March, igii. 



American Vae Journal 



pounds less, while the lightest, made to 

 do entirely without packing, will not 

 weigh more than 10 pounds — actually a 

 little less than a dovetailed hive taking- 

 the same size frame. However, the 

 walls are but fs inch, with a -'4 -inch 

 space between them, and no packing. 

 The prices on this hive are about the 

 same as on the second one mentioned, 

 being $2.40 with winter cover, while the 

 other is about $2.50. These 3 hives are 

 all I have been able to find, as the most 

 of manufacturers have quit making 

 them, owing to limited demand. 



Two of the hives I mention have 

 covers which telescope over the body, 

 while the other has a cover which sits 

 down on the water-table. They all 

 have chaff-trays with burlap bottoms, 

 though one manufacturer advises me 

 that a super can be used if filled with 

 chaff. One manufacturer winters hun- 

 dreds of colonies — used for queen- 

 rearing — and is a partial convert to the 

 sealed covers. However, for fear the 

 bees will not seal down the covers 

 iig-Zit, he clings to the chaff-tray to 

 take up any moisture which may es- 

 cape. One of the others is irrevocably 

 an absorbent-cushion man. 



As a result of 5 years' study, during 

 which time I made a great many hives 

 of the chaff pattern, varying in pro- 

 tected space from 'A inch to 2 inches, 

 I found that ni t/i/'s climate bees will 

 winter with but little protection more 

 than they get in a dovetail hive, /ro- 

 vidhig always that the colonies are good 

 and strong, and they hafean abundance 

 of sealed stores, and honey is in every 

 wav better than syrup. I can not see 

 the' advantage of saving honey in the 

 fall only to see the bees dwindle in the 

 spring or else feed. If I find in the 

 fall that I have weak colonies I double 

 them up, even taking 3 and 4 colonies 

 to make one, for I use a great many 

 decoy hives, and have late swarms 

 which are very small. 



Having decided on the amount of 

 protection my bees needed, I found 

 that with a body of the protected pat- 

 tern, with an inch of space packed with 

 chaff, a super-cover sealed tight, a su- 

 per on that filled with chaff, and over 

 all a cover held so that it would not 

 blow off, afforded a home for the bees 

 which was close to Nature. The bees 

 were dry — there was not an undue 

 amount of stores used ; the winter loss 

 was slight, and there was no spring 

 dwindling. I wintered bees in this 

 way during the winter of 1909-10, 

 which was followed by a summer-like 

 March and three freezes in Aoril, just 

 when the hives were filled with brood. 

 I had a few dovetailed hives with bees 

 in, and June 1st there were not as 

 many bees as in April, but in the chaff 

 hives there was practically no loss, 

 though the queen did quit laying, as the 

 fruit-bloom ceased abruptly. That sea- 

 son I secured 60 pounds to the hive — 

 comb and extracted honey — while my 

 neighbors, who cellar their bees, or 

 else winter them in dovetailed hives, 

 reported a practical failure. I will add 

 that I had a very short clover flow in 

 the spring of 1910, as had many others. 



I will not join in the discussion 

 about sealed covers and absorbent 

 cushions, for I am writing for a class 

 that does not care a straw about it, so 

 that they can safely winter their bees. 



Moreover, my experience has been that 

 with a large entrance the hive will keep 

 dry. By " large entrance " I mean 

 something between an opening ^4 inch 

 wide by 2 long, and the same width by 

 Uyi inches long. With the arrange- 

 ment I mentioned above, I have used 

 an entrance 2x1432 inches, and in one 

 case there was an accidental crack un- 

 der the cover which the bees failed to 

 seal, yet this was one of my very best 

 colonies the succeeding season. I think 

 I shall settle on an entrance -^4x4 

 inches, protected by wire - screen 

 through which the queen can pass, 

 and a sleet shield over that ; but as this 

 will not equal an entrance of '4XI2 

 inches, I am more likely to enlarge 

 than reduce this. I want something 



End View of Entrance-Guard. 



Front View of Entrance-Guard. 



A 



Rear View of Entrance-Guard. 



A— Entrance-guard (block . 

