ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION. 



95 



Mr. Wheeler— How much did the bees 

 cost you in express charges to bring them 

 from the South? 



Mi. Hassinger — It cost me about three 

 dollars and twenty-five cents complete, for 

 the bees and the express, delivered. 



The President — The question is asked 

 whether it pays better to winter over the 

 weak colonies, feeding them, taking honey 

 from other colonies to feed them, or will 

 it pay better to buy these packages in the 

 spring? 



Mr. Simmons— Well, I Would sav mine 

 cost me within a cent or two nf three 

 dollars and fifteen cents per packao"e de- 

 livered at my place. All of the queens 

 were good with those shipments. The 

 queens were caged and put ia the package, 

 so that the bees were there to care for them 

 en route. Each queen was caged separate- 

 ly. They were accepted, and no losses 

 resulted. I had one shipment before, 

 some two or three yeare ago, that was a 

 complete failure. 



The President— The problem is, is it a 

 paymg proposition to allow those bees to 

 die in the fall, in case they are not in good 

 condition, and buy bees in the spring, or 

 winter th^m over and feed them high- 

 priced feed. 



Mr. Smith— Mr. President, it will de- 

 pend on hov\' the bees are wintered. If 

 you have some colonies that won't winter 

 outside you can winter them in the cellar. 

 If they wouldn't winter outside, I should 

 judge, myself, that it would pay to winter 

 all the small colonies in the cellar. It 

 doesn't require much stores to keep them. 

 They are light on stores, and they will 

 winter in the cellar when they wouldn't 

 outside. 



The President — Sometimes they will use 

 more honey if they are light, than when 

 they are strong. 



Mr. Smith — I wintered one frame of bees 

 with only two frames in the broodhive, 

 by packing them warm enough. 



Mr. Simmons — In a cellar or out of 

 doors? 



Mr. Smith — I put them thirty feet above 

 ground, on top of a three-story building, 

 on the roof of a three-story house, and I 

 packed them warm enough. I only had 

 two frames in an eight-frame hive. I put 

 in one frame of bees with a frame of honey, 

 and then I put about si.x or eight inches of 

 hair felt around that hive, and I made a 

 two or three inch hole for the bees to go 

 out and in, and they came through in fine 

 shape. 



Mr. Russow — Last year I had one with 

 three frames, in a little hive, and I put 

 them up in the attic, and on the fiont I 



fastened a little mosquito netting, so they 

 couldn't get out, and then I tacked some- 

 thing over that in front — only three frames. 

 I put them in the attic, and I did not look 

 at them at all. I was away from them-for 

 nine weeks, and they were all right. 



Mr. Dadant— Mr. Chairman, in keeping 

 bees in quadruple cases, i have had some 

 trouble with bees drifting; that is, take a 

 light swarm, in the early spring they drift 

 from one to the other, and it is hard to tell 

 whether your light swarm is coming 

 through or not. We found that to be the 

 worst trouble in packing bees. A great 

 many people speak of putting four or two 

 together. Whenever we tried that we had 

 more or less drifting. The trouble is, when 

 you move bees from the spot to which 

 they are accustomed, they lose their bear- 

 ings. I do not know whether most of you 

 have tried moving a colony six inches, and 

 the bees will come to that place where it 

 stood and then have to look a little while 

 to find the home. When you move your 

 four hives of bees, or two, and move them 

 quick, there is the same trouble: the 

 stronger colony will have more bees, calling 

 the others when thej' find the home, and 

 the bees of the weaker colony will answer 

 the call and will go there. That is what 

 we call drifting. The trouble is that in 

 drifting it is the weak colonies that lose 

 the bees and the strong colonies gain them. 

 That is wh}"^ we have never liked to change 

 the position of the hives, and I would 

 rather pack the hives singly than pack 

 them together, on that account. 



In regard to wintering, in most colonies, 

 we used to raise queens, years and years 

 ago. We quit it because it was so un- 

 pleasant. "There were so many people who 

 would saj^ like our friend, Mr. Stewart, 

 "Why, he gave me his worst queen." I 

 think the queen breeder can't prove that 

 his queens are good, and if they are not 

 good, he is accused of dishonesty. But we 

 did raise quite a few bees in nuclei, and 

 we had some very nice little colonies. One 

 fall we had a shortage of honej', and we 

 tried wintering them by covering them, 

 that is to say, the hives we covered with 

 dry goods boxes whenever the weather got 

 bad, and then if a nice warm day came, 

 we would turn the boxes up. 



Now, there are a great many things to 

 be considered; the condition of your 

 location, the kind of winter you have. 

 With us bees usually fly once a month at 

 least during the winter. If you have a 

 mild winter and not too much snow, you 

 can winter those small colonies. 



I want to say a word for the men of the 

 South. I don't believe those men intend 



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