THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



this loss is practically nothing. Many com- 

 plain at the low price at which queens are 

 now sold, evidently for^cttintj that this great 

 source of loss, queens dying in transit, is not 

 now a factor in the Ijusinoss. Queens at 75 

 cts. now would be equally as profitable as at 

 $1. 00 in the olden times. But the shipping 

 of bees by the pound, or in full colonies, is 

 still in the experimental stage. It is true 

 that bees are so sent with success, but the 

 success is not so uniform as in the case of 

 shipping queens. The season of the year 

 when bees will be shipped is now approaching, 

 and it may not be amiss to devote the April 

 Review to a discussion of this subject. I 

 well remember when I thought that air was 

 all that imprisoned bees needed, aside from 

 food. At this time the premium list of our 

 State fair said that the premiums on bees 

 should be awarded to " purity of race and 

 numerical strength." For this reason I se- 

 lected the strongest colonies in the yard. I 

 accompanied the exhibit on the freight car. 

 It was evening when I started. After going 

 about sixty miles I noticed a stream of honey 

 running across the floor. I opened the car 

 door to make it cooler, and sprinkled the 

 bees and floor with water, but the combs of 

 one colony broke down and many of the bees 

 perished. All of the colonies suffered seve- 

 rely, some of them losing half of their num- 

 bers. When I reached the fair grounds it 

 was a sickening task to open the hives and 

 clean out the great masses of dead, daubed 

 bees. Mr. Bingham was present and told me 

 that the trouble was lack of room; that in 

 warm weather there must not only be ven- 

 tilation above and below the combs but there 

 must also be a sjiace. The bees Vjecome ter- 

 ribly excited, and generate large quantities 

 of heat, but if they have room in which they 

 can desert the combs and cluster, all goes 

 well. Since learning this fact I have shipped 

 populous colonies, in the middle of .June, 

 just as they were on the verge of swarming, 

 and not lost more than a teacupf ul of bees to 

 the colony. They were shipped in the Doo- 

 little hive which has an appartment at each 

 side of the brood nest for section boxes, and 

 into these side apartments the bees could 

 crowd out and hang themselves up to cool off. 

 I must admit, however, that I have shipped 

 bees only a year or two ago, and lost them by 

 not giving them room in which to cluster. 

 They were sent just before the advent of 

 warm weather, and it was thought that the 

 covering of the top of the hive with wire 



cloth would be sufficient, it had been in sev- 

 eral years at that season of the year, but the 

 sudden rise in temperature that came on the 

 next day after they were shipped, caused a 

 melting of some of the combs and the con- 

 sequent destruction of the bees. I have al- 

 ways thought that the loss might have been 

 caused in part by some express agent stack- 

 ing up the hives in such a manner that the 

 supply of air was cut off. One reason why 

 I thought this is that some of the colonies 

 sent at the same time, some of them upon a 

 longer journey, but in the same direction, 

 went though in good condition. The moral 

 is to so prepare the hives that the agents can 

 not shut off the air by setting something 

 over the hives. Have strips of wood tacked 

 over the top of the hive, at the ends, in such 

 a manner that they will hold up anything 

 placed upon the hive, and not allow it to 

 come in contact with the top of the hive. 

 The colonies that perished in the shipment 

 mentioned were replaced with others, each 

 colony having a four-inch space both above 

 and below the combs, and, although the 

 weather was much hotter, they went though 

 in good order. 



It must not be forgotten, however, that 

 these spaces above and below the combs and 

 large surfaces of ventilation are not needed 

 in cold or cool weather. Bees have been 

 moved on a wagon in the spring, when, of 

 course, the colonies would not be so pop- 

 ulous, by simply shutting up the hive, giv- 

 ing no more ventilation than what comes 

 through the few cracks and crevicies. This 

 matter of ventilation and space is one that 

 calls for exercise of judgement. 



Some have said that bees sent in warm wea- 

 ther need water; that if they do not have it, 

 they will consume the unsealed larva?. If 

 the combs are quite well-filled with newly 

 gathered honey, not yet sealed, it will largely 

 supply the place of water; otherwise there 

 should be some provision for water. Where 

 the shipper goes with the bees, he can, of 

 course, supply them with water, but when 

 small lots are sent by express, there is prob- 

 ably no better way than to take one or two 

 old, tough combs and fill them with water, 

 substituting them for the same number of 

 combs in the hive. Combs may be filled 

 by laying them on their side and pouring a 

 shower of water upon them from a sprinkler. 



The advice has often been given to place 

 sticks between the ends of the frames to keep 

 the combs in place. I think this unneces- 



