THE AMEBIC AI< BEE JOURNAL. 



295 



winter of 1880-81 

 the past winter, 

 pense. 

 Niueveli,0 Ind. 



all riglit, and also 

 It entails no ex- 



For tbe American Beo JoumaL 



Method of Wintering and Results. 



JOSHUA BULL, (27—32). 



At tlie end of the season of 1884 1 had 27 

 colonies in chaff hives to prepare for win- 

 ter on the summer stands. How shall I 

 prepare them ? was a question of great 

 interest to me. Believing that upward 

 ventilation is in direct contrariety to tlie 

 nature of the hooey-bee, that being a 

 point which tliey seem to strive most 

 strenuously to guard against, as is plainly 

 manifested by their efforts to seal every 

 crack and crevice above them perfectly 

 air-tight with propolis at the approach of 

 cold weather, reason and propriety seem 

 to dictate, tliat in order to secure the de- 

 sired end with the best results, we should 

 assist the bees in every possible way we 

 can to consummate those plans and pro- 

 visions which their instinct has inspired 

 them to make for self-preservation ; not 

 rudely tear them away, destroying their 

 Industrious labors, and expose the little 

 creatures to the discomfort of air-currents, 

 which they seem so much to dread, yet it 

 is desirable to allow the moisture to es- 

 cape upwards as much as possible without 

 any passage of air or loss of heat. 



Therefore, in accordance with the above 

 views, when preparing my bees tor the 

 past winter, after removing all combs 

 which were not needed for them to cluster 

 upon, moving up the division-board, and 

 filling the vacant space back of it with dry 

 ehaflf, the same cloth which had been used 

 to cover the brood-nest during the summer 

 being allowed to remain for winter, and 

 over this four sheets of newspaper were 

 placed and fitted down closely to the top 

 of the lower story of the hive ; and an 

 inch or two of fine chaff was put on top 

 of this and spread evenly around against 

 the outside, so as to be sure to hold the 

 edges of the paper down tight. Instead 

 of a cushion, I use a box made just as 

 large as can easily he set in and out of the 

 upper story of the hive, 6 inches deep, 

 with cotton cloth tacked on for a bottom ; 

 this is filled with chaff and set in on top 

 of the paper, which completes the cover- 

 ing. The paper effectually stops all pas- 

 sage of air, and yet it absorb.s the mois- 

 ture, passes It up into the chaff, and thus 

 it escapes. The entrances, 8x5^ inches, 

 were left open the full width, boards 

 being leaned up against the fronts of the 

 hives to keep the wind from blowing 

 directly in. In January, when the mer- 

 cury was ranging down among the thirties, 

 for weeks at a time, and even to 40° below 

 zero, I shoveled snow around the hives, 

 first placing a stick in position, so that 

 after the snow was banked around, by 

 drawing out the stick carefully, It would 

 leave a hole about 3 inches in diameter to 

 admit fresh air to the entrance of the hive. 

 This air-passage was carefully kept open 

 all winter. 



Some of my hives are made long enough 

 to accommodate 2 colonies In summer, 

 and a third one can be placed between 

 them for wintering, an entrance being 

 provided for that purpose. I had .5 hives 

 containing 3 colonies each, one hive with 

 2, and 10 colonies, one In each hive. By 

 way of experiment, I arranged one colony 

 so as to have about 5 inches of vacant 

 space below the combs, and one colony 

 which I did not value very highly, was put 

 upon combs which contained little or no 

 honey, but whatever pollen they might 

 happen to contain ; then, this colony was 

 fed for — :-*— ■■'- -...■' 



the "so-called honey-dew," which was so 

 sickening to the taste that we could not 

 think of using it on the table; and 1 

 wanted to see if bees would live through 

 the winter on that alone. 



On Nov. 15, the bees had a good flight ; 

 on the next day cold weather came, and 

 came to stay. After the middle of De- 

 cember it became very severe, ranging be- 

 low zero much of the time. On Christ- 

 mas morning it was down to 30= below. 

 The mean temperature through the month 

 of December, computed from the lowest 

 point indicated by my thermometer as 

 carefully noted each day, was 7° above : 

 for the month of January, 7° below ; and 

 for the first 34 days of February, ahout W' 

 below zero. The coldest moriilng during 

 that period was that of Jan. 33. when it 

 was 40° below zero. The bees had their 

 natural stores just as they had gathered 

 them, except tlie one mentioned above, 

 and one or two others which 1 feared 

 might be short, and so I gave them a little 

 syrup to make up the deficiency. 



By examination from time to time, I 

 found that the paper placed over the bees 

 was fulfilling the desired purpose even 

 better than I had anticipated, for all 

 would feel dry and warm next to the bees, 

 when sometimes the top of the chaff above 

 would be thoroughly soaked or covered 

 over with a crust of frost. They got no 

 opportunity to fly until Feh. 37, when they 

 had a good cleansing flight on that day and 

 the next. Examination at this date 

 showed that one colony had evidently 

 smothered early in the winter, the en- 

 trance having been tightly closed with 

 'snow and ice. Five or 6 colonies had 

 been, and still were, badly affected by 

 diarrhea, and much reduced in numbers ; 

 the remaining 20 were In fine condition, 

 and all, or all but one, had more or less 

 brood. From this time until the middle 

 of March, the weather was quite mild, 

 young bees were hatching out all the time, 

 and things looked very hopeful. 



