1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



277 



How to Avoid Winter Losses. 



BY MRS. OLIVER COLE. 



I will say to those who are yet in- 

 quiring and desirous of knowing the 

 best way to winter bees, that we are 

 never too old to learn and should keep 

 reading and learning even if we have 

 met wiih heavy losses in the past, for 

 we live in an age of iinprovenieiitaud 

 progressit)n. To my mind to know 

 how to winter bees successfuily is the 

 greatest problem in bee keeping and I 

 will give my way of putting up bees 

 for winter. To do so successfully 

 means thorough and careful attention. 

 These are too often neglected by farm- 

 ers who have much work to do and 

 this is the cause of many losses. The 

 question of large or small hives does 

 not matter so very much if the bees 

 are put in the right condition. I pre- 

 fer the month of October to pre- 

 pare bees for winter, as all honey 

 gathering is then over. We should 

 ascertain how much stores a colony 

 has, and if they need feeding it should 

 be done. Every colony should be 

 overhauled carefully. First I raise 

 the cover and carefully smoke the 

 bees down from the top of the frame. 

 I lift out the center frames first and 

 look for the queen. As soon as she is 

 found I place the frame she is on in 

 front of the hive, the bees seldom 

 leaving the frame. Then I proceed 

 to work without fear of killing 

 the queen, lifting all the frames out 

 and setting them up against the hive. 

 Very often worms will be found in 

 the bottom of the hive and around the 

 frames that would surely destroy the 

 colony in a few months, and they can- 

 not be seen, nor can we learn the 

 amount of honey the bees have in store 

 without lifting out the frames. If I 



can not find the queen and see eggs 

 and larvai or sealed brood I know she 

 is in the hive, but if I do not see eith- 

 er I give the colony a young laying 

 queen that I always have in my api- 

 ary. Before returning the frames to 

 the hive I place a half inch strip of 

 wood across the fiont and back on 

 which to hang the frames so as to keep 

 them from the bottom of the hive so 

 that dead bees can be easily pulled 

 out in the winter and thus preventing 

 the hives from becomming clogged 

 and the air being shut out destroying 

 the ventilation. Then I give nearly 

 one inch space between the combs for 

 the bees to cluster in cold weather. If 

 there is any brood in the combs I 

 place it in the centre and put the 

 heaviest combs of honey on each side 

 the lightest being on the outside. My 

 hives admit of nine combs prepared in 

 this way. If they are not well filled 

 I put on a feeder and feed granulated 

 sugar syrup. If there are plenty of 

 bees and brood I feed as much every 

 evening as they will take in through 

 the night, and if I find any queenless 

 colonies I give them a queen and feed 

 half a pound of sugar syrup every 

 evening to stimulate the queen to lay- 

 ing for a couple of weeks in order to 

 have young bees for the winter, as 

 they will be the bees for business in 

 the spring. A weak and queenless 

 colouv built up in this way will come 

 out in better condition in the spring 

 than a very large colony of old bees. 

 If the queen is old she will stop laying 

 early and her bees will go into winter 

 quarters in poor condition and are lia- 

 ble to dwindle oft" through the spring 

 from old age. 



It is very necessary to know the age 

 of your queens ami requeen every two 



