VOL. VI. 



JUNE, 1896. 



NO. 6. 



Confining Bees. 



BY (HAS. 11. I'HIES. 



There is much said about confining 

 bees, the length of time they will 

 stand confinement without a cleansing 

 flight, etc. During the past winter I 

 had a little experience in the inattter 

 without any effort on ray part. In 

 preparing my bees for winter in the 

 fall of 1895 I doubled ray nuclei, by 

 which method some of thera were 

 formed to sraall colonies or swarms. 

 In forming my nuclei 1 put a thin 

 partition in a regular 8 frame hive 

 body, which gives me two nuclei to 

 each hive, the entrance being at op- 

 posite ends. In preparing my bees 

 for winter I make one nuclei queeu- 

 less and then pull out the thin parti- 

 tion board and the uniting is done. I 

 next put a thin partition board on 

 each side which makes a double wall- 

 ed hive on the sides. In putting in 

 these boards I happened to entirely 

 close the entrance, which remained 

 closed all winter and until after the 

 weather became very warm. So my 

 bees were wintered on the summer 

 stands and were confined six months 

 without a flight. Of course we did 

 not have very cold weather, but we 

 had some very warm days. Upon ex- 



amining these bees in the spring they 

 appeared to have wintered very poor- 

 ly ; in fact upon opening the hive it 

 took me a few minutes before I could 

 tell what was really the matter with 

 them. They acted much as though 

 they were queenless, but upon exam- 

 ining them I soon found a queen, also 

 a good lot of brood of all ages. When 

 I made a closer examination I found 

 the entrance entirely closed. Take 

 this colony tu-day and I am unable to 

 see that they are any worse for their 

 six months confineraent. Had these 

 six months been steady cold I would 

 not have been so much surprised, but 

 as we had changeable weather they 

 surely beca'ue very uneasy, and no 

 doubt if they had not had very good 

 honey would have died. I do not 

 know as this experience will be worth 

 much to any one, yet I give it more 

 as a curiosity than what it might be 

 worth. 



Steeleville, 111. 



Poisonous Honey. 



BY X. HALLOCK. 



I noticed in the last American Bee 

 Keeper a letter from Mr. Jolley on 

 the subject, "Poisonous Honey. — Do 

 Bees Gather it ? 