But a change was coming ; March 17 

 opened with the mercury 19° below zero, 

 and the wind blew a regular blizzard for 

 about two days and nights, and from this 

 time to March 2.3, the mercury ranged 

 from 10° to 16° below zero. During this 

 cold snap my bees seemed to suffer much 

 more damage and loss than they had all 

 the previous part of the winter. If I had 

 closed tightly the entrances of all the 

 hives at this time, it would, no doubt, 

 have been much better ; or if I had re- 

 moved the combs which they could not 

 occupy.from the weaker colonies, and con- 

 tracted their brood-nests, the result might 

 have been different. But this not being 

 done, 3 of the diseased colonies succumbed 

 to the cold winds and froze ; 3 more have 

 since dwindled away until one has become 

 extinet.and as I wished to save the queen of 

 the other, I disposed of It by putting the 

 queen and a few bees that were left with 

 her, upon a comb of brood placed in a cage 

 made of wire-cloth, and hung it in a hive 

 with a strong colony, according to Mr. G. 

 M. Doollttle's plan for forming nuclei in 

 cold weather. Thus my stock Is reduced 

 to 32 colonies, and some of those are 

 rather weak, but 1 hope to get along now 

 without further loss, as the weather is 

 getting quite warm, the bees have been 

 bringing In natural pollen for several days 

 past, and things begin to look encourag- 

 ingagain. 



The colony that had the vacant space 

 below the combs Is one of the best ; the 

 one that had nothing but honey-dew and 

 pollen to subsist upon, also came through 

 in excellent condition. Their combs, 

 frames, and Inside of the hive are just as 

 clean to-day as they were last summer. I 

 do not think that there has been half a 

 pint of dead bees In or around their hive 

 since last fall. If all of my colonies had 



did this one, I would not ask anything 

 better. I know this does not accord very 

 well with the oft-expressed opinion tliat 

 hiMiey-dew is the cause of the wholesale 

 loss of bees during the past winter ; but 

 ill my case it is not guess-work, but the 

 result of a careful experiment. Those 

 colonics which were packed three In one 

 hive, did not do as well as those which 

 were one in a hive. All my losses and all 

 the serious cases of diarrhea, occurred 

 among those where 3 or 3 colonies were in 

 one hive. 



I have another experiment which 1 wish 

 to relate, as it may be of interest to some: 

 On Oct. 29, 1884, 1 put a queen and about 

 half a pint of bees into a box 13 inches 

 long and .5i^xRX inches, inside measure, 

 containing 3 two-pound sections partly 

 filled with comb and honey, which were 

 placed in one end of the box, and kejit in 

 position by a glass partition, and hehl up 

 from the bottom by >^-iuch strips placed 

 under them, so the bees could pass from 

 one part of the box to the other. One end 

 of this box was tnrmed of glass, the other 

 end covered with wire-cloth. I could look 

 Into either end at any time and see some- 

 thing of what was going on inside. This 

 was kept on a shelf in the pantry, which 

 was in constant use. and exposed to the 

 full light of day, and all the noise and stir 

 of the house. The temperature was often 

 up to 70°, sometimes 7ti°, and seldom if 

 ever below .50°, during the winter. Some 

 of the bees would come out nearly evfry 

 day and buzz around awhile next to the 

 wire-screen, and then retire. The section 

 placed next to the glass-end of the box 

 was mostly filled with white clover honey, 

 but in the centre, at the upper part, was a 

 darker colored spot about the size of a 

 silver half-dollar, supposed to be honey- 

 dew, which the bees broke Into -and con- 

 sumed first of any. They reared a little 

 brood, and the queen and some of the bees 

 lived through until April 18, when I put 

 them upon a comb of brood in a wire-cloth 

 cage and placed them in a hive with 

 another colony to form a nucleus. 

 Seymour, Wis. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee-Keeper's Staff— Fronting Hives. 



J. H. ANDRE. 



^oyu, „o»i"''"^''.,'*'*"'®^ exclusively some come through the winter as nice and clean 

 early-gathered honey, or, as I suppose, I and with as small a percentage of loss as 



A few years ago many of our scientific 

 bee-keepers were making a jiractice of 

 dividing colonies instead of letting them 

 swarm naturally. Perhaps not one farmer 

 in fifty ever had a colony divided, and 

 many of our most successful bee-keepers 

 have returned to the old way, and con- 

 sequently must, at times, meet with much 

 difficulty in hiving swarms, by their 

 alighting on the trunks of trees or high up 

 on the outward branches. Again, theur 

 favorite place will be on some valuable 

 tree where it Is almost impossible to get 

 them without cutting the branches and 

 spoiling the shape of the tree. Such was 

 my experience until I made what I call a 

 bee-keeper's staff, and then it was simply a 

 pleasure. 



To make the staff, use a piece of light 

 timber 1% inches square, and plane one 

 end 18 inches in length, and also make it 

 eight-sided. The handle may be rounded 

 IX inches in diameter, and any length 

 wanted. Probably two staffs wUHje hand- 

 ier—one 6 feet and one 13 feet in length. 

 Now take strips of tough wood X of an 

 inch thick, five-eighths of an inch wide, and 

 13 inches long, and begin at the end of the 

 staff and nail on a strip crosswise through 

 the centre of the strip, and one on the 

 opposite side ; tuni the staff one-eighth of 

 the way aromid and nail on another and 

 one opjiosite. It will take from 16 to 18 

 jiairs of cross-pieces about one Inch apart 

 from centre fo centre, each one being 



