effective or easy. Perfect control of bees is- obtained. If in spite of everything (as will sometimes happen) any colony shows preparations for swarming, . they can be frustrated by switching the flying-bees over to the other side. Any system whereby the progency of two queens laying prolifically for six weeks just prior to the main honey-flow can be made to work in conjunction throughout the flow with only one brood-nest to look after should appeal to any beekeeper. If choice natural queen-cells are wanted it would -be difficult to produce them under better conditions than those cut out at the fourth manipulation. In fact,' a bar of queen-cells with, choice larvae put between the brood-frames on top of No. I at the third operation • (or following day for preference) would be started under ideal conditions. Our best batch at Ruakura during the past summer was produced in this wav. • • . ■

With the Hand method there is no spilling of nectar on the ground, no incentive to superabundance of stings, no possible loss of queens or clustering of bees with their queen under the floor-board —all of which are likely to happen when “ shook ” swarming is carried out. When bees are switched over from one side to the other they enter without hesitation, and no time is lost by them in getting accustomed to their new surroundings. This, if a honey-flow is on, may mean a considerable gain in honey in favour of the Hand system over methods in which the position of the entrance is changed, or where the bees are shaken or otherwise roughly treated, throwing them into abnormal condition. •

Another strong point is that the brood in one half is held in reserve to reinforce the other half, one hive being a storehouse for honey and the other a nursery for the reinforcements of .young bees—both being connected and under complete control. The last but by no means the least advantage to be gained is in the establishment of an easy, definite system of work that can be applied to any strong hive. The writer, like many other beekeepers, can look back on years: of experimenting to find a system of work to’suit himself and his district, while a clear-cut method of procedure, like the Hand system, would doubtless have saved much worry and labour and have produced far better returns in honey.

COMPARISONS WITH OTHER METHODS

Before concluding I may compare the Hand system with the various other leading methods used by prominent beekeepers here in New Zealand — so much to . show wherein it differs from them, but rather how it gathers up and appropriates to itself the good points of them all. Many apiarists adopt the shake-swarm method, but surely the first manipulation of the Hand system accomplishes the same result in a much simpler way! One of our former presidents of the National Beekeepers’ Association (and a president is usually, a master of the craft) gives, I believe, a second shake, but the Hand gives at least two and a half. Others remove frames of brood more or less weekly above excluders, or scatter it through the supers without using excluders. The Hand system- not only moves brood, but switches the bees after it. Some take the brood and distribute it amongst other colonies. How easy, even in careful hands, thus to convey foul-brood at the same time should the enemy be lurking in the district! The Hand hive is self-contained all the time. The ripened experience of our largest beekeeper in the Waikato has developed a system by which he introduces a young laying queen into his hives early in : December, just as the main flow from white clover may be expected. He argues that the old queen is on the decline, having spent her energies during the long spring and manuka-nectar gathering, and needs a rest. The new queen gives. vim and population to the hive. He holds that no colony does its best at two crops if headed by the same queen. The reasoning is sound ; the 'heather-honey producers at Home and some prominent American apiarists say the same. . Truly the Hand scores heaviest of all here, for it is the young queen and her progeny that attack the main flow, but with the further help of nearly all the old queen’s. brood-nest and bees thrown in. .

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED

The advantages of the Hand system being so many, has it no disadvantages ? I have only heard one —namely, that when the flying-bees were switched away many larvae would perish for want of the necessary water for the nurse-bees’ use. I have not proved this to be so, but there is scope here for detailed experiment. Even if it is true there are two remedies, both of which I have used, I believe, successfully. One is to fill a comb with water from under a tap and put it in the hive in place of the one taken out with the queen at the first manipulation. The other is to open the back switch a week before the first operation in order to tempt a few bees to get used to that entrance beforehand and so be able to act as water-carriers when

wanted. It may be asked what would happen if the bees swarmed just before one was ready to commence the treatment. That did happen to me once (the fault was my own, of course), but the remedy was absurdly simple. The queen, being clipped, was picked up, caged, and placed just inside No. 2 entrance. The switch-lever was thrown over, thus closing No. 1 and opening No. 2, and the swarm on returning to their old entrance were drafted straight into their new home to their queen, and the first Hand manipulation had practically been performed with even less work than usual. The back entrance to No. 1 was opened after the swarm had settled down, the super transferred to No. 2, queen-cells were cut out of No. 1, a young queen was given, and all ended well.

APPLE-TREE ROOT-SYSTEM REVEALED BY FLOOD.

When dealing with orchard cultivation, manuring, and intercropping any information on the actual position of the roots of the trees is of value. Considerable light was thrown on the subject by a flood at Brightwater, near Nelson, in March last, which washed out a 4- or 5-acre .block of seven-year-old apple-trees of the Delicious variety. The orchard was situated just below the terrace on a river-bed, the soil consisting of 18 in. to 2 ft. of loam on a shingly subsoil. In some

places the flood washed away the soil altogether, in others the soil was washed away to the depth of the plough-sole.' As a result the rootsystem of the trees was revealed, showing most of the main roots radiating horizontally some 8 in. or 9 in. below the normal surface for a distance, on the average, of 21 ft. An examination of the ploughsole showed it to be a perfect network of hairlike apple-roots over the whole surface. The remarkable spread of the main roots is shown in the accompanying photo. The trees are of the usual type, 6 ft. to 7 ft. high, and planted on the square at a distance of 18 ft. — W. C. Hyde, 'Orchard Instructor, Nelson.