490 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



truly 13, 190S 



it 24 hours with a temperature of 25 or 30 degrees below zero; 

 then went to carry my bees in and get my honey. I was sur- 

 prised on moving it into the house to find that the water was 

 not entirely frozen over at that very cold temperature and 24 

 hours out-doors, but I rolled it up under the stove just the 

 same and melted the ice out and went away from home. In a 

 few hours more the bees drove my wife out. They were all 

 alive and happy as ever. The query is, Why didn't they 

 drown? Every bee was under water; they were completely 

 covered. Then, again, why didn't that water cool oflf and 

 freeze over? I suppose perhaps the warmth of the bees pre- 

 vented that, but I would have expected them to drown if they 

 breathed. Can they live that long without breathing? 



Mr. Becker — As to the question, do bees freeze out- 

 doors, I want to say this, that I have had bees that were out- 

 doors all winter with broken hives that you could almost run 

 your fist into, and they appeared to have wintered all right. 

 Last winter when the thermometer went down to 25 degrees 

 below zero in our latitude, I had 10 colonies in new hives, 

 with plenty of honey, and every one of them died, with the 

 exception of one. before spring came. It lived until spring 

 and then dwindled away and finally died, and in the hive there 

 was as much as 50 pounds of honey. The other hives, many 

 of them full of holes, stood on the summer stands. I couldn't 

 take care of them in the fall because I was too busy. I put 

 in a piece of gunnysack to fill up the opening and they win- 

 tered through in good shape, and produced virtually the honey 

 I got this year. I believe it is not so much the cold as it is 

 the condition that th? bees go to winter quarters in. I don't 

 believe in outdoor wintering. I don't want to risk it if T can 

 possibly help it. I believe what will do one year won't do 

 another year. The conditions as to bees are different one 

 year from another in one locality ; and they may be all right 

 in one locality and not in another. I also believe that if we 

 can keeo our bees dry, or from getting too much moisture 

 around the cluster, that the cold will not affect them so much 

 as the dampness does. The honey will freeze around when 

 there is much honey in the comb, and there will be great 

 chunks of ice hanging around the bees all over the comb, 

 and that is one effect of out-door wintering. When it is not 

 w-arm enough so that they can come out and clean them- 

 selves they will begin to get damp, and the dampness will get 

 through all the hives, and then the next little cold spell will 

 catch every one of them and they die. Where we winter bees 

 in the cellar, we aim to keep them dry and avoid the extreme 

 cold. I believe that dampness has more to do with it than 

 cold weather. 



Dr. ^liller — I don't believe that this is a matter of vital 

 importance and I hope we will not take up time with it, but 

 if you are going on with it I want to say what I think about 

 it is, a single bee will freeze — I think no one disputes that ; 

 two bees put together will freeze if it is cold enough and the 

 cold continued long enough ; so will three or four ; and there 

 comes a point somewhere where Mr. Abbott will tell you they 

 don't freeze, they starve. If you have a small cluster that 

 small cluster will freeze, and before we get to the place 

 where Mr. Abbott says they starve, they still will die, whether 

 it is from freezing or from starvation, or whatever it may be. 

 But here is the point. You put them down to 40 degrees be- 

 low zero, or put them down to the point where they do not 

 stir, and I think you will get a point, and I don't believe the 

 bees will move at that even if there is honey above them. 

 They will wait until it gets a little bit warmer before they 

 will break cluster to get anything fresh. If you hold them 

 there long enough, and if the cold is severe enough, thev are 

 going to stay there and they will freeze, and freeze to death. 

 That is what I think. Now Mr. Abbott thinks they starve. 

 Stop that cold at any time and let them warm up and start 

 in afresh. But I say, put it down cold enough and hold it 

 there and those bees are going to freeze. You don't call it 

 starvation with a single bee, why should you call it that with 

 the colony? I don't believe it makes a particle of diflference 

 which way you believe. 



Mr. Abbott — They don't get 40 degrees below zero in the 

 cluster. 



Mr. Stuebing — I am an old bee-keeper — about 50 years 

 in the business. When bees are given honey they will never 

 freeze outdoors. 



Mr. Root — I don't know whether I agree with Dr. Miller 

 or Mr. Abbott. I am going to tell you something, and Mr. 

