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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



47 



tell but what every hive has got the 

 same number of bees in. But in the 

 spring, when the bees are first set out, 

 and the wind is in a certain quarter, 

 you may get some drifting. 



Mr. Dadant— Mr. Kildow is right 

 when he says that the dangerous drift- 

 ing comes in the first spring; that is 

 the time it- hurts the worst; after a 

 while it does not make any difference 

 whether there are a few more bees in 

 one hive than another. How to pre- 

 vent it, is another proposition en- 

 tirely; and a pretty hard one. 



President Baxter — Anything further? 

 I don't know about this drifting busi-' 

 ness. I will concede Mr. Dadant is 

 right to a certain extent; that is to 

 say, there may be a little drifting dur- 

 ing the whole season, after the young 

 bees begin to fly, but not drifting to 

 the extent of being injurious to aiiy 

 one hive. 



I have had my bees in regular rows, 

 as straight and nice as could be, six 

 feet apart from center to center of en- 

 trance. My hives are painted differ- 

 ent colors. I never notice any drifting 

 to any. extent, not to an injurious 

 extent, to other hives. 



I manipulate my hives so often I 

 know just what is going on; if the 

 queens were all of the same capacity, 

 I would know that, too. There has 

 never been, in my experience, drifting 

 in the last three or four years, to be 

 injurious to any of the hives. 



Mr. Dadant — I didn't mean to say 

 the drifting was injurious. I knew of 

 only one kind of drifting that was in- 

 jurious, that was in taking bees out 

 of the cellar. We overcame that by 

 placing the hives back in the same 

 place. 



Dr. Miller says it makes no differ- 

 ence where you put your colonies back 

 in the spring after taking them out 

 of the cellar. 



We have in our apiary two kinds of 

 hives, American frame, 12 by 12 on 

 one side, and the Quimby, 11% by 18 

 on the other side. In hiving some 

 swarms one year, we had hived some 

 in the other kind of hives that be- 

 longed to the other side, and vice 

 versa. We had American hives on the 

 Quimby side and the Quimby hives 

 on the American side, and we decided 

 when we took them out of the winter 

 cellar quarters it would be a good time 



to place them back where they should 

 be, on the same side of the other colo- 

 nies of the same shape. 



In the morning we took them out of 

 the cellar, and some of the bees acted 

 queerly; it was the bees of those colo- 

 nies that had been changed; they were 

 looking for their hives. I am satisfied 

 they remembered the location. 



If you put your bees in the cellar 

 indiscriminately, and put them back 

 haphazard, you will have drifting. 

 That is why I say it can cause drift- 

 ing. Your bees are bewildered; they 

 are not where they were last fall. Of 

 course, the more they are mixed up 

 the more drifting there is. 



When you put your bees in the cel- 

 lar, mark the spot in the fall, and 

 mark the spot on which the hives 

 stood, and you will avoid drifting. 



President Baxter — ^What ha^ your 

 experience been, to take them late in 

 the afternoon? 



Mr. Dadant — That would make no 

 difference. 



Mr. Coppin — I find Mr. Dadant's 

 theory^ is right in regard to bees re- 

 membering their place when they 

 come out of the cellar in the spring. 



I have been in the habit of winter- 

 ing bees in the cellar a long time. Mr. 

 Dadant says to keep track of where 

 you take the bees from in the fall and 

 where you put them in the spring, 

 and put them in the same place. 



I have tried to do that, but, when it 

 comes to taking out 100 or 150, I 

 could never tell just where they be- 

 longed. 



Mr. Dadant — Have a number upon^ 

 them ; have a roof on the stand and put 

 the number under the roof with chalk, 

 ■ and when we take them out they are 

 taken in order, anyway, after you get 

 started. It is like taking a lot of 

 chairs out of a room. 



Mr. Coppin — I have been taking 

 them out of the cellar and putting 

 them on stands, and before I would 

 get half way through I would notice 

 in another part of the bee yard a 

 bunch of bees gathered, and would 

 have to put hives there to catch those 

 bees. It was evident the bees in the 

 fall know their place, and when they 

 came out in the spring I would have 

 to keep filling in the spaces. 



President Baxter — It would be much 

 better to take the number of the hive 

 and locate where they belong. 



