ENTRANCES TO HIVES. 



155 



ENTRANCES TO HIVES. 



and loafing by raising tlie brood-charcber 

 off the bottom, placing four blocks I of an 

 inch thick on the bottou'-board and setting 

 the brood-chamber back again. This will 

 provide an opening on all four sides. While 

 the bees will use the front or main entrance 

 mainly, they will fly out from the others. 

 With so much ventilation the ijees, unless 

 the cnlon'es nr"^ rx'r 'oidinirily str'^ng, will 



HIVE RAISED ON FOUR BLOCKS TO PROVIDE VENTILA- 

 TION AND TO SOME EXTENT KEEP 

 DOAVN SAVARMING. 



go back into the hive and go to work. Some 

 bee-keepers go so far as to claim that the 

 procedure will almost entirely eliminate 

 swarming. For further particulars on this 

 .subject see ''Prevention of Swarming '' un- 

 der head of " Swarming.'" 



Nuclei or weak colonies must have no 

 larger entrances than they can easily de- 

 fend. They should be as 

 small as possible after the 

 regular honey - flow, for 

 then it is that robbers are 

 liable to rush in pellmell 

 and overpower the guards 

 of the little colony, depriv- 

 ing it of the scanty stores 

 it may have. See Rob- 

 bing. A two-frame nucle- 

 us should not have an open- 

 ing larger than will admit 

 two or three bees at a time 

 if it is during the robbing 

 season. When the honey- 

 flow is on, it may be larger; 

 but it should be contracted 

 as soon as it eases up. 



size; but expeiience has shown that this is a 

 serious mistake. There is no more reason 

 why the bees should have their doors wide 

 open in mid-winter, letting chilling drafts 

 blow in, than that we should leave our doors 

 open. But a bee-hive is supposed to be her- 

 metically sealed at all points except the en- 

 trance, and, unlike the dwellings we live in, 

 it slioiild have at least a small opening at the 

 entrance, otherwise the bees 

 will be sure to die before the 

 following spring. An ordina- 

 ry eight - frame Langstroth 

 hive should have an entrance 

 not much larger than 8 inches 

 wide by i deep. During very 

 severe weather it might be 

 still further closed. Some of 

 the very strongest colonies 

 may have an opening of 8 or 

 10 inches; but with this con- 

 tracted entrance it may be 

 necessary for the apiarist to 

 hook the dead bees out with a 

 wire once during the winter, 

 and possibly once more in the 

 spring; for in no case must 

 the opening be clogged up. 



It is customary to have some sort of cleat 

 to reduce a wide entrance to a .small 

 slot on one side i by 5 or 6 inches. This, 

 when inserted slot side down, reduces the 

 opening to the proper size for outdoor-win- 

 tered bees. In. cleaning out the dead bees 

 the entrance-stop should be removed entire. 



When cool weather comes 

 on, the entrances of all col- 

 onies should be contracted, 

 both strong and weak, and kept so during 

 the entire winter if bees are left outdoors. 

 Formerly the practice was to allow the full 



A COLONY WITH AN ENTRANCE TOO SMALL M'HERE THE 

 BEES HAVE FOR3IED THE LOAFING HABIT. 



ly, making the entrance itself the full size. 

 Any dead ones that may have accumulated 

 should be raked out and the stop put back. 



