590 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULtUKE. 



i)EC. 



would if near by, even if it does take only 

 five minutes to fly seven miles. Can a bee 

 really fly ninety miles an hour ? I am in- 

 clined to think they will not fly faster than 

 an average passenger train runs, when heav- 

 ily laden with pollen or honey. Who is able 

 to give us figures on the matter V 



AN ITEM ON WINTERING BEES. 



A SECOND ENTRANCE, A LITTLE ABOVE THE ORDINARY 

 ONE. 



yj 



(.HEX tbere were plenty of bees and honey, I 

 believe 1 never heard of bees dying in win- 

 ter in a hollow tree; neither did I ever 

 know or hear of a colony, with plenty of stores and 

 bees, dying in a box or other hive when the bees 

 went in and out at or near the top of the hive, or a 

 few Inches above the bottom-board. On the other 

 hand, according to my observation, in box hives, 

 especially if they are well made, the strong heavy 

 colonies are the ones that are most sure to perish in 

 a very cold winter, or in a very cold spell, though it 

 may not last long. Now, why is this, or how shall we 

 account for it? The answer is, they suffocate, 

 smother, or die of apncBa. Well, you ask, " How are 

 you going to prevent this smothering?" or you may 

 say, " Give plenty of upward ventilation." I believe 

 it is an axiom among bee-keepers, that the more up- 

 ward ventilation you give, the more food bees con- 

 sume. This being the case, it would seem that the 

 least ventilation given, short of suffocation, is the 

 best. 



About three or four years ago I wrote a card to A. 

 J. King, which he published in his journal, using 

 about the following language: "I suppose about two- 

 thirds of the bees in this section died the past 

 winter. Those in well-made box hives suffered 

 most, especially the strong heavy colonies, because 

 the strong colonies produced the greatest amount 

 of steam or vapor; and this vapor, as soon as it 

 touched the side of the hive, was condensed and con- 

 verted into water, which would run down the 

 sides of the hive until it reached the bottom- 

 board, when, on coming in contact with the cold air, 

 it is converted into ice. This process continues un- 

 til a sufflc iency of ice is formed about the entrance 

 and on bottom-board to hermetically seal up every 

 thing, and bees are bound to die of suffocation. I 

 have often raked out, after a very cold spell, a pound 

 or more of ice which was formed by the process of 

 condensation above described." I remedy or pre- 

 vent all this by simply making what I call a safety- 

 valve; that is, a ?s-in. auger-hole 354 inches above 

 the entrance, and 3 inches from south side of hive. 

 Which is supposed to be pointing to the east. This 

 ?t-ln. hole should be kept open during all severely 

 cold weather, and also during warm weather; but it 

 is better to be closed in early spring. This little hole 

 will give plenty of air in very cold weather, and at 

 the close of each cold snap, rake out ice and dead 

 bees, and leave some of the entrance open, always 

 open. It is true, I lay two sticks, about 9 in. long 

 and 7i in. square, across the frames to make winter- 

 passages, and then spread a quilt over the top of the 

 hive, and then cover the quilt about 3 inches deep 

 •with dry leaves, or with very tine, short, dry grass; 

 then let the hood come over these, and nine inches 

 down over the hive, where the hood rests on cleats, 



making U of the hive double-walled, with M in. of 

 dead-air space. I winter outdooi-?, and never lose 

 enough to think of, unless by starvation. Indeed, I 

 lose none, unless by starvation. 



In bee-trees there is always a chance for the mois- 

 ture to run down below the entrance; and in hives 

 with entrance at top, the same occurs; but if you 

 have your entrance in the top of the hive, the dead 

 bees will fall down to the bottom, and the bees can 

 not convey them out until spring, and they produce 

 a stench. If you make your little hole near the top, 

 the bees will probably conclude that it gives them 

 too much air, and close it up; but by having it just 

 above the entrance, and above where ice collects, 

 and letting them use it as an entrance in summer, 

 they will rarely close it up. 



I am half inclined to think that, with ray safety- 

 valve, or little hole above the entrance, bees would 

 do better with no upward ventilation at all, if you 

 would make winter-passages through the combs; 

 yet [ am a little afraid to risk it as long as I am so 

 successful in wintering outdoors on summer stands, 

 on the plan above described. I think bees need 

 some moisture in the hive in winter, but may have 

 too much. I have never used a chaff hive, but have 

 been inclined to think they probablj' of ten kept bees 

 too warm, and that they could not stand the cold air 

 in the .s^pring so well when they fly out. You know, 

 if you keep a man or a horse warmly housed in 

 winter, he can not stand cold so well when he goes 

 out in the cold. G. M. Young, M. D. 



Lexington, Mo. 



Your idea, friend Y., is not a new one. 

 Mr. Langstroth described a winter entrance 

 in his book, and Quinby advised an auger- 

 hole, just such as you describe, and I am not 

 sure that they are not used now in the Quin- 

 by hives, and he gave the same reasons for 

 its use that you have mentioned. Friend J. 

 S. Hill, who wintered without loss for 14 

 years, also used such an entrance, as you 

 will find by reference to his description, 

 several years ago. The reports of hives 

 Avintered with the section boxes on all winter 

 have pretty well settled the matter, that 

 many bees do die for want of a free circula- 

 tion of air through the hive. Since these re- 

 ports have come out we have used the chaff 

 hives with entrances open full width, in the 

 coldest weather, and nothing over the bees 

 but the very coarse porous burlap sheet, and 

 this held up by the Hill device, and then a 

 burlap chaff cusliion over all, with loose 

 chaff sprinkled in the corners, until no bee 

 can ever by any possibility ever get up under 

 the cover. 



DOES IT PAY TO FEED? 



HOW FRIEND DENHAM MANAGED. 



^fi AST spring I had five stands, all of which were 

 JBJyii very weak, and one nucleus. As one of them 

 became qucenless I united it with the nucle- 

 us which had a black queen. I purchased three 

 black stocks of a neighbor, and transferred them to 

 Langstroth hives, and I thus had 8 to commence the 

 season with. By feeding the weak stocks a little ev- 

 ery day when the bees could fly, I succeeded in 

 building them up to good stocks by the time white 

 clover came into bloom. We had no locust bloom 



