THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



229 



Explaiialor}.— The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those aftek, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may retiuire. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre : 9 south ; O* east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; ^northwest; 

 <>» southeast; and ? southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



Read at the Davenport Conyentioo. 



Starvation and Bee-Diarrhea. 



W.M. GOO.S. 



I wish to endorse Dr. Southwick's re- 

 marks on page 171, that the bees men- 

 tioned died ot starvation, and that starva- 

 tion was the cause of the symptoms of 

 diarrhea which the bees exhibited. In 

 support of which I want to Kive a few 

 facts as I have found them in uiy experi- 

 ments and observations on bees tliat liave 

 died during winter. 



Ot the many conflicting theories ad- 

 vanced as the cause of our winter losses, 

 1 think that the " pollen theory " comes 

 the nearest to the principal cause of loss, 

 though in an indirect way, and not as 

 some would have us believe ; that is, not 

 for the reason that it causes diarrhea, but 

 because by its use In a natural, and in it- 

 self harmless, way, it may, by the combi- 

 nation of circumstances, become the cause 

 of the most terrible loss. 1 speak of pol- 

 len as an indirect cause of loss, for the 

 reason thatthe final result may be changed 

 without removing the principal cause- 

 pollen. 



When I first read of the " pollen theory," 

 in the fall of 1881, 1 decided to take out all 

 the pollen in my five hives, and note the 

 effect. As my hives were used for pro- 

 ducing extracted honey, I did not have 

 much dlllHculty in selecting combs which 

 contained no pollen, and as the combs 

 were new, 1 could hold them iu the light 

 and see the pollen. Not having quite 

 enough full frames which contained no 

 pollen, to winter tliem on, 1 took enougli 

 partially filled ones and fed sugar syrup, 

 and not one of the 5 colonies reared any 

 brood until they could gather pollen from 

 the maple trees, being from a month to 

 six weeks later than the time when my 

 neighbors' bees began to work on the 

 pollen. So far as 1 could see, the only 

 benefit to be derived from taking away the 

 pollen was, that the bees would not breed 

 without It. 



In the spiing of 1881 1 made a discovery 

 proving to my mind that starvation was 

 the cause of diarrhea, but I decided to say 

 nothing about it to any one until I should 

 collect such evidence as could leave no 

 doubt in my conclusions. 



During the winter of 1882-83, I exam- 

 ined 2 colonies of bees that had died dur- 

 ing.the latter part of February, 183.3. They 

 were just as they had died, and I had a 

 good chance to see the cause, which was 

 the same In each case. The dead bees 

 were still between the frames, and many 

 of them still clustered over the brood that 

 they would not leave, though death had 

 stared tlien\ in the face, for there was not 

 a cell of honey within reach of the cluster; 

 by leaving the brood to die they might 

 easily have moved to some other part of 

 the hive during the first warm day, where 



there was honey in plenty ; this they 

 would or could not do, and the few bees 

 that attempted it, iu the cold weather. If 

 any such lliere were, must have instantly 

 chilled and died when they left the warm 

 cluster, for the honey was as cold as ice. 

 In all such cases I have found pollen on 

 the frames whereon the bees had clustered, 

 which was, no doubt, the cause of their 

 breeding. This shows me two things, 

 viz : 



1. Bees, when left with pollen in the 

 hive, begin to breed very early in the 

 spring, or rather, in the winter, generally 

 about the middle of January, probably 

 owing to the fact that usually they tlien 

 have their first winter flight. I say that 

 probably this is the reason, for I liave 

 noticed that when they have their first 

 good winter flight, after real cold weather 

 has set in, I invariably find brood in some 

 of the hives on the n«xt warm day, which 

 generally occurs in about 2 or 3 weeks. 

 This was true last year, and also this year, 

 as they bad a good flight on Jan. 8, and 

 another on Feb. 3, when they had sealed 

 brood. 



2. Unless there is plenty of honey near 

 the brood-nest, they will starve with 

 honey in the hive. As the bees always 

 cluster on the centre frame, in the fall 

 and winter, usually so close together as to 

 cluster only between from 3 to .5 bee- 

 spaces, and as these frames are always in 

 the hive, they contain less honey in the 

 fall than the outside ones, being generally 

 not more than one-half full : the reason 

 for this is, that they breed in these frames 

 more or less until honey ceases to come in 

 In the fall, and, of course, they then have 

 nothing to fill them up with, and then 

 what they do contain is always the first 

 consumed. About the middle of January 

 the queen lays In the empty part of these 

 frames, and the bees cluster closely around 

 the brood, and always consume the honey 

 near the brood-nest first ; and those that 

 breed much, are more liable to get short 

 of honey on these frames. Such as con- 

 sume nuKh honey, or had too short an 

 allowance in the fall, will have consumed 

 all the lioney within reach of the cluster 

 in a short time after they begin to breed ; 

 and if the weather is so cold that the bees 

 are unable to move around in search of 

 food, they will have nothing to eat or to 

 feed the brood, as the cluster will not 

 move from its position, and the result is 

 that they die of starvation with plenty of 

 honey just out of their reach. This would 

 not be the case if we had occasional warm 

 days, for they would carry enough honey 

 within reach to last a few days ; but if 

 the weather remains cold enough for bees 

 to cluster, they will be lost ; this does not 

 usually happen before the latter part of 

 February or the first part of March, and it 

 may happen even later, if the weather re- 

 mains cold enough for the bees to cluster. 



