NUVKMBKU 1, 1915 



WINTERING WITH THE FOUR-COLONY CASE 



905 



BY A. J. KNOX 



For a iiiuubei" of yeare I have wintered 

 aliuost all mj' bees (in three apiaries) in 

 ilie four-colon V wintering-case. 1 do not 

 know who was the first user of this ease in 

 Canada; but T had my interest awakened by 

 a study of the case, illustrated and describ- 

 ed by Ira C. Bartlett, of Michigan, and 

 published some years ago in Gleanings. 



^ly first dozen cases Avere made out of 

 irich stulif. The hives were raised three 

 inches from the. floor, with packing under- 

 neath. They had six inches of packing 

 space nil around the sides, and ten inches 

 over the top. 



A winter's experience with these, where 

 the snow completely covered them for sev- 

 eral months, proved disastrous. In the fall 

 I had leaned the covers over the entrances 

 to jirotect them from the wind and snow. 

 This, combined with the high temperature 

 inside the case, under the snow, caused the 

 bees to start brood-i'earing too early, with 

 the result that they came out (probably in 

 search of water) into the cavity under the 

 leaning cover, and, being chilled, never got 

 back. When Ihe snow melted away from 

 the cases, bees could be shoveled up with 

 a scoop. 



After some correspondence with J. L. 

 Ryer I decided to make my future cases 

 with only three inches of packing on the 

 fronts, the rest remaini)ig the same depth 

 to set the hives directly on to the floor, close 

 together, and with no packing underneath. 

 Further, I now place no boards over the 

 entrances, preferring to have the snow drift 

 solidly around the cases and up over the 

 entrances, keeping the wind out and the 

 bees in. 



Since that change, wintering has lost its 

 terrors, for, with plenty of bees and feed, 

 T have good results. At the Newcastle yard 

 last winter, I lost only three out of seven- 

 ty-five colonies. 



T now have seventy-five of these eases in 

 tise, and most of them are made of ordinary 

 clapboard siding rabbeted on the lower or 

 thick edge. This makes a smooth inner wall 

 nt a minimum of lightness and cheapness. 

 The cover is of half-inch pine lumber, made 

 to telescope two inches, and covered with 

 paroid roofing. The floor is of half-inch 

 pine, nailed to four sills, one by four inches 

 by the width of the ease. The walls of the 

 cases go together with hooks. The posts, 

 three to a side, and one by two inches in 

 diameter, rest on the floor, the walls run- 

 ning down half an inch lower, covering the 

 floor, and thus shedding water. 



The entrances are cut three-eighths by 

 six inches, as wide apart as the bottom- 

 boards of the hives will allow when shoved 

 close together; and I find it well to have 

 the entrance about an inch above the hive 

 floor, to allow for lack of uniformity in 

 depths of hive-bottom boards. 



When set up, the case stands on two 

 cedar scantlings three bj' five inches, which 

 leaves the entrances about eight inches from 

 the ground. 



The cases are painted with red creosote 

 shingle-stain at 75 cents per gallon. This 

 seems to be answering the purpose as well 

 as lead and oil paint, and is decidedly 

 cheaper, and easier to put on. 



The packing material used is planer- 

 shavings. It is clean and easily handled, 

 and mice don't work in it to any extent. 

 Cut straw is bad on account of the mice, 

 and leaves can never be obtained in suffi- 

 cient quantities. Six two-bushel baskets of 

 shavings are required to pack one case con- 

 taining four ten-frame Langstroth hives. 



In the yard the cases are placed in rows 

 about eighteen feet apart, entrances facing 

 east and west. The corresponding squad of 

 hives is placed just four feet south, thas 

 allowing working room between. 



With this arrangement, and the packing 

 all in the eases, it is a pleasant and simple 

 job to pack up a yard, taking from thirty 

 to forty minutes per case, with two men on 

 the job. 



To pack, start at the end of a row witli 

 an empty ease. Dismount the ease, lift the 

 four hives of bees to one side, drag the floor 

 over to the place recently occupied by the 

 bees. Place the hiyes back on the floor in the 

 same relative position as before; hook up 

 the sides of case and put in the bridges. 

 Then go to the next case in the row, scoop 

 out the packing with two-bushel baskets, 

 and dump into the case just prepared for it. 

 You now have the next case empty, and 

 ready to operate on as before. In this way 

 you have no lugging around of eases, and 

 no hauling of packing every year. I see 

 nothing to prevent the packing from lasting 

 twenty years, with the possible addition of 

 a few extra basketfuls now and then. I use 

 the same packing continually, for smoker 

 fuel. Nothing else is equal to it, and cer- 

 tainly nothing so handy. 



This plan has been worked out so that 

 there is a minimum of labor and expense. 

 By this arrangement the cases act as a 

 screen or windbreak while working with the 

 bees during the summer months. 



