1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



303 



team, bolster springs should be used in the wag- 

 on; but if these can not be had, some straw in 

 the bottom of the regular wagon-box will do to 

 set the hives on, this straw to take off some of 

 the jar caused by the wheels moving over stones 

 or rough places. Last summer we moved 160 

 colonies without springs or straw, and we crossed 

 two railroads where the road was very rough, but 

 not a comb was broken. If colonies have been 

 in the hives two or three years, so that the combs 

 are old and tough, such combs will stand a great 

 amount of hard usage without breaking. After 

 one has moved colonies by rail, and learned how 

 much knocking the combs stand without break- 

 ing, he will not be so worried about breaking 

 them when moving with a team. 



To prepare strong colonies for moving, nail 

 wire cloth over the entire top of the hive; fasten 

 the screen on with pieces of lath; nail a strip of 

 laih also over the entrance, as the bees will have 

 all the ventilation they need through the top for 

 so short a haul. If the hive has a loose bottom- 

 board, this should be nailed securely. We go 

 early enough in the afternoon to the yard to be 

 moved to nail on bottoms and screens while the 

 bees are still flying. Then toward night, after 

 the flying is over for the day, a piece of lath is 

 nailed over the entrance. The hives are then 

 loaded on ihe wagon and drawn home in the 

 night. After placing them on the stands that 

 they are to occupy permanently, the entrance- 

 blocks are removed immedia'ely. Never keep 

 bees confined in the hives a minute longer than 

 is really necessary. There are many reasons for 

 this that can not be given here. 



Remus, Mich. 



[See editorial reference elsewhere. — Ed.] 



< * • f >• t » 



CHILLED BEES RETURNING TO THE 

 HIVE AFTER 72 HOURS. 



A Very Interesting Set of Experiments. 



BY H. R. BOARDMAN. 



[Our readers will remember our having put cages of bees on 

 cakes of ice in a refrigerator, and left them there for a week, and 

 how those befs, although chilled stiff and hard, would revive at 

 the end of that time when subjected to a warm temperature, and 

 be as lively as ever. It will be recalled that on page 261 for 

 Feb. 15, this year, we reported how large numbers of bees had 

 fliwn out on one balmy day in February; how the weather 

 changed; how they became chilled, and were scattered all over 

 the groand, and on the hive-coveis by the thousands; of how it 

 warmed up the next day, and how those same bees, notwith- 

 standing the temperature the night before went down to freezing, 

 onder the influence of the warm and inviting sunshine went 

 back to their hives. 



But our friend H. R. Boardman (the man who is an expert on 

 wintering beesi has gone us one better. His bees, instead of 

 being chilled or frozen over for one night, were soaked in the 

 tain, and then subjected to a chilling and freezint temperature for 

 72 hours, and yet revived and went back when the conditions 

 and weather permitted. 



If out experiments in the refrigerator are any criterion, it is 

 barely possible that bees that have flown out in this way mieht 

 remain in a chilled condition for a whole weei, and still return 

 if the sun should come out and warm up the atmosphere. 



We have much to learn about bees yet. Heretofore we have 

 commonly supposed that bees that flew cut and became chilled 

 on the ground never returned. But we have now proven that 

 tbii is a mistake providing a warming atmosphere is not too long 

 deferred.— Et>.] 



April 2 I had decided to set out my bees on 

 their summer stands if the weather should be 

 favorable. Why on that particular day? It was 

 my 75th birthday, and I tould think of no better 



way c f celebrating it. The morning was all that 

 could be desired — the weather warm and pleasant. 

 By 10 o'clock 1 had set out 50 colonies, and the 

 bees were flying freely; then the wind changed 

 into a cold quarter, and the bright outlook was 

 chilled. The bees stopped flying, and I called a 

 halt. Many of the bees that had stayed too long 

 on the wing fell chilled, unable to reach their 

 hives. 



At noon I went out to inspect my morning'i 

 work. My pleasure was chilled into disappoint- 

 ment. All through the yard and about the 

 house and garden the ground was strewn with 

 chilled bees. Many had crawled into little 

 groups. These chilled bees were apparently 

 dead, their bodies curled up, their wings extended. 



Mrs. B. expressed much surprise that these 

 dead bees came to life again on being brought 

 into a warm room. "Yes," I said, "if it would 

 come warm again during the afternoon many 

 would, no doubt, revive and be able to return to 

 their hives." 



But it remained cold, and it rained most of the 

 following night, and some of the time a heavy 

 downpour. The next morning the mercury 

 was uncomfortably near the freezing-point. 



I went out into the bee-yard. Little groups 

 of chilled bees met my eyes like haunting ghosts 

 on e^ery side. I stooped and picked up a few of 

 those little water-soaked mummies and placed 

 them caefully in my hand — for what, I hardly 

 knew. I took them into the house and put them 

 between two tin cups and put them on the warm- 

 ing-oven of the kitchen stove. Fifteen minutes 

 afterward I opened this little tin box, and out 

 rushed the bees, restored to life and ready for 

 business. Some of them flew away to the win- 

 dow. In all of my many years of experience 

 with bees, no greater surprise has come to mt 

 than this. I became intensely interested to learn 

 how long this suspended animation would con- 

 tinue. I experimented during the day in reyiv- 

 ing my chilled pets with most gratifying success. 

 Thirty hours had now elapsed, during which 

 they had been apparently perfectly lifeless. The 

 next morning was a heavy frost, and ice formed 

 on the water. " They are dead enough now," I 

 thought, as I walked out into the bee-yard. No 

 bee could survive two such nights as the two 

 past have been, out in the open air, with no pro- 

 tection from the weather; but I was interested, 

 and proceeded with the experiment as before. 



I picked up one in a place, twelve specimens 

 in all, put them in the little box, and placed it 

 on the warming-oven as before. Eleven of the 

 twelve rushed out on opening the box, running 

 over my hand quite lively, ready to take flight 

 for home after 42 hours of suspended life. 



I continued these experiments at frequent in- 

 tervals throughout the day, with the same inter- 

 esting results. The following night was milder, 

 and the next day warmed so that the bees flew 

 from the hives freely in the yard. Many of the 

 chilled bees that I had been watching with so 

 much interest recovered and crawled about the 

 yard with considerable activity. Many of them, 

 undoubtedly, were able to return to their hives 

 after three full days of this severe test. I felt 

 vsell paid for what I at first lamented as a serious 

 loss in the valuable information these experiences 

 had brought to me, although I had not been abl« 



