274 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 3, 1900. 



times in the dry and shade than to have them exposed part 

 of the year to extreme changes of weather? Much of the 

 work can be done in the house when it would be difficult to 

 do it outside. 



If fas good results are obtained in the production of 

 honey in the house, then the balance is in favor of the 

 house. In a house of eight sides, 18 or 21 hives may be so 

 convenient that supers may be put on or taken otf without 

 moving more than two steps, which may be done during a 

 shower, or in the morning or evening. It would be dis- 

 agreeable to do the same work at the same time if the 

 hives were here and there in the grass. 



Another principal advantage is that the hives do not 

 get out of repair, and are always convenient. The princi- 

 ple involved in wintering is also important. In a house of 

 the above description, when it is a question of packing the 

 hive for winter, all that is required is a board fence or par- 

 tition made in sections and set in the rear of the hives to keep 

 the packing about them. In the spring this may be set 

 aside and the packing stored away for the next fall. All 

 this can be done while the bees are busy storing honey. 

 Then the care of the bees is over till next spring. 



It might be more convenient to have a covering for 

 each hive made like abed comforter padded with cotton or 

 wool. The principal thing in packing is to retain the heat 

 of the bees in the walls of the hive, always bearing in mind 

 that it must not be so dense as to prevent evaporation. The 

 covering that would keep the bee-master comfortable in 

 bed during- the winter season might be about the right 

 thing for his little servants. When hives are packt in the 

 dry, the covers should be left off. 



In connection with the house-apiary, the most impor- 

 tant principle or factor for good results is the hive. L,oose- 

 frame hives are out of the question in house-apiaries, for 

 many reasons. The chief reason is that they are too cold 

 in winter, spring and fall. The hive requisite to give sat- 

 isfaction in a house-apiary is either a box, straw skep, or a 

 tight-frame hive, on the same principle as the Notre Dame 

 hive. 



The life and health of the bee require a dry and high 

 temperature. These two essentials can not be effectually 

 maintained unless the bees are protected from drafts of cold 

 air, and the hives protected from severe cold. When bees 

 are thus protected they require very little ventilation, their 

 nature not needing much air. On hot summer days they 

 will remain for hours in great clusters. Excessive heat, 

 either produced by too much packing or the rays of the sun, 

 will drive them out of the hive. Bees require a very high 

 temperature for comb-building, and the air-spaces around 

 the frames militate against this work. But when they are 

 in close, tight hives, kept warm by packing, they can con- 

 trol the temperature of the hive with less labor. I wonder 

 how many bee-keepers realize what a great and continued 

 exertion the bees in a loose-frame hive have, to keep the 

 cold from penetrating the clusters when the air is rushing 

 into the hive at a temperature of 25 degrees below zero. 



A few years ago all our bees were on loose frames and 

 protected in the best possible manner. We had a severe 

 snow-storm lasting about (as near as I can remember) 48 

 hours, and the mercury indicated 25 degrees below zero. I 

 visited the hives several times during the storm, and the 

 bees kept up a noise night and day, the same as they do in 

 the evening of a warm day after storing a liberal amount 

 of nectar. Colonies that had not enough bees to keep up 

 the hum were husht forever. I closed the entrance of some 

 hives with snow, when in a very short time the noise ceast — 

 because there was no need of a counter current. 



The suffering endured by these little creatures from 

 cold in the loose-frame hive is difficult of estimation. It is 

 certainly cruelty to animals to keep bees in winter quarters 

 where they die by pints, quarts, and bushels, from the ef- 

 fects of cold or damp. If farmers kept their horses, cows 

 and sheep, or even hogs, in quarters in which they would 

 die from the effects of cold or damp in the same ratio as do 

 bees, they would be prosecuted for cruelty, and it would not 

 serve them either to say that they died of old age. 



From the best authorities we have on apiculture queen- 

 bees live three and four years. If I mistake not I have read 

 of a bee in Kentucky that ruled her hive eleven years. But 

 the.se were queens and mothers. Yet a queen is a bee, and 

 a queen will live three years and show no sign of superan- 

 nuation. Therefore, a bee may live three or more years. 

 The workers or field-bees do not live so long^. Their days 

 are shortened by violent deaths caused thru enemies feeding 

 on them', inclement weather, and a variety of other causes, 

 not to speak of the sickness and epidemics common to all 

 animals. 



