1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



353 



as well as the chaff, had much to do with it. 

 To get at the real virtues of this chaff idea, 

 I am making some experiments now, which, 

 I hope, will tell me before another winter, 

 just how much to expect from it. If I can 

 keep the whole interior of the hive warm, 

 even in June, during cold storms and cool 

 nights, by some such porous covering, I 

 think it will be quite an item ; perhaps it, 

 like many other things, when well tested, 

 may turn out to be an accidental success 

 after all; but I wish to know just what it- 

 does. 



Last year, we did not clip our queens 1 

 wings, but with the prospect now before us 

 (several colonies are strong enough to 

 swarm) we have concluded to have all clip- 

 ped. 



Now in regard to closed end frames ; I 

 found the queens, moved the division 

 boards, and had the hives all closed up, 

 where there were suspended frames, in 

 an amount of time that seemed insignifi- 

 cant compared to that required to per- 

 form the same operations with a closed 

 end Q. frame ; and the statement made by a 

 few, that such hives can be handled as rap- 

 idly as the suspended frames, seems to me 

 positively awful. With a small colony, and 

 a new hive, either closed top or closed end 

 frames may be handled very well ; but with 

 an old hive so full of bees that they cover 

 the end bars of the frames so as to prevent 

 your seeing the wood at all, and frames so 

 heavy as to make your back ache, while you 

 stoop in the hot sun and look first at one 

 end, and then at the other, to see if you are 

 killing bees, and those hybrids, too,— well, if 

 you think we don't know how, try one such 

 hive yourself, or visit some one who knows 

 how, if such there be. A careless person 

 might not be aware that he killed bees at 

 all, and some do not seem to care, but to me, 

 the sight of the quivering form of a crushed 

 and mangled little fellow when he is inno- 

 cently standing in the threshold of his own 

 door or peering out at the blue sky, while 

 the closed ends are being brought up into 

 place, is enough to spoil the pleasure of bee- 

 keeping. 



June Hth. — To open up the season's cam- 

 paign, the Qninby hive sent out a rousing 

 swarm to-day. Now, even after this swarm 

 was hived and had sent to the field more 

 workers than any two stocks in the apiary, 

 the old hive kept on at work, with almost 

 the same force as before, for they had been 

 for a couple of days rather inclined to loaf 

 on the front of the hive. Before swarming, 



they stored 50 lbs., perhaps, in boxes, and 

 there are bees enough left to keep the work 

 going right along. What do you suppose an 

 apiary of 100 stocks like this one would 

 amount to? and this is the Quinby hive that 

 we have tried 4 seasons, and heretofore, un- 

 successfully. Although our esteemed friend 

 who invented it is departed, his works bid 

 fair to keep him in kind remembrance many 

 days. 



June 27ffo. — Hurrah for chaff ! The Qninby 

 hive has sent out a large second swarm. 



Sept. 5th.— Our Quinby hive (packed with 

 chaff) has given us four swarms, and all are 

 now good strong colonies. If the chaff 

 packing should work as well next winter, 

 why may not the 5 increase to 25V This 

 would be 25 from one, in two seasons. But 

 this is not all ; the first swarm stored full 50 

 lbs. in empty combs, and since these were 

 removed has given us about 25 lbs. in sec- 

 tions. The second swarm has made about 

 25 lbs. of comb honey, and the third about 

 10 ; all four, as well as the old colony, have 

 their hives crammed with stores, and the 

 original stock has stored about 100 lbs. of 

 honey in the Quinby boxes. Think of it ! 

 Eive colonies amply provisioned for winter, 

 and 185 lbs. comb honey, from one in the 

 spring ! 



From the above, you can see what turned 

 my mind so vehemently in favor of chaff. 

 The same winter, in which I packed the Q. 

 hive, as given above, I wintered the bees in 

 the house apiary, with only a single thick- 

 ness of cloth over the frames. The result 

 was, they dwindled the worst of any bees I 

 ever tried to winter, and I lost, if I am cor- 

 rect, every colony but one or two. The win- 

 ter after, I protected them with heavy chaff 

 cushions, and they all wintered nicely ; not 

 as well, quite, as the Q. hive, it is true, but 

 they were not as perfectly protected on all 

 sides. Since it is so much labor to handle 

 the Q. frames (as I have before mentioned), 

 the next winter, I tried a similar arrange- 

 ment with the L. frames enveloped in a 

 large case, with chaff, or cushions, on all 

 sides. All colonies so packed came out all 

 right. My neighbors made similar experi- 

 ments, and they, too, as well as friend 

 Townley, reported the same, with scarcely 

 an exception. From these experiments, I 

 worked out the chaff hive which I have here 

 described, and, after a three years' test, ta- 

 king all things into consideration, I consider 

 it the simplest and safest means by which 

 bees can be wintered. The" second year, our 

 bees were all packed in chaff, and the result 



