388 



American Vae -Journal 



into the surplus. 



Wintering Oul-of-Doors 



On account of my apiary bcine some dis- 

 tance from my cellar. I am thinUint: strongly 

 of winlerintf outdoors My boitom boards 

 are the reversible with the deep side 2 

 inches My hives are 10 frame dovetailed 



1. Should I use the deep side for winter ? 



2. How much of the entrance should be 

 closed ? 



) Would it be safe to wrap the hives with 

 extra heavy tarred felt, with no other pro- 

 tection ? 



4. If it will be necessary to put a shallow 

 super on top to hold the packinfer. what are 

 the different kinds of material that can be 

 used? Wisconsin. 



Answers — t. Yes, 



2. The equivalent of 2 or 3 square inches 

 will probably do well where you are. the 

 latter for a very strone colony. 



3 Probably, but something depends upon 

 the exposure of the situation. If exposed 

 to the full force of the winds, it will be hard 

 to wrap the hive warm enough, but in a sit- 

 uation well sheltered from the winds there 

 will be little trouble. 



i. Any loose substance that will allow 

 plenty of air to be contained in it without 

 allowing the air to move freely, as dry 

 leaves, chaff, planer shavings, etc. 



Temperature of Bee Cellar 



My cellar (28x10 feet) has a hot water boiler 

 in it. The temperature varies from 48 to =;2 

 degrees. Do you think I can winter a dozen 

 colonies of bees in it successfully ? 



Minnesota. 



Answer— It ought to be a capital place. 

 Without letting light into the cellar \ou 

 should keep it open enough to havetheair 

 always fresh, not cooling it below about 45 

 degrees. 



Shallow Extracting Supers 



I read in " Langstroth on the Honey Bee." 

 that you use shallow extracting supers Do 

 you think bees will store more honey by 

 their use ? Have you tried the full depth 

 Langstroth and shallow frames side by side? 



Iowa. 



Answer.— To the first question I will say 

 no; nothing in a hive except its capacity for 

 brood-rearing and storing can have any 

 effect upon the amount of crop. The advan- 

 tages of a hive lie principally in the manipu- 

 lation that it permits. 



To the second question I will reply that 

 we have tiled full stories and shallow 



stories side by sld«, not slnely or In scores 

 but by the hundred That is why we have 

 changed to the shallow super. 



But an explanation is necessary. We use 

 a larger hive than the regular Langstroth. 

 Its frames (Quinby size) are 2'/« inches 

 deeper than those of the Langstroth hive. 

 When we used another story, the upper 

 frames filled with honey were exceedingly 

 heavy and dillicult to handle. We also tried 

 the Langstroth hive in the same way. We 

 had at one time 150 Langstroth hives on 

 which we used both shallow and deep su- 

 pers. We preferred the shallow supers. 

 But our supers are not so shallow as those 

 usually made. They are 6H inchess deep, 

 so that the inside capacity of the shallow 

 frames is about 5>3 We prefer them to the 

 full story supers for the following reasons: 



They are easier to handle The weight of 

 a story full of honey is onlyabout two thirds 

 that of a deep story. We add stories as 

 needed. 



The queens are less apt to move out of a 

 full size brood-chamber into a shallow story 

 to breed than if it were a full story. We ex- 

 plain this by the fact thata shallow story is 

 more promptly occupied with honey than a 

 deep one. 



If the weather is cool and the crop slight, 

 there is less loss of heat in a shallow upper 

 story than in a deep one. For that reason 

 the bees appear to occupy it more readily. 



With full upper stories.it has often hap- 

 pened that the bees would move entirely 

 from the lower to the upper stories in the 

 fall. This has never happened with a shal- 

 low story. For the same reason they will 

 put more pollen in a full upper story than 

 in two or even three shallow ones. 



The shallow combs which we use are 

 most easily uncapped with a single stroke 

 of the knife. We have not yet seen full 

 story combs that could be uncapped as 

 promptly. 



We have used shallow story supers for 

 about 45 years. Every season we are th^ 

 more confirmed in our preference for them. 

 The only argument against them is that they 

 are not interchangeable with the brood- 

 combs. But neither are most of the supers 

 in common use.— Editor. 



Moth 



I. I had two weak colonies which I was 

 going to unite, but found a weavy web on 



the combs »nd In them were a handful of 

 small worms. Those on the comb were 

 about three to the inch in length, and not a 

 live bee to be found and no honey. The 

 worms resembled cut worms. 



2 What made th** bees leave the hives ? 



3 Is that comb of any use to put in other 

 hives ? 



4. How did the worm get in the hive with- 

 out the bees destroying them ? 



5 Which is the best way to winter bees 

 outdoors? Minnesota. 



Answers.— I. The worms were the larvae 

 of the bee-moth. 



2. It may be that they were queenless and 

 dwindled away. 



3. Yes, unless too much of it is destroyed. 

 4- Eggs were laid in the hive by the moth, 



and from these eggs worms hatched. 



5. The ways are numerous, the chief thing 

 being that the bees should be protected 

 from the severity of winter by being in a 

 place sheltered from the wind and havine 

 something about the hives, if it be but corn- 

 stalks. Some have an outer case, allowing 

 a packing of leaves, planer shaving or other 

 loose material about the hive to the extent 

 of 3 or 4 inches, and 6 inches on top. 



How to Prepare a Swarm for Winter 



How should I care for a swarm of bees 

 captured June 15? I did not know of the 

 swarm until late in the evening, and thev 

 were put into an old-fashioned box-hive 

 with home-made frames and no foundation 

 or combs to start with. There must have 

 been at least 5 quarts of bees. 



There is quite a little white clover in 

 bloom. Would it be advisableto out the sec- 

 tions in the super and let the bees into it 

 this summer or keep them confined to the 

 body of the hive? I am more anxious to 

 keep the swarm in condition to carry 

 through the winter well than to have them 

 slore sjrplus honey this year I have no 

 other swarm, and know very little about 

 handling them. Illinois. 



Answer.— The season being so poor, it 

 may be all you can ask the bees to do to fill 

 their hive for winter, especially if the hive 

 be pretty large. Still giving them surplus 

 room will not belikely to intefere with their 

 wintering, for they are likely to look out for 

 themselves and fill their brood-chamber be- 

 fore doing anything in a super. 



Sections from Foulbrood Colonies 



1. Is it safe to use section boxes over 

 again with drawn comb and without comb 

 that have been on colonies that had foul- 

 brood ? 



2. How does the bee-moth get a start f It 

 seems to start after combs are taken off the 

 hive. Pennsylvania. 



Answers,— I. I should not be afraid to use 

 them in case of European foulbrood, but 

 with American foulbrood there might be 

 danger. 



2. I'he beginning is an egg laid by the bee- 

 moth, and this hatches out into the larva, or 

 " worm," as it is commonly called, in which 

 state it does its mischief in destroying 

 honey combs, after which it changes into 

 the moth. The trouble seems, as you think, 

 to be worse off than on the hive, because off 

 the hive there are no bees to protect the 

 combs, although the eggs are generally laid 

 on the combs while they are still in the care 

 of the bees. It seems strange that the bees 

 will allow the moths to lay their eggs in the 

 hive, but they do. At least black bees do, 

 although Italians seldom allow it. 



A Hive Gotten Up By Frank L. Abbott 



loframe. He runs for comb honey exclusively. 



Increasing — Requeening — Transferring 



1, I have two colonies of bees that 1 want 

 to increase in the si)ring. Would it be best 

 to leave all the honey tor theni this winter? 



2. 1 want to buy some queens in the spring. 

 How shall I arrange for them ? 



How is the division-board used, are all 



