296 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



ever, of late years, we do not get so 

 much snow, and I find that the same 

 kind of entrance-arrangement does not 

 prove as well as during tne heavy snow 

 periods, so I have discontinued the portico 

 on my hives, and have found it advant. 

 ageous to decrease the size of the 

 entrance. 



I formerly used an entrance | of an 

 inch by nearly the width of the hive, but, 

 of late, I have contracted this to about 

 ^ X 4)4 inches. I find this better where 

 the snow is not very heavy, as the chill- 

 ing winds can not then effect very much. 

 In the frontispiece you will notice that 

 the entrances are about eight inches 

 wide; these are contracted by means of 

 a lath, four inches long, tacked to one 

 side of the entrance so as to swing up. 

 These pieces are swung up when warm 

 weather arrives or when I wish to clean 

 out the dead bees from under the frames, 

 which should be done in the late fall, 

 once during winter, and m the spring. 



CAUSE OF POOR WINTERING. 



I suspect that the cause of poor winter- 

 ing is due, in most cases, to shiftlessness, 

 or neglect, on the part of the man who 

 puts up the bees for winter; also by in- 

 attention during the winter and early 

 spring. 



In one instance I loaned several of 

 my winter hives to a friend who was 

 "in hard luck," and the next spring when 

 going by his place stopped to see how 

 the bees came through. Well, the fact 

 is, he lost nearly all of his bees and 

 by sheer neglect. The piece that goes 

 over the entrance to let the bees through 

 the packing to the outside, if there was 

 any at all, was too narrow, and the chaff" 

 had worked through and blocked up the 

 entrance and suffocated all his bees. 



In other cases I have found just loose 

 straw packed about the summer hive; 

 and, again, the roof boards so leaky that 

 the rain and snow got down through and 

 froze over the top of the bees, and, well 

 even then, they will oft times come out 

 of it alive. Some place a shock of corn 

 fodder about the hive and wonder why 



they do not get much honey the next 

 season. I do not expect a bee keeper, 

 worthy of the name, will do these things, 

 but it is a cold fact that the majority of 

 the small bee keepers, or farmer-bee- 

 keepers, as we call them, do these very 

 things. 



Now let me tell those of you who are 

 not successful in cellar wintering, or who 

 winter unsuccessfully out of doors, how 1 

 have succeeded for 17 years, and any 

 one can do likewise. It's no trick — just 

 simply a comfortable place. 



Build a box, the one like I use is, per- 

 haps, as good as any and the photo will 

 show you very plainly how it is con- 

 structed. 



CONSTRUCTION OF PACKING BOX. 



Inch boards nailed to 2 x 4= compose 

 the bottom. Boards 24 inches long, 

 nailed to inch strips, compose the sides 

 and ends. Nail the bottom strips of the 

 ends and sides an inch from the lower 

 edge of the boards and rest the strip 

 on the bottom proper of your box. Tack 

 a nail or hive staple at each corner of 

 the top and bottom to hold the sides and 

 ends together, nail a strip across the 

 ends on the out side to slide the cover on, 

 make a good cover and cover it with a 

 no-leak material, so as to slide easily on 

 the strip above mentioned, cut the en- 

 trance the proper height, which depends 

 upon whether you are going to pack 

 under the hives you place in it or not, 

 make an alighting board and you have a 

 winter hive that is good. 



These boxes are made of a size to hold 

 four colonies. Two are faced to the 

 east and two to the west. There is left 

 sufficient room for about five inches of 

 packing all around, on the outside. The 

 hives may be crowded together at the 

 sides and back, or separated, say, two 

 inches, and filled in with packing, or left 

 and given so much dead air space. 

 Either plan will be well. I have been as 

 successful the past three years with 

 colonies with no packing under the hives 

 as with those having three inches of 

 packing. 



