656 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1919 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



lumbia — that bees wintered far better with- 

 out it; so I took their word for it, but with 

 mental reservations. 



On my first trip as a bee inspector I work- 

 ed for months in a region where bees were 

 run on the neglected plan, and I came across 

 many things that made me wonder where I 

 was at. In fact, the whole bee situation 

 looked topsy-turvy. Suppose one of my 

 readers were to go into an apiary of 20 

 colonies, and find, as I did, an apple box 

 turned upside down being used as a hive; 

 that the said apple box had a crack one- 

 fourth of an inch wide between the two 

 pieces forming the bottom of the box (that 

 was now the top of the hive) ; that in this 

 makeshift hive he found a mere handful of 

 bees doing their best to survive on a clump 

 of combs about nine inches square and as 

 many deep; and suppose he were told that 

 the average rainfall that winter had been 

 five inches a month, that several times the 

 temperature had fallen to 11 below zero for 

 several days at a time, and suppose he after- 

 ward found that miserable cluster filling the 

 whole apple box with comb and brood, and 

 that it was transferred to regular combs in 

 August after the honey flow was over, and 

 then sold for ten dollars — why, that reader 

 would (or at least might) jump to the con- 

 clusion that packing for winter in British 

 Columbia is absolutely unnecessary, and a 

 perfect waste of effort and good material. 

 But in the same apiary I found several hives 

 where thousands of bees were lying dead on 

 the bottom-board and plenty of sealed stores 

 in the combs. Things of this kind jar a fel- 

 low; but they are just one more instance of 

 the old saying that it is very risky to gen- 

 eralize from one experience. 



I am writing this 80 miles from my home, 

 so do not have access to my old notebooks, 

 hence must quote from my last winter 's re- 

 sults. The winter was the mildest by far 

 that we have had since that of 1914- '15, so 

 it shows less difference between packed and 

 unpacked hives; but the figures are interest- 

 ing all the same. My bees are prepared for 

 the winter at the end of September, all get- 

 ting about the same amount of stores. They 

 are -entirely uncared for until about the end 

 of April, as I never see them between the 

 two dates. On first inspection I make note 

 of the amount of frames that contain brood, 

 and also estimate the quantity of sealed 

 honey on hand, both items being entered in 

 my notebook while at the hive. At my 

 leisure I work out the statistics by queens 

 and packed and unpacked hives, with results 

 that are worth learning. 



The following statistics cover last winter, 

 the inspection being dated April 20: 



Packed Hives. Unpacked Hives, 



Parkins; on sides and top. hut with top prntootinn. 



Brood Honpv Brood Honey 



5%frs. 20 lbs. 41/2 frs. 1:2 lbs. 



Average for the whole yard, 5 frames of 



brood and 14 pounds of honey. On the face 

 of it, it is evident that it costs me 8 pounds 

 of honey more to winter in unpacked hives; 

 and since I sold my crop last year at 20 

 cents a pound wholesale, the cash extra cost 

 was $1.60. 



Now, all that has been given is plain sail- 

 ing; but the moment we begin to go into 

 group comparison we get up against all 

 kinds of vagaries, yet the statistics are well 

 worth thinking about. 



All queens same Packed Unpacked 



age. Brood Honey Brood Honev 



Goldens 5% 14 6% 19 ' 



Italian 31/2 4 5% 10% 



Carniolan 6% 2.5 4 15 



My own 5 17 41^ 14 



One of my goldens is the top-notcher of 

 the yard. Last spring by the middle of May 

 she had 30 frames covered solid with bees, 

 and her colony had stored 40 pounds of hon- 

 ey and had drawn out in three days ten 

 sheets of foundation and filled six of them 

 with uncapped honey. 



The winter preceding the last was a bad 

 one in British Columbia. Our average loss 

 was 40 per cent; but I got off very lightly. 

 The difference between the unpacked and 

 packed hives was very marked, but I do not 

 have the actual figures by me. The weak 

 colonies had a hard time to pull thru, even 

 with generous helping of brood and stores 

 from the packed hives. 



In the past few years my persistent ad- 

 vocacy of packing for winter has won many 

 converts, and I see some wonderful results 

 in my travels. Brood in 15 Langstroth 

 frames by the middle of May is not uncom- 

 mon; in 12 frames is very common. We 

 often get here the kind of colonies that 

 eastern beekeepers dream about but seldom 

 see. 



This spring I learned something that 

 rather startled me. I found that between 

 April 20 and 27 my bees consumed seven 

 pounds of sealed honey, even with a little 

 coming in from fruit bloom. Just think of 

 that — one pound of honey a day for brood- 

 rearing! Not so very long ago I was per- 

 fectly contented if I found four pounds of 

 sealed honey in the hive on the first exami- 

 nation. Last fall I left 20 pounds a hive 

 more than had been my habit, and this fall 

 I will make it 10 pounds more than a year 

 ago. But there is a difference in colonies. 

 My best had 30 pounds of honey left, while 

 my poorest had nothing. 



My judgment is that in British Columbia 

 packing pays. I also think quite a number 

 of my queens will have successors before 

 snow flies, as I can not afford to keep a 

 strain that eats so much in winter that there 

 is nothing left for brood-rearing in the 

 spring. F. Dundas Todd. 



Victoria, B. C. 