Bees have died early in this section this 

 year, doubtless owing to the fact that we 

 had scarcely any fall Jioney, and, of 

 course, this left the frames that contained 

 brood during the fall, with very little 

 honey ; and tlien the winter has been so 

 cold, thus causing the bees to consume 

 more honey to Keep up the required 

 amount of heat. All who did not feed 

 their bees plentifully last fall, will have 

 lost heavily during the winter. Very 

 strong colonies generally winter the best, 

 as they cover more frames, or cluster be- 

 tween more bee-spaces ; this brings them 

 nearer to the outside of the hive where 

 there is more honey ; if there are bee- 

 spaces or winter passages over the frames, 

 the cluster will move back on all the 

 frames at the same time. 



To explain more fully : Suppose that 

 we had a colony of bees wherein the two 

 centre combs contained but very little 

 honey, say about one-third full, and the 

 next combs on either side were almost full 

 of honey ; and that the bees clustered on 



all four frames ; the bees on the two cen- 

 tre frames would not move back any 

 faster than those on the two outside combs, 

 showing that those on the outside combs 

 must pass the honey to those on the cen- 

 tre frame, thus enabling them to keep the 

 cluster altogether instead of .scattering it, 

 as would be the case if those that clustered 

 on the centre frames moved back as fast 

 as they consumed what honey was on 

 those combs without any help from those 

 on the outside combs, as those on the out- 

 side combs would move back only so fast 

 as they consumed the honey. This shows 

 the advantage of a large colony over a 

 small one, in this respect; for, suppose 

 that we had 2 colonies of bees to prepare 

 for winter, both having an equal amount 

 of honey and pollen, namelj', four frames 

 one-third full in the centre, and four full 

 ones, two on either side of the four empty 

 ones, and suppose that one colony was so 

 weak that it could only cluster in three 

 bee-spaces, and as there would be almost 

 as many bees clustered in these tliree bee- 

 spaces as there would be between the 

 same number of bee-Spaces in the stronger 

 one, and as they would consume the honey 

 only between these tliree bee-spaces, they 

 would have to move back on these three 

 frames much faster than the stronger col- 

 ony that would cover 5 or 6 bee-spaces. 

 If the weather were still cold enough for 

 bees to cluster, the weaker one would 

 die of starvation and diarrhea, and the 

 stronger one would still be in a healthy 

 condition. For this rea.son I should ad- 

 vise putting Hill's device over the frames, 

 or making holes through the combs, so 

 that the bees in one bee-space can more 

 readily communicate with the rest of the 

 cluster, for although, they always have a 

 bee-space between the quilt or honey- 

 board, and the top of the frames, by using 

 Hill's device it makes the bee-space 

 larger, and keeps them in communication 

 with each other. 

 From the above, some may get the ira- 



Eresslon that bees never starve without 

 rood in the hive ; this is generally, though 

 not always, the case, as I have seen several 

 colonies this winter that died of starva- 

 tion and diarrhea without brood in the 

 hive; but this is easily accounted for as 

 they were not very strong, and could not 

 cluster in many bee-spaces or cover many 

 frames of honey, and as very little if any 

 honey came in after the bees slackened 

 up in breeding last fall, the frames on 

 which they clustered contained but little 

 honey ; and the weather was unusually 

 protracted cold during tlie month of Jan- 

 uary that they could not have moved the 

 cluster to the other frames even if they 

 had been so inclined. I have never seen 

 a case where the cluster moved their posi- 

 tion to other frames than the ones on 

 which they clustered in the fall, even 

 though they got out the honey on those 

 frames. 



1 can easily see why the pollen theory 

 was advanced, for in every case that I 

 have seen, where bees have died in win- 

 ter, 1 found pollen on the the frames on 

 whicli the bees had clustered, and as tlie- 

 honey that had covered the pollen in the 

 fall had all been taken out, and as there 

 was still plenty of honey in the outsiile 

 frames, and as all showed signs of diar- 

 rliea, what is more natural, at first sight, 

 than to conclude that the bees had died 

 with the diarrhea ? This was jumping at 

 a conclusion, for the honey on the frames 

 on which the bees had clustered, had all 

 been used, and the cluster of bees could 

 not move to the frames nearer the outside 

 of the hive, in very cold weather. 



That starvation is the real cause of win- 

 ter loss and diarrhea, I have no doubt : for 

 several times in the latter part of Feb- 

 ruary, on a warm day, I have found sev- 

 eral colonies bavins hut little honey ; and, 

 last year, a few that had none in the 

 frames on which they were clustered, 