In some localities, from July 1 to the middle of Septem- 

 ber, the average age of the workers may not be more than 

 20 days, while in other places, where their enemies are not 

 so numerous, it may average 30 or 40 days, more or less. 

 Perhaps of the millions of bees that perish every day in the 

 working season not 100 of them can be truly said to have 

 died of superannuation, or of old age, no more than it can 

 be said of the English soldiers who went on the hills of 

 South Africa to look for Boers. 



If I make a strong plea for the betterment and comfort 

 of the honey-bee I am not condemning the loose- frame hive, 

 which is centainly a beneficial improvement on the old plan 

 in favor of the honey-producer ; I am only contending for 

 an improvement on the same hive for the benefit of the 

 bee. Since this improvement has been effected, and has 

 given complete satisfaction for two years, and as it costs so 

 little per hive, it must strongly recommend itself as one of 

 the essential principles in the care of bees. 



Some may prefer an open shed to a house. For the 

 benefit of those I have done some experimental work, and 

 beg to give the results. 



Last October I packt three hives in chaff on the summer 

 stands. They were in an open shed, and stood about four 

 inches apart. I made a box of rough boards long and 

 wide enough to set over them, allowing about a two or three 

 inch space between this box and the hives for packing. 

 Full depth supers were then put on the brood-chambers and 

 filled with chaff, which was also packt about the hives till 

 the box was full to the brim. Some boards were then put 

 on to keep out the drifting snow. A thermometer was put 

 in the packing between the hives and one outside. Here 

 are the registrations : 



January 27 thermometer outside indicated zero. 



" 2" " iaside '^ 40 degrees above zero. 



" 2'* " outside *' 5 " below zero. 



*' 2*^ " inside ", 50 " above zero. 



February 1 " outside *'• 10 " below zero. 



" 1 *' inside " 50 *' above zero. 



" 5 " outside , *' 28 " *' zero. 



*' 5 " inside " 52 " '* zero. 



'* lb " outside " 2 " below zero. 



" 16 " inside '* 5t» '* above zero. 



*' 17 '* outside ^' 21 " below zero. 



" 17 " inside '^ 4'' " above zero. 



These registrations I think show conclusively that bees 

 wintered in the Notre Dame hive are not affected bj' sud- 

 den changes, nor do they suffer from severe cold, since the 

 temperature on the outside walls of their hives never fell 

 below 49 degrees above zero. The temperature inside the 

 hive is certainly much higher, and it can be controlled by 

 the bees to their own liking. The queens in two of these 

 hives are young, the one in the other about 18 months old. 

 All three are wintering perfectly. As these hives have 

 wire-cloth doors on the porticoes it is not difficult to ascer- 

 tain the number of bees that have died since last fall. The 

 temperature in the hive being very comfortable, a sick bee 

 can generally get into the portico to die even in the very 

 cold weather. The old queen, in all probability, has not 

 lost ISO of her bees by sickness since last fall. This kind 

 of hive being the essential element towards making the 

 house-apiary popular it may not be out of place here to de- 

 vote a small space to it. 



Since the ordinary loose-frame hive can be so easilj' 

 changed by means of the Notre Dame Device into one that 

 possesses all the requisites necessary to insure safe, drj' 

 and comfortable wintering to the bees, and at the same 

 time lose none of the advantages afforded by the loose 

 frames, but in many ways be a notable and useful improve- 

 ment, there can be no objection in the mind of one who 

 thinks for himself why it should not have a fair trial. After 

 two years' use of this device in the hives and supers I can 

 say in its favor that the danger of exciting or killing the 

 bees is much less in handling hives, supers and frames. 

 I have less propolis than before, and the bees have become 

 so gentle that the smoker is very seldom required. 



As the pressure of the screws may be several hundreds 

 of pounds, hives and supers should be well nailed, other- 

 wise their ends will expand. The bottom strip of frame 

 should be made stronger, and nailed inside instead of on 

 the end of the pieces. This insures better joints and pre- 

 vents the bottom strip from bulging. In nailing the frame 

 I have a little device for holding it, so exact in form that 

 the frame can not be put into it if any one of the pieces be 

 the slightest shade too large — and if too short a shaving or 

 piece of paper may be inserted. These precautions are not 

 necessities, but are certainly advantages that year after 

 year continue to give satisfaction. 



When the bee gets a new house she walks around, no- 

 ting all cracks and crannies in which the wax-moth might 



