HOW TO WINTER BEES 147 



housekeeper that she will suffer death rather than 

 let food pass through her alimentary canal when she 

 is dormant, and thus render unsanitary the bee-city, 

 a devotion to municipal sanitation which is hardly 

 found elsewhere in the annals of living beings. If 

 honey of poor quality is fed to the bees and they 

 hold within themselves such food, disaster is likely 

 to ensue. In preparing the hive for winter what is 

 known as the Hill's device, which is a series of curved 

 pieces of wood held in place by a strip of tin, is 

 placed above the frames to support the cushion so as 

 to allow the bees to readily climb over them. We 

 use a super cover in our chaff hives instead of the 

 Hill's device. 



There are three ways of wintering bees in common 

 use. First in the chaff or double-walled hives left 

 in the open. Second, in tenement-hives. Third, 

 the hives are carried into cellars. The reprehensible 

 way of leaving bees out of doors in single-walled 

 hives with no protection during the winter is no 

 longer practised by civilised people. 



OUTDOOR WINTERING 



Many apiarists protect the hive by a box, several 

 inches larger than the hive in every diameter, 

 placed over the hive, the spaces between being packed 

 with chaff or dried leaves. A passage-way out is 

 always preserved so that the bees may fly out during 

 the early warm days, and free themselves from the 

 accumulated waste. This is a cheap way of securing 

 the advantages of a chaff hive. Such boxes are sold 