 Abbott can clap his hands to show us whether it hits his way 

 or not. We wintered bees for a good many years at Medina 

 outdoors. We winter a good portion indoors now. I noticed 

 that the bees that were dead on the comb would be circled 

 around as near a sphere as they could be ; that on each comb 

 they would be in the form of a circle. If they were dead 

 there would be about two inches without any honey around 

 them at all. I never saw any bees that were dead that had 

 access to honey, no matter how cold it was, but every time 

 I found a cluster of bees dead I found they had eaten away 

 all the honey around them to the extent of three or four 

 inches. Seemingly they had got to the point where they 

 couldn't move ; whether they froze or starved Dr. Miller can 

 settle. 



(Continued next week.) 



®ur ^^e^'Kccpino^ Sisters 



=\ 



=/ 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Uniting Dwindled Colonies in Spring 



No doubt some of the sisters will feel grate- 

 ful to Bro. Latham, page 43S, for arguing there 

 is no necessiiy for ending the life of a colony, 

 even it it has dwindled down to almost noth- 

 ing. When one has only :i colonies, it seems 

 a serious matter to reduce the number to 2; 

 and even when one has 100 colonies it goes 

 against the grain to reduee the number to 99. 

 One can not divest oneself entirely of sen- 

 timent, even in this dollar-and-cent age, and 

 the sick chicken is likely to be nursed care- 

 fully up to the day of its death, even if one is 

 sure that it has no chance for recovery. And 

 colony No. 3 can not be remorselessly swept 

 out of existence without leaving an aching 

 void. So there will be those who will be glad 

 to take Bro. Latham's plan of keeping the 

 family circle of 3 colooies unbroken, even if 

 it does cost more than it would to buy another 

 full colony. What mother could be satisfied 

 to give up the care of a sick child by being 

 told that another child cotild be bought to 

 take its place for less money than it would 

 take to doctor the sick one? 



But if ills merely a uatterof dollars and 

 cents, it must be aduittted, albeit with a sigh, 

 that tinkering up a winkling in early spring, 

 especially if queenless, costs more than it 



comes to, and it is hard to understand how it 

 can be more profitable for one with only 2 

 colonies than for one with 200. 



Bees Troubled with Moths— Queen- 

 lessness— Transf ePFin g 



Deak Miss Wilson:— Will you please tell 

 me how I can rid a hive of bees of the wax- 

 moth. I notice the bees are at work most of 

 the time carrying out stuff that looks like fine 

 sawdust. I have killed quite a number of the 

 moths on the outside of the hive. The colony 

 of bees is hybrids, and not a very large one. 



1. How does a colony appear if it has no 

 queen? 



2. If I should transfer them to a new hive 

 with one-inch foundation starters in the 

 frames, and starters in sections, would they 

 stay there all right and go to worki 



3. The hive they are now in is an old one — 

 a chaff hive. Do you think I could lift out 

 the frames and clean them, and get rid of the 

 moths that way ' 



4. If I should transfer them to a new hive, 

 and there was any young brood sealed, or 

 just coining out, what could be done with 

 them? 



I bought the colony this spring, and the 



man that I bought them of said they were 

 all right, and I look his word for it. I think 

 he does not know how to keep bees clean, or 

 he would keep them in better shape. 'The 

 bees have not swarmed yet. 



I hope this is not too long for you. but I 

 am very anxious about my bees, for I love 

 them, and they have not oifered to sting me. 

 I think I will get along all right with them. 

 Mrs. New Hampshire. 



1. Bees that have been queenless some little 

 time will carry in a noticeably less quantity 

 of pollen than those that have a laying queen 

 and are rearing much brood. But the best 

 way is to lift out the frames and examine 

 their contents. If a laying queen is present 

 there will be eggs found in the cells, and if 

 she has been present long enough there will 

 be brood in all stages. "There may, however, 

 be a virgin queen in the hive, and in that 

 case there will, of course, be no eggs or brood 

 from her. On the other hand, there may be 

 eggs and brood and no queen. That would be 

 a case of laying workers. The laying of 

 these pests is not as regular as that of queens. 

 If drone-cells are present they will be used in 

 preference to worker-cells, and two or more 

 eggs may be found in each drone-cell. Often 

 one of the first signs of laying workers is the 

 finding of eggs in queen-cells, and if you find 

 more than one egg in a cell you may find a 

 dozen eggs in a single queen-cell. 



One way to help decide whether any queen 

 is present, either laying or virgin, is to give a 

 frame of eggs and brood from another colony, 

 always supposing you have another, and if 

 queen-cells are started it is tolerably certain 

 that no queen of any kind is present. 



3. Yes, but it may be well to say that it ia 

 poor economy to put inch starters of founda- 

 tion in brood-frames. You will be pretty 



