October, 1916. 



American Hee Journal 



Winter Cases for Northern Latitudes 



Methods of Packing Which Have Stood the Test in Ontario 



Outdoor wintering is grow'n? in 

 favor with northern betk epers. 

 Many who formerly practiced cel- 

 lar wintering are adopting some kind 

 of packing case and leaving the bees 

 in the same posifon all the year 

 through. In Ontario this tendency is 

 especially marked for many of the ex- 

 tensive ijeekeepers of that province 

 now winter outside entirely. The 

 quadruple case which holds four col- 

 onies is the one in most common use. 

 The illustration shows a row of these 



cases at the college apiary in Gu"lph. 

 This large winter case has several ad- 

 vantages; four colon es are packed in 

 a single case, thus keeping down the 

 expense per colony and also giviiig 

 each colony the additional warmth 

 from the others. Much has been 

 written about these cases of late and 

 they are coming into use in many lo- 

 calities in the United States as well 

 as Canada. Wlien the writer v'sited 

 the A. I. Root apia''ies last w'nter he 

 found about five hundred colonies 



QUADRUPLE WINTERING CASES IX THE ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL 

 COLLEGE APIARY AT GUELPH 



packed in these cases in the rear of 

 the factory. The bees from the var- 

 ious outyards had bi^en brought in 

 and packed at tl e h ;me apiary where 

 it was more convenient to pack all 

 together rather than to prepare them 

 for winter in small yards. 



On a journey thi-ough Ontario the 

 past summer long rows of these cases 

 were seen in the rear of many apiar- 

 ies. While the case is so large that 

 it is heavy and rath'.>r inconvenient 

 to handle it is still the most popular 

 winter case in use. 



THE KROtlSE SINGLE COLONY CASE. 



Another case that is to be found in 

 several localities in On'ario is the 

 case used by F. W. Krouse, President of 

 the Ontario Beekeepers' Assoc at on. I 

 do not know whether the case was or- 

 iginal with Mr. Ki'ouse but the writer 

 saw so many more of them in his 

 apiaries than elsewhere that it comes 

 quite natural to call it the I-irouse 

 case. This holds but one colony and 

 in the Krouse apiaries they are left 

 in place the year around. The case is 

 high enough to hold a doub'e story 

 hive. Many of the Krouse bjes are 

 on jumbo frames which are ahout 

 equal to the Dadant frame in size. 

 In early spring the packing is remov- 

 ed down to the level of the top of the 

 hive to permit of examination of the 

 colony, but packing below 'hat pn'nt 

 is left all summer. When the srco-d 

 story or super is put in place the 

 cover of the packing case is put on 

 again thus giv'ng the hive e^celent 

 protection agairst the eld davs of 

 spring. This case is in effect a double 

 walled hive since the ordinary hive 



THE KROUSE WINTERING CASE 



Irons for Lifting the Hoshal Case 



