1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



207 



even though fed late it came out in compar- 

 atively good condition, with very little loss. 



At the Clark yard, where no honey-dew 

 was gathered, and the bees were fed on very 

 thick sugar syrup, there was no loss except 

 two colonies that were very strong, and they 

 starved. We had underestimated their 

 strength, and consequently did not provide 

 the necessary stores. All the other colonies 

 of that yard came through sweet and clean. 

 Their stores were made up of basswood and 

 clover honey topped off with a little feeding 

 of thick sugar syrup, along the last of No- 

 vember. It turned cold soon after, so that 

 the bees could not cap these stores; and yet 

 in spite of this the results were as above 

 stated. 



At the home yard of about 300 colonies, in- 

 doors and out, there were only two colonies 

 that died, and that was through starvation. 

 This was not because there were no stores 

 in the hives, but because the clusters had 

 moved over to one side; and on account of 

 the long continued cold they used up all the 

 stores on that side, and, apparently, not be- 

 ing able to get over to the other side of the 

 hive, where there were stores, they starved. 

 For the purpose of experiment some two and 

 three frame nuclei were wintered outdoors 

 under sealed covers. They all wintered 

 well. 



The bees at both the Home and Clark 

 yards were in good condition — in fact, they 

 were practically of the same stock. All the 

 nervous and irritable bees, and all the off 

 stock, were put into the south yard; and 

 these odds and ends, so to speak, together 

 with the poor quality of the stores, doubt- 

 less contributed to the comparatively poor 

 wintering at that yard. 



Bees at the north yard gathered consider- 

 able honey-dew. This was the yard where 

 there were over 2000 queens reared last sea- 

 son. All the colonies were drawn on heavi- 

 ly for brood and bees. But the bees here 

 wintered better than they did at the south 

 yard, although they were not in as good con- 

 dition as the bees in the two other yards. 

 The heavy drain of queen-rearing, and 

 scarcity of stores, doubtless accounted for 

 this. 



SEALED COVERS VS. ABSORBENTS. 



There was very little difference to be no- 

 ticed between colonies packed under sealed 

 covers and those under absorbents. The 

 difference, if any, Mr. Bain says, was in 

 favor of the first mentioned. When it is re- 

 membered that we have tried these two 

 forms of wintering side by side for a series 

 of years, with the odds nearly always in favor 

 of the sealed covers, the reader can natural- 

 ly see why we champion that plan — at least 

 for our locality. We have a suspicion that 

 those who so loudly champion the absorbing- 

 cushion plan of wintering may not have test- 

 ed side by side the sealed-cover and absorb- 

 ing-cushion plans; for if they were to do so 

 for a series of years they might find the seal- 

 ed cover simpler to handle, and during soine 

 seasons consideraly in the lead so far as re- 

 sults are concerned. 



PAPER WINTER CASES. 



There was comparatively little difference 

 between the paper-winter-case-packed colo- 

 nies and those in double- walled chaff-packed 

 hives. The difference, if any, however, was 

 in favor of the latter. The greater the thick- 

 ness of walls, and the better the packing ma- 

 terial, the better the results. If the walls 

 are very thick it renders the hive too expen- 

 sive, and the difference in cost is not offset 

 by the slight gain in the saving of bee life. 



RECAPITULATION; THICK VS. A THIN SYRUP 

 AND FEEDING LATE. 



As the result of our experiments indoors 

 and outdoors during this past severe winter, 

 honey-dew stores have sustained their repu- 

 tation to a great extent for being an inferior 

 food for wintering, although the results are 

 not as disastrous as might have been expect- . 

 ed, judging from previous years. 



Sugar syrup fed thick, even though late in 

 the season, has again demonstrated its abili- 

 ty to bring bees through safely to spring. It 

 is clearly proven that a thick sugar syrup is 

 better than a thin one for winter feeding, 

 and we are inclined to the opinion that late 

 feeding of a thick syrup is not detrimental, 

 as has been supposed, but even has its ad- 

 vantages. Slow feeding in the fall, with a 

 thin syrup, exhausts the vitality of the bees, 

 because they must drive out the excess of 

 water, and this seems a severe drain on them 

 at a time of year when their strength should 

 be conserved. By giving the thick syrup, 

 two and a half to one, comparatively late m 

 the season, the bees are given the very best 

 feed, even though they will not be able to 

 invert it or cap it over. Feeding a large 

 amount of thick syrup practically in one 

 dose does not exhaust the vitality of a colo- 

 ny nor unduly excite it like repeated doses 

 of thin syrup extended over a period of two 

 or three weeks. While we advocate feeding 

 early enough so that the bees can cap the 

 stores, our experience seems to show that 

 this is not essential. At one yard where our 

 bees wintered so well it was so cold when 

 we fed late last fall that the syrup was given 

 hot. There were no fly days after that, and 

 it stayed continuously cold until the fore 

 part of March. 



SIZE OF ENTRANCES. 



Still another fact that was somewhat sur- 

 prising was that those colonies having a 

 wide-open entrance, one inch deep by the 

 width of the hive, seemed to winter as well 

 as those having a contracted entrance X 

 deep by 8 inches. Our Mr. Bain, however, 

 suggests that the snows were so deep all last 

 winter that the entrance^ of all colonies, 

 large and small, were closed from chilling 

 drafts of air. During open winter we have 

 found that wide-open entrances were too 

 much of a good thing, and have, consequent- 

 ly, advised a limited contraction. 



It seems to be proven again that, for our 

 locality at least, sealed covers have the pref- 

 erence, as they make less trouble, and the 

 bees under them winter perfectly, More 

 we could not ask. 



