580 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York 



SEPTEMBER PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER. 



"When is it best to make preparations 

 for winter? I have always waited till the 

 advent of cold weather; but I was asked 

 yesterday if I had my bees ready for win- 

 ter yet, and this set me to thinking whether 

 I had not been a little late in my work 

 for the bees to winter to the best ad- 

 vantage." 



"I have believed for some time that 

 too many of us wait too late in the season 

 before making the needed preparations for 

 winter. Here at the North the wintering 

 of bees is one of the great problems, if 

 not the gi-eatest; and to neglect it tkrough 

 ignorance or carelessness is little short of 

 criminal." 



"But you would not begin preparations 

 as early as the middle of September, would 

 you ?" 



"I certainly would. For the past twenty 

 years I have often commenced the latter 

 part of August. Years ago, at a conven- 

 tion an old beekeeper who had succeeded 

 better than the most of us gave out this 

 as the secret of his success: 'The time 

 to begin preparing for a good honey flow 

 is the season before.' I have always re- 

 membered this when about to put off some- 

 thing wliich needed immediate attention ; 

 and with a little modification the same 

 statement applies very nicely to the prep- 

 aration of colonies for wintering. And the 

 best part of it is, such preparations place 

 the bees in the best possible condition to 

 be in readiness for tlie next vear's honey 

 flow." 



"But you would not pack your bees for 

 winter yet, would you? A good many 

 of the supers are still on in my yard." 



"The old advices in regard to getting 

 ready for winter dealt almost wholly with 

 packing, sufficiency of stores, ventitlation, 

 amount of entrance room, etc. Now, these 

 tilings are necessary, but it is just as im- 

 portant to look after the age of queens, 

 the proportion of young bees, and the 

 number of bees in each colony. Can any 

 of these be changed after winter sets in, 

 or even after October, here in the North? 



"Sufficiency of good stores also should 

 be included as another of the necessary 

 preparations which should be looked after 

 as early as this; and the month of August 

 is much better unless one lives in a local- 

 ity where a surplus yield can be expected 

 from fall flowers. The mass of beekeepers 

 usually defer these necessary winter prep- 

 arations until late in the fall, when it is 



too late to remedy anj^ defects which are 

 discovered at that time, regarding the gen- 

 eral condition of the colony. I am well 

 aware that stores may be given in Novem- 

 ber, and even in December, by way of 

 frames of sealed honey. But tliis can not 

 be done with the assurance that it will 

 be conducive to as perfect wintering as 

 would have been the case had such frames 

 been given at this time, which allows a 

 sufficient number of warm days for the 

 bees to adjust such stores all about the 

 cluster, as they always will do where they 

 have the needed time. 



"With all of these things attended to 

 at the proper time, a condition is brought 

 about wliich very largely measures the 

 success in wintering, regardless of those 

 things so much stress has been placed upon 

 during the past. The fact remains that, 

 if a colony is provided with a vigorous 

 queen, plenty of young bees in proportion 

 to the older ones, so that a cluster of suit- 

 able size is in control of the combs which 

 contain amjole stores of good quality with- 

 in easy reach, many of the so-called es- 

 sentials have vei-y little to do with the 

 safe wintering of such colonies. There- 

 fore this work of prejiaration should be- 

 gin immediately after the close of the 

 honey harvest, to give the best results. 

 But if, under special stress of circum- 

 stances, it can not be done then, should 

 the weather continue favorable, fairly good 

 results may be expected if all colonies re- 

 ceive the necessary attention prior to the 

 first of October." 



"What would j^ou consider a vigorous 

 queen ?" 



"One which has brood in the hive at 

 the close of the honey flow to the amount 

 of two to three frames full, with a good 

 quantity of bees of all ages besides. Two 

 frames of brood give about 12,000 bees, 

 and three frames about 18,000. Now, if 

 the queen retrenches at the close of the 

 nectar flow, so that she can lay a little 

 longer, then there will be perhaps 20,000 

 bees from this brood, all of which are sure 

 to be young, and full of vitality for win- 

 tering purposes. And, in addition to 

 these, there will be at least half as many 

 more that emerged prior to the close of 

 the harvest, and these will be pretty fair 

 for winter so that the colony will contain 

 not far from 30,000. Such a colony as 

 this, in a ten-frame Langstroth hive, with 

 a proper amount of suitable stores, in- 

 sures it in a great measure for the nest 

 year's honey flow." 



