JL'NK 1, ]91."> 



441 



CONVEESATIONS WITH DOOLITTLE 



Alt Borodinio, New York. 



l.OSr, WINTER CONFINKMENT OF 



S* BEES. 

 " Will Ur. Doolittle toll us how 

 ^ loiiy a ooiitinoinont bees can stand 

 ■ ami eoine out in fairly good sliape? 

 I My bees were confined to the hive 



from Nov. 10 to April 15 the past 

 wiiiti'r. a ]ieriod of over five months, and 

 as a result I have lost quite heavily. Be- 

 sides, 1 have now on hand several colonies 

 which are too weak, through spring dwin- 

 dling, to be of much use before the buck- 

 wheat tlow. Did you ever know of anybody 

 iia\ing- bees confined that long? " 



This certainly was a long confinement for 

 the bees. But in going over my old diaries 

 I find that this is not the longest period, 

 for durintr the winter of 1903 mv bees had 

 no night from October 30, 1903,' till April 

 5, 1904. or during a period of five months 

 and six days. Some of the colonies appear- 

 ed not to have suffered materially by this 

 long: confinement, at the time; but after- 

 ward they gave proof that this long holding 

 of their excrement told on their vitality, 

 while none of the colonies wintered on their 

 summer stands were what could be called 

 perfect colonies by the 20th of May. Near- 

 ly all had dwindled more or less, while 

 .several had died. 



After April o we had more cold, and 

 snowstorm after snowstorm, followed by 

 clouds and cold winds, so that it was im- 

 possible to remove the bees before May 2. 

 This had much to do with the poor results 

 with those wintei'ed on their summer stands, 

 but I do not think it possible that bees can 

 be confined for more than five months on 

 the summer stands, and come out in perfect 

 condition for the summer's work. 



On May 2, 1904, the bees were removed 

 from the cellars, those at the out-apiary on 

 the forenoon of that day, and those at home 

 in the afternoon. This gave a confinement 

 for these cellar-wintered bees of three days 

 more than half a year, and, if my meinory 

 seiwes me rightly, a longer period than any 

 that has been recorded up to the present 

 time, which is something worthy of being 

 jotted down. 



How did they come out? There were 

 three colonies at the out-apiary short of 

 stores, since they bad only about eight 

 pounds each at the start. I expected to feed 

 these from the reserved combs of honey 

 slacked there, but the winter swooped down 

 l)efore I g'ot to it. and 1 tliought 1 would 

 risk them rather than open the hives to set 



in combs of honey with the mercury hover- 

 ing near the zero mark. These three starv- 

 ed, and 1 find this written in that old diary: 

 " 1 am ashamed to record the starving of 

 tliese three colonies, for away back in the 

 eiglities I lost a good colony in April from 

 starvation, and at that time declared that 

 should be the only one whose dead bees 

 should accuse me of sucli wickedness. It 

 is wicked to allow anytliing which has serv- 

 ed me so faithfully to starve." Three other 

 colonies had diarrhea, and died while the 

 rest came out in as good shajie as in average 

 j^ears. Those in the special repository at 

 home came out fairly well ; but a few of 

 them showed spring dwindling slightly. 



When the farmer and I entered the cellar 

 to carry out the bees, the first colonj^ we 

 took showed no signs of life. The hive was 

 set on the cellar bottom, and knocked upon 

 — no response. It was set aside as " dead." 

 As we came to the starved ones they were 

 set on top of this one, and these dead colo- 

 nies left in the cellar till all were out. The 

 hives had been set in the back part of the 

 cellar, with the entrances toward the wall, 

 in which there is no window. This prevents 

 any light from shining directly in at the 

 entrance. When all were out, the farmer 

 asked me if he should carry out the dead 

 ones and pile them up with the hives of 

 reserved combs. I admitted that he might. 

 All went well till he came to the last one (or 

 what was the first one we took in), when I 

 heard an outcry. I found the bees just 

 faii'ly boiling out of the hive he was bring- 

 ing from the cellar. The wet cloth used in 

 removing was hastily thrown over the hive, 

 and it was carried to its stand. And, strange 

 to say, that '• dead " colony was the nearest 

 to a perfectly wintered colony I ever had 

 seen or ever have seen since. No dead bees 

 were on the bottom-board, no spotting of 

 things on their first flight, and no dwindling 

 afterward, and that after a confinement of 

 three days over half a year. This colony 

 had not consumed half of the eight pounds 

 of honey the light ones had eaten and died. 

 I had been told in the past of colonies which 

 were so nearly dormant as to be apparently 

 lifeless Avhile in winter quarters; but to see 

 such a thing with ray own eyes was some- 

 thing of a " surjirise party " to me. 



I have pondered over this very much 

 since, and experimented, looking toward 

 bringing the whole apiary up to such a 

 standard of wintering; but as yet. little 

 advancement has been made. 



