1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



21 



they make rather a snug fit. At one end of each of these 

 sticks drive through, about }i inch from the end, a small wire 

 nail an Inch to an inch and a half long. Drive it far enough 

 through so it will project through the wood as much at the 

 point as it does at the head. This will keep the sticks from 

 falling down between the frames, and it will make it easier to 

 take the sticks out after hauliug. It will do no particular 

 harm if the sticks are left iu a good many days after hauling. 



As to the rest, the two things are to see that plenty of air 

 can readily pass, and that no bee can get out. One could per- 

 haps tell a little better how to accomplish this if he were right 

 on the spot and could see the hives. I asked another bee- 

 keeper who happened to be present how I should answer the 

 question as to preparing and hauling those hives. The reply 

 was: "Tell him he can't do it at all with that sort of traps. 

 The thing can't be done." I admit it will be some trouble, 

 still if I had those hives and wanted to haul them, I think I'd 

 haul them. 



You can give air below by means of wire-cloth arranged 

 in some way, but as there is no good covering on top, perhaps 

 the best thing will be to cover the entire top with a piece of 

 wire-cloth, and then there will be no possible danger of smoth- 

 ering the bees. After you have everything fastened tight, 

 then go over every spot — top, bottom, sides and ends — and 

 look carefully for any spot a bee could get though, and stop it 

 with a piece of rag crowded in with a jack-knife. If you see 

 a crack that you think about half big enough for a bee to get 

 through, don't say, "Oh, I guess it doesn't matter about such 

 a little crack as that, no bee can get through it!" but stop it 

 up anyhow, and be on the safe side. Unless you've been 

 " through the mill," and have had trouble from bees getting 

 out on the road, you'll be almost sure to leave some leak ; but 

 when you do get into trouble by it, please don't blame me for 

 not warning you. 



Have everything arranged so far as you can, so tha't you 

 can quickly unhitch your team if anything happens, for I'd 

 rather not have horses too near escaping bees. I know it is 

 said that bees are hauled without being fastened in, and that 

 after being smoked and jolted a little they stay right where 

 they are ; still, I think I'd rather be sure to have them fast- 

 ened in the hive. And it's a pretty good thing to have a 

 lighted smoker ready in case of emergency. 



Possibly you could replace some of tiie worst hives with 

 new ones before hauling. 



Transferring from Bee-Trees — Fceclins in Winter 



1. What is the best time to cut a bee-tree and transfer 

 the bees to the hive ? 



2. Is it best to transfer the comb made in the hollow tree, 

 or only the best of the woricer-comb, and brood (if any) ? 



3. Is it too late to feed a colony that has not sufficient 

 stores? I have two or three that I did not suspect of being 

 short. (I have the Miller feeder, and can use it inside, you 

 know.) G. M. 



Braddyville, Iowa, Dec. 10. 



Answers. — 1. I think I should prefer to take it at the 

 time usually preferred for transferring, that is, about the 

 time of fruit-bloom. 



2. I'd save the worker-brood and any nice, straight 

 worker-comb. 



S. Yes, it's too late to feed to the best advantage, but 

 still I would rather try to feed now than to let a colony starve. 

 But I'd use sugar candy for feeding, such as you've probably 

 seen described many times. It's much better than to feed 

 liquid feed in winter. 



Hive-Entrance in Winter — Did tlie Be98 Freeze 

 or Starve to Deatii i 



To winter my bees I chaff-pack them from two to eight 

 inches deep on the sides of the hives, and four to 12 inches 

 deep on top. To form an entrance I cut a piece out of the box 

 that holds the packing 5x12 inches and put a board inside be- 

 tween the hive and the box, letting it slant from the upper 

 edge of the hole in the box down to one inch of the entrance 

 of the hive. This is done to keep the packing in place, and as 

 my hives all face the south, this allows the sun to shine in at 

 the entrance the same as in summer. 



I leave the top-boards, or covers, sealed down over the 

 brood-chamber, and some times I put a two-inch rim under 

 some of the hives. 



Now what I wish to know is this : 1. With hives packed 

 in chafiE six inches on the sides and eight inches on top, with 



sealed covers, could I close, or partially close, the entrance 

 during cold or zero weather, and have no frost to adhere to the 

 inside walls of the hive '? I always leave the entrances wide 

 open, which are 12 to 14 inches long, and this seems to me 

 much like making a big fire in the stove and leaving the house- 

 door open. Now, which way is the best? and why ? 



2. In Nov., 1893, a neighbor of mine put three colonies 

 of bees into a smoke-house to winter, and as it was a poor 

 affair the bees found no trouble in getting out of it, and thus 

 marking the location of their home. Along in March, 1894, 

 he removed them to an orchard, a distance of about 10 rods, 

 and the next day the bees flew back to their location in the 

 smoke-house, and in the evening clustered in a heap on the 

 floor, to the extent of about a gallon. As the temperature 

 wentdown somewhere between 10° and 20^ below freezing, 

 they were all dead the next morning, so ray neighbor told me. 

 He said they froze. Now Mr. Abliott would say that they 

 starved. Please let me know what your opinion is. 



Armour, lown. W. S. D. 



Answers. — 1. If your bees have wintered well, as hereto- 

 fore arranged, that's a pretty good reason for continuing the 

 same practice, or at least trying any change on a small scale at 

 first. One reason why I should give the bees a good-sized en- 

 trance is that those who have had experience in the matter 

 favor it. They probably favor it because upon trial they find 

 the best success with it. To come more directly to the spirit 

 of your question, if you close the entrance entirely, you will 

 still find frost on the walls of the hive whenever it is so cold 

 that the walls go below the freezing-point; for vapor is con- 

 stantly being thrown off by the bees, and closing the entrance 

 holds all the vapor in the hive, so you can see there will be 

 more frost form on the walls than if the vapor should partly 

 escape at the entrance. 



Another thing to be remembered is, that bees keep up 

 warmth in the hive by means of food and air. Food alone will 

 not keep them warm — they must have air as well. You may 

 cram all the coal you please into a stove, if you carefully shut 

 off all air from the fire it will go out. Did you ever notice 

 that in a crowded room you become chilly when the air be- 

 comes foul, even though the thermometer stands pretty high? 

 So the point to strive for with your bees is to close up enough 

 to keep the bees warm, and at the same time leave the en- 

 trance large enough, so that the foul air and vapor can escape, 

 and enough fresh air enter to supply what oxygen the bees 

 need. If you think your hive-entrances are more open than 

 necessary, try a few of them closer and see how they come out 

 in spring. If they do better than the others, then you can 

 practice the same thing on a larger scale next winter. 



2. I hardly know what to say about those bees being dead 

 " next morning." At least I think this is true, that if your 

 neighbor had taken the bees into a warm room they would 

 most, or all, of them have come to life that morning. But 

 whether they were dead, dead, the next morning or later, I 

 should say they froze to death. 



The Report of the Illitiois State Convent ion. 



(Continued from page 11.) 

 SECOND DAY— Morning Session. 



The meeting was called to order at 9:30 by Pres. Smith. 



It was decided to leave the time of the next annual meet- 

 ing to the Executive Committee. A discussion on the Chicago 

 meeting then followed. 



Dr. Miller thought a meeting of the Illinois State Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, if called in Chicago, would not be as 

 well attended as would a called meeting of the Northwestern. 

 He also thought membership was not governed by attendance. 



Mr. Dadant said that the Northwestern, representing the 

 entire Northwest, would bring a much larger attendance than 

 the State meeting would. 



Mr. Becker thought the poor honey year had more to do 

 with the attendance than anything else. 



