1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



223 



through the entrance, and through the cracks 

 and crevices which, as a general thing, are 

 found in even the best made hives, providing 

 the hive is properly constructed in other re- 

 spects considered under the head of winter- 

 ing. I do not believe in holes made in 

 different portions of the hive, and covered 

 with wire cloth, because the bees persistently 

 wax the wire cloth over, just as soon as they 

 get strong enough to be able to do so. If 

 we omit the wire cloth, they will, in time, 

 build the holes up, by much labor, with walls 

 of propolis, until they have effectually stop- 

 ped the inconvenient drafts that the improv- 

 ed (?) ventilators would admit at all times 

 through the hive. During extremely hot 

 weather, a powerful colony may need more 

 air than is afforded by an ordinary entrance, 

 especially, if the hive stands fully in the sun. 

 In such a case, I would much prefer giving 

 the bees shade, to cutting ventilation holes, 

 which the bees will soon begin to use as en- 

 trances, and when the hot weather is over, 

 and it is desirable to close these entrances, 

 you confuse and annoy the bees by so doing. 

 On this account, I would give all the venti- 

 lation that a strong colony might need to 

 keep them inside at work in the boxes, by 

 simply enlarging the entrance. This can be 

 done very readily with the Simplicity hives, 

 and I have frequently given them an en- 

 trance, under such circumstances, the whole 

 width of the hive, and as much as two or 

 three inches broad. The chaff hive with its 

 entrance 8 inches by f , has always had all the 

 ventilation it seemed to require, because the 

 sun can never strike directly on the walls of 

 the apartment containing the bees and honey. 

 Eor the same reason, the house apiary with 

 its 2 inch auger hole entrance has never re- 

 quired any further provision for ventilation. 

 The chaff cushions placed over the bees in 

 winter are kept over the surplus frames for 

 the greater part of the time in summer, to 

 confine the heat during cool nights, and 

 from their porous nature, they allow of the 

 escape of more or less air that comes in slow- 

 ly through the entrance, the honey boxes 

 having no other covering than the broad 

 frames that hold the sections and these same 

 chaff cushions. I have obtained more sur- 

 plus honey with this arrangement, than with 

 any other, and am firmly persuaded that a 

 great loss of honey often results from allow- 

 ing such a draft of air through the hive, that 

 the bees cannot work the wax, unless during 

 the extremely warm weather. To test this 

 matter, I covered a large colony in the house 

 apiary, with woolen blankets while they 



were gathering clover honey, to induce them 

 to remain in the boxes, even after the wea- 

 ther had turned quite cool. So long as the 

 blankets remained on, the bees would remain 

 in the boxes working wax ; but as soon as 

 the blankets were removed, at each time the 

 experiment was tried, they retreated to the 

 body of the hive. The same thing was tried 

 with thin walled hives out of doors. 



SMOTHERING BEES BY CLOSING THE 

 ENTRANCE. 



Although bees will make out to get along, 

 even with a very small entrance, we should 

 be very careful about closing the entrance 

 entirely, in warm weather, even for only a 

 few minutes. Many are the reports we get 

 almost every season, of bees destroyed by 

 simply closing their entrance, while under- 

 taking to stop their swarming for a few 

 minutes, until some other colony can be at- 

 tended to. See SWARMING, ENTRANCES, 



and robbing, especially the last head, How 

 to Stop Bobbing. 



When bees have the swarming fever, as a 

 general thing, they are gorged with honey, 

 and in a feverish state. They are like a man 

 who has been taking violent exercise after a 

 hearty meal, and require more than an ordi- 

 nary amount of air. Their breathing tubes 

 are in different parts of the body, principally 

 under the wings, and as soon as the entrance 

 is closed, they crowd about it, and when the 

 heat of so many becomes suffocating, as it 

 will in a very few minutes, the honey is in- 

 voluntarily discharged, wetting themselves 

 and their companions, and most effectually 

 closing their breathing tubes, in a way that 

 causes death to ensue very quickly. I have 

 known of heavy swarms being killed in the 

 short space of fifteen minutes, when the hive 

 was thus closed on them. The heat gener- 

 ated by the smothering mass will often be 

 great enough to melt clown the combs, en- 

 veloping bees, brood, honey, and all, in a 

 mass almost scalding hot. Bees are some- 

 times smothered in this way, in extremely 

 hot weather, even when they have very large, 

 openings covered with wire cloth. In fact, 

 I have once or twice had bees, when shipped 

 by R. R., in July and August, get hot and 

 smother, when the whole top of the hive was 

 covered with wire cloth. I took a lesson 

 from this, and put wire cloth over both top 

 and bottom of the hive, and then put inch 

 strips across, so the hive could not be set 

 down in such a way as to cover the bottom, 

 and have had no more smothering since, 

 while being shipped. When thus prepared, 

 I have sent the heaviest colonies, during the 



