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From:
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 6 Jan 2013 17:39:59 -0500
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[note: the follower board is also called a division board or dummy]

Wintering Bees.—There is very little trouble in wintering bees successfully in this climate; all that is necessary is to have the hives properly made, and to prevent them becoming damp. Ventilation is one of the most important things to attend to, especially in winter, although a cold draught must not be allowed to penetrate the hive. If a one-inch hole be bored in each end of the cover, and covered with perforated zinc on the inside—to prevent insects getting in—and a stout porous mat be laid over the frames, it will allow of ample ventilation without a direct draught. 

In districts liable to heavy frosts the bees should be crowded on to as few combs as they can conveniently cover, and a division-board placed on each side of them, thus contracting the hive, and so leaving very little space for cold air. Division-boards are made to fit inside the hive from front to back, and should rest on the bottom board to prevent the bees getting outside of them. Cushions to lay on top of frames, under the cover, are capital things to keep the interior of the hive warm in winter. They should be made of scrim or some other substance, and filled with chaff. This will not stop the ventilation, but will absorb any moisture there may be in the hive, when it can be taken out and dried. --1883 Hopkins

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349. The division board, also called contractor or dummy, is an indispensable feature of all good hives. With its help, the hive may be adjusted to the size of the weakest swarm, and in Winter, the space behind it can be filled with warm and absorbing material (636). The constant use of a division board, even in the strongest colonies, renders the handling of combs much easier. All Apiarists know that the first comb is the hardest to remove. By removing the board first, the combs are at once free and can be easily taken out.

350. This board is made of the same depth as the frames, with a similar top-bar. Some Apiarists use a division-board the full depth of the hive, but in moving it, bees are crushed under it, and if any bees happen to be on the outside of it, they cannot escape, and die there. On the other hand, this bee-passage is not objectionable, since heat, having a tendency to rise, does not escape through it. The board is made one-fourth inch shorter than the inside of the hive, and a strip of oil-cloth or enamel cloth, one and a half inches wide, is tacked on, to fill the spaces at each end. In this way, the board fits well against the ends, and is never glued so as to make it difficult to remove. A small half-round pine-strip, laid against the end of the board, while tacking on the cloth, and pulled out afterwards, helps to tack the cloth properly. To prevent the bees from tearing or gnawing the edge of the cloth, some Apiarists nail a small strip of tin over it. --  1889 Dadant 

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Now, as the eight-frame hive is admittedly going out, there is no need to correct its  shortcomings. As the eight-frame hive has  room for eight frames, and a thin divisionboard (not over 3/8 inch thick), it is seriously faulty. That flimsy, worthless follower is one of the worst nuisances ever  put in a hive. -1915 Atwater 
 
* * *  
On page 928, Nov. 15, E. F. Atwater  gives his opinion of eight and ten frame  hives and following boards. I wish every  manufacturer of hives would read what he  says, and take it to heart, particularly in  regard to eight-frame hives and divisionboards. Let me quote : " As the eightframe hive has room for eight frames and  a thin division (not over 3/8 thick) it is  seriously faulty. That flimsy worthless  follower is one of the worst nuisances ever  put into a hive."  

He says further : " If propolis is at all plentiful the division-board is often broken when  being removed, and sooner or later is left  out entirely, and the self -spacing feature of  the frames destroyed entirely."   

Now, that just hits the whole subject  squarely on the head. I just wish those  who send out such hives had to open them  as the inspector has to in the presence of  the owner. I never ask who makes their  hives; for if I knew I fear I should never  think of them just the same again. In the  hands of a large majority of beekeepers  they are not a movable-comb hive at all,  and they no more think of taking the frames  out of their hives than they think of taking  their heads off when they go to bed. Perhaps I have said enough; but the suggestion of Mr. Atwater is a good one, that,  instead of eight frames and a flimsy following-board, better make all ten frame and  use but nine frames and a substantial following-board that can be taken out without  tearing it to pieces.  -1915 C C Miller 

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The Nuisance of the Follower-board or the Division-board in the Modern Hive

Referring to what Mr. J. E. Crane has to say on page 141 in commenting on the statement of E. F. Atwater on the flimsiness of the average division-board in the modern hive, we may offer this suggestion:

Leave it out entirely. We have been doing it for the last two years, and use it only when there is less than a full complement of frames in the hives. In our opinion a clumsy thick follower-board in a ten-frame hive with nine frames will not help matters much. What we need is extra room without a follower-board.

That room is not needed with the ordinary unspaced frames that can be squeezed closer together to remove the one desired. But with the self-spacer there is or should be, at least, extra room in the hive. By removing that naughty division-board, and keeping it out where you have a full complement of frames, with either eight or ten frame hives the extra room will be provided.  -- FEBRUARY 15,1916, E. R. Root

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