56 



FIFTEENTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



tion to sawdust is removed. From ob- 

 servations so far made, it appears that 

 the bee-keeper may use the materials 

 most easily obtained. If dry leaves are 

 used, they should be packed tight, but 

 sawdust should simply be poured in 

 place without being packed tight. 



The Entrance. — The weak place in 

 hive insulation is the entrance. An 

 opening S inches wide and % inch high 

 is abundant, it usually being con- 

 structed as a tunnel through the pack- 

 ing. In cold weather this might be 

 still further reduced. The opening 

 should be shielded from the wind, to 

 prevent a rapid loss of heat, for if the 

 wind blows against the entrance the 

 heat stored up in the packing is lost 

 bo-th to the outside and the inside. The 

 only reason for an entrance as large 

 as the size mentioned above is the dan- 

 ger that dead bees will drop from the 

 combs and block a smaller entrance. 

 Since the number of dead bees is great- 

 ly reduced in well-insulated hives this 

 is less important, and, furthermore, if 

 the air within the hive is warmed to 

 57° F. the dead bees will be pushed 

 outside, even in freezing weather. 



Methods of Packing. — The exact 

 method of packing is not especially im- 

 portant, provided enough insulation is 

 given on all sides. Colonies may be 

 packed singly in any sort of box, or 

 they may be packed in groups of four. 

 Some bee-keepers arrange colonies in 

 long rows and apply insulation to the 

 whole row. The placing of several hives 

 in contact has the advantage that the 

 colonies insulate one another. If ar- 

 ranged in groups of four, two facing 

 east and two west, they may be left on 

 the same stand throughout the year 

 and are readily manipulated during 

 summer. If in long rows close to- 

 gether, summer manipulations are im- 

 peded, unless the hives are moved after 

 the insulation is removed. Placing col- 

 onies in long rows is therefore not ad- 

 visable. "Whatever type of outer case 

 is used, it should be tight, to prevent 

 rain and snow from wetting the insula- 

 ting material. 



A rather common practice is to pack 

 the hive at the sides, top, and rear, 

 but to leave the front unprotected and 

 faced to the south, the object being to 

 utilize the heat of the sun to warm up 

 the interior of the hive and reduce the 

 work of the bees. Any place through 

 which external heat may readily reach 



the interior of the hive is also efficient 

 as an avenue through which heat may 

 be lost when the sun is not shining. 

 Since the sun shines less than half the 

 time in winter, making no allowance 

 for cloudy days, the weakness of the ar- 

 gument for this practice is obvious. A 

 similar practice is to paint the packing 

 cases a dark color to absorb the sun's 

 heat. Considerably more detailed work 

 is needed to determine to what extent 

 this source of heat is of value to the 

 colony. 



Time for Pactcing. — At the time of the 

 first killing frost the bee-keeper should 

 promptly remove supers, if any are on 

 his hives. If the bees are not ade- 

 quately supplied with good stores for 

 winter these should now be given im- 

 mediately, and, when the feeding is fin- 

 ished, the winter insulation should be 

 applied at once. At this time bees are 

 the quietest of any period of the year. 

 The disturbance incident to putting on 

 the insulation does not do them any 

 harm. After this the bee-keepe^ should 

 have no occasion to 6pen theuiive until 

 spring. An outer temperature above 

 60° F. is desirable at the time of pack- 

 ing, especially if no brood is present. 

 Any day w^hen bees are flying is suit- 

 alble. 



If packing is delayed until late it may 

 do far more damage than to leave the 

 bees unpacked. A colony of bees that 

 is generating heat in response to low 

 temperature is considerably disturbed 

 by the manipulations during packing 

 and the temperature of the inside of 

 the cluster is promptly raised. Fre- 

 quently, if bees are packed too late 

 (when it is too cold outside), the clus- 

 ter temperature is raised^ to brood- 

 rearing temperature, the queen begins 

 to lay eggs, and brood-rearing is usu- 

 ally then continued through the winter, 

 unless it results in the death of the 

 colony, as is often the case. Many- 

 bee-keepers pack their colonies in De- 

 cember with most harmful results. 

 There is probably no place inJ:he Unit- 

 ed States where packing is needed in 

 which it is safe to wait later than 

 Thanksgiving Day. Since more bee- 

 keepers make mistakes here than in 

 any other phase of outside wintering, 

 this should be emphasized most 

 strongly. The authors have succeeded 

 on several occasions in starting brood- 

 rearing in December by manipulation, 

 both in colonies w'intered outside and 

 in removing bees to a cellar, and it is 



