Dandy Hive

[For want of a better word]

I have been given a book titled The BEE~KEEPERS GUIDE, By George Charlton Hexham, Northumberland. 1877.

There is a description of a hive he call the Bar Frame of Ca 1860....
Boxes 13 in by 15 in inside and 9 in deep with laths on top 1 1/2 in from centre to centre, loose top with 4 1/2 in. " dandy," as we called them. Laths on them also....
By having all boxes one size, dandies or supers, we could raise the super when full, and slip an empty one in between both having honey above and brood below.

.... hives that are of most service in this district to be from about 1,300 to 1,600 cubic inches inside...

.. never buy a hive with frames cross the hive, as the frames should face the entrance, though many writers advise the contrary. By putting a swarm into a skep ninety times out of a hundred they will build the comb north and south..... what does this mean? It means this, that the sun gets at both sides of the comb in one day. I take another view of it. Dead bees are much better got out, and it is easier getting at the comb when they are breeding....

Also mentioned is his trials with hybridisation of Ligurian bees bought from Mrs Barton in Germany in 1886 with the local ( Amm) bees..... with the ( CROSS) bees This year (1886) has been a bad one, but I had 3 cwt. of honey off twelve hives. The home~bred ones are far better than those imported, as they have got our natural food from the beginning and are hardier queens

A line drawing on the front cover shows a typical pitched roof hive on a floor
with a brood box with fixed sloping entrance cover with integral entrance plus an entrance block with multiple bee space entrances.

The description seems to be of a one sized removable frame system not unlike the Rose Hive, mention is also made of forming "sections" in the removable frames, that could be removed as soon as filled and capped.... and replaced with new sections... a V of wax is to be placed in top of each section for the bees to drew new comb down from....

The book owner has asked me not to reproduce any part of the book anywhere so I have modified the actual wording, but without altering its meaning.

Yeghes da

 

[rolande]

I have been given a book titled The BEE~KEEPERS GUIDE, By George Charlton Hexham, Northumberland. 1877.

The book owner has asked me not to reproduce any part of the book anywhere so I have modified the actual wording, but without altering its meaning.
:judge

Yes, and subtly modified the bibliographic details!

 

[For want of a better word]

Yes, and subtly modified the bibliographic details!

I can see where you are coming from.... as any mention of importing bees would seem elicit a certain response from some?... perhaps all of the other copies of the guide have been destroyed as being the writings of a heretic?

Perhaps as you seem to have a copy of the guide you could be kind enough to publish the paragraph written by George Charlton *verbatum?

* if that is the correct word.

I have agreed to comply with the Guides owner not to reproduce it anywhere, but thought some of the content would have a historical interest to some beekeepers..... specifically on the box sizes.

Yeghes da

 

[rolande]

I don't have a copy myself at present -but I do know of two copies of the facsimile currently being advertised for sale, at widely different prices, in your neck of the woods...

 

[For want of a better word]

I don't have a copy myself at present -but I do know of two copies of the facsimile currently being advertised for sale, at widely different prices, in your neck of the woods...

Thanks for that Rolande... I searched the antiquarian book sites and found one in Penryn for £10!
I doubt if I would ever have known of the book if one of his relatives had not told me of it at he Callington Honey Fair!

My ( Photocopy) has notes ( almost illegible written by the ???authors own hand in pencil)... he must have been playing with crossing out or hybridisation of the local stock of bees with some he had obtained from Germany, which recognising the date, must have been quite pioneering at that time.

He also comments that he must have tried "scores of different kinds of hives and boxes both in size and shape"... but the Dandy worked the best.
Says he had a large hive of black bee out of the south but they swarmed and never gave a super of honey ( as they were given too much space)

The text " In Concluding" could be repeated, and is valid today just as much as when written ~ in 1886!

Little changes in Beekeepering it would seem!

Yeghes da

 

[Gilberdyke John]

[ out of the south but they swarmed and never gave a super of honey ( as they were given too much space)

The text " In Concluding" could be repeated, and is valid today just as much as when writte

Little changes in Beekeepering it would seem!

Yeghes da[/QUOTE]

Nothing more to be said then

 

[For want of a better word]

[ out of the south but they swarmed and never gave a super of honey ( as they were given too much space)

The text " In Concluding" could be repeated, and is valid today just as much as when writte

Little changes in Beekeepering it would seem!

Yeghes da

Nothing more to be said then [/QUOTE]

But another forgotten hive type to be added to the list?
( I can see why once regular forum posters have retired now)

Nos da

 

[rolande]

Thanks for that Rolande... I searched the antiquarian book sites and found one in Penryn for £10!

Excellent! It's quite a rarity even in the facsimile form. You've bagged a bargain .