IDEVOTEID EXCLUSIVELY TO BEES -A.3STD HOISTEY 



Vol. II. 



NOVEMBER 1, 1874. 



No. XL 



HOW TO flONDUCT AN APIARY. 



No. 11. 



\|?T is with considerable hesitation that we 

 JLj undertake to advise at all as to what shall 

 be done in the Apiary this month. If any col- 

 onies are without food now, perhaps the only 

 thing that can be done is to unite them until 

 they have sufficient. About the 20th, in this 

 locality is the proper time to put them in-doors. 

 Reports seem to indicate that nothing is very 

 Avell decided in regard to what the frames 

 shall' be covered with. Some ventilation to 

 cany off the moisture seems many times abso- 

 lutely necessary, and straw mats perhaps fur- 

 nish the proper amount better than anything 

 else. Quilts would probably come next if not 

 too much covered with propolis, and even then, 

 where they are not glued down too closely 

 around the edges they often do very well. 

 Many also seem to be quite successful in using 

 only the old fashioned honey boards. Lest the 

 bees might get damp perhaps they had better 

 be raised slightly at the back end, say the 

 thickness of a 6 penny nail for instance. This 

 ventilates between all the combs more effectu- 

 ally than openings in the board. The need of 

 this ventilation is only during the coldest 

 weather. 



Where bees can fly frequently, or after March 

 1st, in our locality, we would have the cover- 

 ing over the frames as tight as we could possi- 

 bly make it. Leaving an empty space beneath 

 the frames seems to give no positive advantage, 

 and for wintering the Simplicity hive perhaps 

 'tis as well to carry in bottom-board and all, 

 simply removing the doorstep. To avoid car- 

 rying in a lot of dirt sticking to the bottom 

 boards 'twill be well to raise the hives up from 

 the ground on thin sticks after the flying sea- 

 son is about over, and before much wet weath- 

 er has set in. If the hives stand permanently 

 on a square frame of inch sticks, they will 

 always be ready to be lifted without carrying 

 rubbish along with them : Ave would not have 

 the hives more than one inch from the ground 

 in the working season. 



The following is just at hand : 



I don't want a "horse and wagon" nor a "penny 

 whistle" but help. I have 13 stocks of bees in Lang- 

 stroth hives, one or two of which are not strong, and 

 J wish to unite them with others. Now what I wish 

 of you is to inform me in plain terms how to do it 

 safely. The other day I was examining a hive, the 

 rtrst frame taken out I laid near the hive and when I 

 was done, put the frame back in its place, with about 

 a handful of bees that I took to be robbers, and the 

 next morning I found about that number dead on the 

 alighting board; and I am afraid if I unite a large 

 quantity thev would be treated in the same way. 



John Ogiek, Baltimore, Md. Oct. 5th, 1874. 



After cool weather has set in, simply kill the 

 poorest Queen if you have a choice, and then 

 lift bees comb and all, from one hive into the 

 other. If they are allowed quietly to remain 

 on their own combs, we believe they never 

 sting each other. Close up the hive and let 

 them "flx it" when they get ready. If you can- 

 not manage to get each colony on live combs, 

 go to both the day before uniting and remove 

 all but live of the most desirable combs, pla- 

 cing the combs of one of them in the middle of 

 the hive. Next morning while it is yet quite 

 cool you will find all the bees on the combs 

 and they can be then carried to the other hive, 

 losing scarcely a bee. If the weather 

 is warm soon after this, some bees will go back ; 

 these will cluster ou an empty comb if it is 

 given them, and can then be taken back at 

 night. After a few days cool enough to pre- 

 vent flying most of them will remain. Caging 

 Queens in cold weather is so risky that we 

 would not advise it even though a Queen be 

 killed occasionally in uniting. We would not 

 advise any one to purchase or attempt to in- 

 troduce Queens, in Oct. or Nov. 



Most of our readers are probably aware that 

 a strong swarm will stand almost any degree 

 of cold for a short time with no apparent harm, 

 and that out-door wintering would on some 

 accounts be the most desirable, were we sure 

 of having a "warm spell" as often as once in 

 ten days or two weeks, to allow the bees to 

 exercise, and to bring a fresh supply of un- 

 sealed honey into the cluster. Bees seem to 

 find difficulty in going over to another part of 

 the hive among heavy sealed combs, during 

 zero weather. Quinby argues in view of this, 

 that unless bees can be housed in a warm 

 place, they had much better be left out, to take 

 the chances of occasional sunshine ; and also, 

 that unless we have as many as 50 in one room 

 we cannot expect it to keep above freezing. 

 Therefore, a wintering house, if it is to contain. 

 less than 40 or 50 stocks, must have walls so 

 thick and warm that it would be like a cellar, 

 almost or quite frost proof if it contained no 

 bees; otherwise your repository is in danger 

 of being little better than an open shed on 

 the north side of a barn, in fact the very worst 

 place you can select. Covering hives with 

 straw, or corn stalks, just enough to exclude 

 the sun is about as objectionable. They are 

 partially shielded from the winds 'tis true, but 

 does this compensate for the loss of the sun- 

 shine ? 



During the past winter a neighbor (A. A. 

 Rice, Seville, this Co.) gave his "a fly" four or 

 five times during the winter, and the whole, 30 