 B— Storm or sleet shield. 

 C— Entrance. 



D— Wire-screen on inside ol A and cover- 

 ing C. 



which will invariably keep the hive 

 well ventilated, and thus dry. 



I find that all the chaff hives have 

 one weak point, and that is, the point 

 where the water-table rests on the top 

 of the outer wall. In the case of the 

 Ji-inch outer walls this is vital, for 

 water will seep in, by capillary attrac- 

 tion, while with the 34 -inch wall larger 

 nails can be used and a coat of white 

 lead in the joint should seal it perma- 

 nently. To make sure, however, I shall 

 pack the inter-wall space with chaff. I 

 put on the water-table, then turning 

 the shell over pour in some rosin 

 which has been tempered with a little 

 oil to keep it from being so brittle. A 

 few minutes' work and a cent's worth 

 of rosin will make a joint eternally im- 

 pervious to moisture. 



I do not think there is any use for 

 me to dwell on the covering of these 

 hives as put out by the manufacturers, 

 for I shall never use them. I do not 

 believe absorbent cushions scientific 

 for this location : I think a super filled 

 with chaff all the protection needed 

 over a super-cover sealed hcr/netically, 

 as it can be by pouring a thin stream 

 of artificial propolis around the inner 

 edge of the water-table, and tlien press- 

 ing the super-cover down tightly on to 

 it. This seals fruit for the housewife, 

 and surely it will protect the bees. As 

 I make it now, take a pound of rosin, 

 pulverize it, add 2 ounces of turpen- 

 tine, let it stand in a warm room until 

 the whole mass is homogeneous, then 

 add 2 ounces of some cheap oil — raw 

 linseed will do ; then heat it so that it 

 will pour freely through a 3-16-inch 

 spout. 



It matters not that I do not believe 

 in the cellar-wintering of bees, but it 

 does that many beginners may be led 

 to try it, not knowing that it is an art 

 and science all by itself. The cellar 

 must be just so, or there will not be a 

 colony left in the spring ; and I do not 

 believe any old bee-man will find fault 

 when I state that there is not a farm 

 cellar in the country suitable for win- 

 tering bees. Maybe some of them can 

 be made so, at great expense, and on 

 account of this the beginner, the ama- 

 teur, the small bee-keeper, must have 

 some way of keeping his bees safely, 

 and that way is the chaff hive, or some 

 other form of the protected hive, and 

 in the modern article the difference in 

 cost has about been eliminated, and the 

 weight of the lightest of the 3 bodies I 

 mention is but 3 or 4 pounds more than 

 an average dovetail hive. You must 

 have supers, and covers, and super- 

 covers, and bottoms, so all the pro- 

 tected hive need cost you is, as I fig- 

 ured before, the difference between the 

 bodies, and that is now but a trifle, 

 and I am firmly convinced that if man- 

 ufacturers would do as they should — 

 advise the beginner urgently to take 

 nothing but the chaff' hive body, and 

 dovetail bodies for supers, rendering 

 their yards flexible as between the chaff 

 hives for winter and the dovetail for 

 summer, if they wish — more men would 

 keep bees, and keep on keeping them 

 instead of commencing and quitting, 

 for no other reason than winter loss in 

 the single-walled hives. 



I have something more than my own 

 experience to justify my opinion about 

 wintering bees, .^mong other things, 

 Mr. Chase, of New York State, an- 

 nually winters 200 to 300 colonies in 

 single-walled hives, asking only that 

 they be large and have abnndant stores, 

 and others I have written to, do nearly 

 as well. But here comes in the ques- 

 tion of location again. Mr. Chase has 

 abundant snow — I have none to men- 

 tion ; he is close to large lakes, and 

 there is probably more humidity there 

 than here. We are both on the 42d 

 parallel. He probably has a late flow 

 of buckwheat — I have not; he probably 

 uses the Langstroth hive — I was so un- 

 fortunate as to get started with the 

 Danzenbaker, and yet, mind you, with 

 7-inch frames I wintered bees success- 

 fully with entrances 2xl4>^ inches, and 

 got big yields the succeeding season. 



To summarize: The man or woman 



