For the American Bee Journal. 



Description of Winter Bee House. 



BY W. G. WALTON. 



I think my bee house for wintering is 

 the most complete, practical and con- 

 venient that I have yet heard of. It is 

 made double in the ordinary way, leav- 

 ing 2 feet space for packing sides, top 

 and bottom, which I have filled with 

 fine dry chaff and pressed in perfectly 

 tight, so it is frost proof and dry. I 

 have a pit in the center to form a drain 

 to answer for ventilation as well as to 

 carry off the heavy gases (carbonic acid 

 gas) from the bees. I have also a top 

 ventilator to regulate the temperature, 

 and let off the bad air which we can 

 close from the outside on very cold 

 nights. The double doors are placed in 

 the center of the ends. I have a track, 

 of 22 inch gauge, down in the bee yard 

 which runs right up and into the bee 

 house. The cars are made with 4 

 wheels and long enough to hold 10 hives 

 in a row and 3 rows on each truck, mak- 

 ing 30 colonies per each truck, and I 

 have 3 trucks. After having them all 

 loaded up in proper shape to winter, I 

 run in one car; I have 2 little cars inside 

 called transfer track and trucks. So 

 that when I run the truck on them, then 

 I run it over to one side of the house 

 and move it, say 2 feet ahead ; this 

 leaves the little transfer trucks clear to 

 place in the center to receive the next 

 car load of bees, which are run to the 

 other side of the house. The third 

 car is run in and left standing in the 

 center on the transfer track ; remaining 

 thus until some hue day in winter. I 

 can with one man, run out the 90 colo- 

 nies, let them have a fly, and run them 

 in again, in about 5 minutes. I can 

 repeat this several times during the 

 winter. I have carried out the bees, on 

 fine days, during the past winters ; but 

 never, even when I used to winter in 

 cellars, did I leave my bees in all win- 

 ter, without letting them have at least 

 three flights during the winter, and have 

 never lost a colony yet in wintering. 



I believe the of tener they are out the 

 better, so long as it is warm enough, 

 say 80 or 85° or over ; but many times 

 when I had to carry them out, it seemed 

 so large a job that I neglected it and 



Eerhaps when I did take them out the 

 est part of the fine day was gone 

 before I got them all out. By this new 

 way, it takes about 5 minutes to take 

 out 90 or 100 colonies and 5 minutes to 

 put them in again, with one man's help, 

 and can always run the cars to the same 

 place, so that the bees will get very 

 little mixed, as the cars can always be 



placed in the same spot when they go 

 out for a flight. 



The whole cost of these trucks is not 

 over what two men's time would be in 

 moving bees in and out 4 or 5 times by 

 hand, and then the bees can be managed 

 so much better. If bee-keepers will 

 adopt this plan of wintering, and see 

 in the fall that each colony is in good 

 order, with queens not over 21 years old 

 (18 months is better and 5 or 6 months 

 is still better), and enough of honey, 

 not even 1 colony in 100 will be lost in 

 wintering. I have never lost over 1 per 

 cent., counting spring dwindling or 

 spring dying, and I think that there is 

 no more risk in wintering bees than in 

 wintering a sheep or pig. 



Hamilton, Ont. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey Boards and Prize Box Holder. 



BY C. H. DIBBERN. 



During the past season I adopted the 

 Langstroth hive, prize boxes, comb 

 foundation and all modern improve- 

 ments. I was very successful, having 

 produced nearly double the amount of 

 surplus honey per hive, that I ever did 

 before. However, I was not entirely 

 satisfied with the hives, as sent out from 

 the factory. The honey boards had 

 very large openings for bees to pass to 

 the boxes. I soon found these objec- 

 tionable on account of the bees sticking 

 comb to the bottom of the boxes, also 

 gumming it so as to mar its appearance. 

 I at once made up my mind that we had 

 not reached perfection, as long as bees 

 were allowed to touch the out-side of 

 the boxes. 



After a good deal of study, I hit on 

 the following : Take 5 slats ixlf x24 in. 

 for the middle slats of honey board 

 running them lengthwise of hive ; two 

 pieces 2|xlx24in. for out-side, then take 

 two pieces ixl long for ends. Nail 

 through these into the ends of the 

 longer slats, leaving I in. between the 

 slats for bees to pass through. Now 

 nail on top of honey board thus made, 

 one of D. D. Palmer's, section holders, 

 described in July number, American 

 Bee Journal, and you have an 

 arrangement that is hard to beat. The 

 center piece of the holder should be 

 nailed to every slat on honey board so 

 as to stiffen them. I have also modi- 

 fied the holder using 5 slats across the 

 hive instead of 3, as Mr. Palmer makes 

 them. This allows the use of single 

 separators instead of running through 

 two or three tiers. I prefer to take off 

 the sections as soon as finished and I 



