1076 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



SPACING BROOD - FRAMES WIDER 

 APART FOR WINTER. 



BY E. N. WOODWARD. 



I am not aware that I have ever read or seen 

 an article in any of the bee-magazines on this 

 subject. If the question has been a topic of dis- 

 cussion, and if bee-keepers, accordingly, have 

 adopted l}i spacing as being at all times correct, 

 then I thinic it vFOuld be well to reopen the ques- 

 tion for further consideration. 



The severe losses during the winter and spring, 

 with now and then an exception, prove that the 

 successful wintering of bees is still one of the 

 most important questions. If I were to loblc 

 over the back numbers of the different bee-mag- 

 azines and quote from editorials or from different 

 contributors on the subject, a large percentage of 

 loss would be shown even among those who 

 claim to be expert in the general management of 

 bees. If I were to report from my own locality 

 (Southern Michigan) I would say that ten per 

 cent loss is not a high estimate, as it averages 

 from year to year. The question presents itself, 

 then, "How can this severe winter loss be avoid- 

 ed ?" 



I am writing this from an outdoor-wintering 

 standpoint, and I wish to say that, according to 

 my experience, we are spacing our frames too 

 closely for the successful wintering of bees in 

 this northern climate, so I am trying to work 

 out the solution along lines that are more prac- 

 tical and which are more in harmony with the 

 general law of all insect life. 



Every one will agree with me when I say that 

 an isolated bee is of no account. It is equally 

 true that a thin spreading of bees sandwiched in 

 between two closely spaced frames are of very 

 little account. To confine them thus for a long 

 time, with a winter temperature outside, deprives 

 them of their vitality and their moving power. 

 It is not giving them a "square deal.'' Martyrs 

 they are to our misconception of what is essen- 

 tial to their comfort and to their very existence. 

 I hold that each separate sectional cluster be- 

 tween the frames should be strong enough to 

 maintain and impart a sufficient degree of warmth 

 and vital force to make this cluster a community 

 of itself. This enables them to cover their 

 brood and build up stronger in the spring, and 

 the trouble of spring dwindling is not even 

 thought of. 



Now, to carry out this community law I pro- 

 pose to space my frames not less than 1^ inches 

 from center. In other words, I space equally 

 the eight frames in the standard eight-frame hive 

 with no dummy. To my mind it is clear that 

 bees will winter in a more natural and healthy 

 condition if they are given even this extra room 

 to cluster in larger bulk. This larger cluster 

 closely packed enables them to hold their normal 

 temperature, and gives them the power to gener- 

 ate and impart one to another their collected 

 store of animal heat and health-giving odor, even 

 to the outside limit of the hive; and thus they 

 live and thrive the entire winter and spring. 



I have no word to say against cellar wintering. 

 I prefer to winter my bees in outdoor winter 

 cases; and, if properly packed, I have no anxiety 

 in regard to them. However cold it may be when 



the opening bud and the warm sun shall tell us 

 that spring has come, I expect them all to re- 

 spond to the roll-call. I have not adopted this 

 plan or come to these conclusions without a 

 reason. 



My neighbor across the way is a bee-keeper in 

 a small way, and packs his bees in winter cases 

 following my plan, and they are sure to come 

 out bright and healthy in the spring. His Hoff- 

 man frames have become so thoroughly propo- 

 lized and enlarged that seven of them will nearly 

 fill his eight-frame hive, and they go into winter 

 quarters in this spread condition. When I used 

 to space my frames more closely and lose more 

 or less of them during the winter and spring, his 

 would come out bright and strong. 



Another bee-man near me, so-called, makes 

 his own frames out of common lath pieces, and 

 spaces them 1^ inches. He has no protection 

 whatever. The northwest wind sweeps along 

 the hillside with a temperature often below zero, 

 yet his winter losses are not worth counting. 

 Now, if spreading the brood-frames is not the se- 

 cret of this uniformly good wintering, will some 

 wise bee-keeper stand up and enlighten us on 

 this most important question ? 



Hillsdale, Mich. 



[Some fifteen or twenty years ago it was the 

 common practice to spread the frames toward 

 the approach of winter for the outdoor col- 

 onies, as it was argued that the bees needed more 

 clustering room between the frames. In short, 

 precisely the same arguments were advanced that 

 you present. Finally some began to say that 

 there was no advantage — that just as good results 

 would be secured with the summer spacing of 

 l>s inches from center to center. Gradually 

 nearly every one, including ourselves, left the 

 same spacing the year round. We tried both 

 ways — about 15 years with the wider spacing for 

 winter, and for the last 20 years we have been 

 using the summer spacing. There has been no 

 appreciable difference in the results, so we con- 

 cluded that there was nothing gained, and, if we 

 are correct, that was the conclusion arrived at by 

 nearly every one. The point is. there is practi- 

 cally no difference between \}4 and 1)4 inches 

 that you advocate. Or, to put it another way, 

 the difference is too small to affect the actual re- 

 sult. The difference to which you refer must be 

 due to some other cause. — Ed. 



A PLEA FOR BETTER QUEENS. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



I noticed in Gleanings for Oct. 15, 1907, that 

 Dr. Miller quotes Rev. Mr. Luger, Deutsche Bie- 

 nenzucht, as saying that " the masterpiece of bee 

 culture is not wintering nor yet springing, but 

 queen culture." Now, that strikes me as being 

 about the most common-sense statement that I 

 have heard for a long time; and while the editor's 

 remark, that one is about as important as the 

 other, seems quite reasonable, yet when we con- 

 sider what the queen is to a colony of bees, and 

 how much is written upon subjects of compara- 

 tively minor importance, and how /zrt/^ is written 

 upon the subject of queen culture, we can not 

 but acknowledge the wisdom of ©ur German 



