THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



109 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Wintering Bees, and other Matters. 



It is settled beyond a doubt in my own mind, 

 by the experience of others as related in the 

 Bee Journal, and by my own experience for 

 several years in the apiary, that bees to winter 

 well, must have sufficient ventilation to carry 

 off the excessive moisture which accumulates in 

 well stocked hives. This moisture arises partly 

 from the exhalations from the bodies of the 

 bees, but mostly, I think, from the surrounding 

 atmosphere, which constantly holds in suspense 

 a greater or less amount of moisture, according 

 as its temperature is higher or lower. The 

 warm atmosphere of the hive is capable of hold- 

 ing a considerable quantity, until is condensed 

 by coming in contact with the cold walls of the 

 hive, at some distance from the cluster of bees. 

 There it condenses, first into minute drops of 

 moisture, and afterwards, if the cold increases, 

 into frost. The constant accumulation of the 

 quantity, by repeated thawing and freezing in 

 a hive that has no efficient means of ventilation, 

 gradually encroaches on the space occupied by 

 the bees, finally reaching those on the outside 

 of the cluster. These grow benumbed, cease to 

 eat, lose their vitality, grow cold, the frost 

 forms on their bodies, and they die where they 

 stand. The frost continues to penetrate the 

 cluster, if the cold weather is prolonged, until 

 finally the last bee dies covered with frost. 

 The warm days of spring then melt this frost, 

 and on examination, the whole mass of bees are 

 found dead and as wet as if just dipped from a 

 basin of water. I found one hive in that con- 

 dition last spring. The entrance to this hive 

 was left open, but the honey-board was left on 

 tight, without any upw r ard ventilation, as an 

 experiment. All my other colonies wintered 

 well on their summer stands, having their en- 

 trances open three or four inches wide, and the 

 front and rear openings in the honey-boards 

 (half an inch wide, and extending the whole 

 length of the hive) uncovered, but the middle 

 opening closed. 



For the coming winter I have adopted Mr. 

 Langstroth's plan with some modifications. I 

 shall omit the outside covering of the hive, be- 

 lieving that it is better to have the hive of a sin- 

 gle thickness of board, say seven-eighths of an 

 inch, in order that the heat of the sun may 

 easily penetrate it, and warm up the hive al- 

 most daily, thus giving the bees an opportunity 

 to bring to the central part of the hive fresh 

 supplies of food from the outer combs. This 

 plan may lead to a somewhat greater consump- 

 tion of honey ; but if a swarm of bees will give 

 its owner from fifty to one hundred pounds of 

 surplus honey in a season, as mine have done 

 the past summer, he ought to be entirely wil- 

 ling to have them eat all they need during the 

 winter. At all events, one of two things must 

 be r'one, to winter bees successfully, in addition 

 to their having a supply of food and thorough 

 ventilation — they must either be kept in a re- 

 pository where frost cannot enter, as a cellar, 

 trench, ice-house, or the like; or they must be 

 put where the sun can warm them up occasion- 



I have removed all the honey-boards, placed 

 two one-half or three-quarter inch strips across 

 the frames, and covered the whole top of the 

 frames with any old woolen garments that 

 could be found about the house. These need 

 no cutting or fitting. Pack them in as you 

 would pack a trunk, (the roof or cover of my 

 top box is movable, and I like it much better 

 than the old plan of having it nailed on), two, 

 three, or half a dozen thicknesses will make no 

 difference. The moisture will pass through as 

 readily as the insensible perspiration of our 

 bodies will pass through our best clothing. The 

 hives will remain dry and the bees warm. I 

 have no fear of losing a single swarm the com- 

 ing winter, although several new ones which I 

 bought arc quite weak, owing to the sudden close 

 of the honey harvest a month earlier than last 

 year, in consequence of the drouth. 



I like the plan of using small surplus honey 

 boxes,, such as are described in the Bee Jour- 

 nal for May or June, The bees worked in 

 them readily, three new swarms filling, with 

 the nicest honey I ever saw, sixteen of them 

 each, (the boxes weighing three pounds and 

 from three to four ounces a piece), even with 

 our short honey harvest. Two of the colonies 

 were double swarms of black bees ; and one, a 

 single swarm of hybrids, from a black queen. 



I am satisfied that hybrids are far better wor- 

 kers than black bees, and believe it would pay 

 any bee-keeper to have at least one Italian 

 queen in his apiary, just to furnish Italian 

 drones to cross with the young black queens, 

 even if he made no further use of her. I re- 

 cently visited the apiary of Mr. William J. 

 Moore, of Danville, Kentucky, consisting of 

 sixty or more colonies. He introduced an Ital- 

 ian queen to one of his colonies five years ago, 

 has never bought any since, has never raised 

 any artificially, has increased his colonies only 

 by natural swarming, and yet nearly every one 

 now shows marks of the Italian bee, notwith- 

 standing his Italian queen died the second sea- 

 son, and he got no pure queen from her. 



A word about my best hybrid queen. It may 

 seem absurd to some to speak of the excellence 

 of a hybrid queen. Mr. Langstroth pinches 

 their heads off; but I like them. Mine is a 

 grand-daughter of a beautiful hybrid, and is a 

 most prolific mother. She first attracted my 

 attention last summer by coming off with a pro- 

 digious swarm as late as July 26. She could 

 not fly. As the bees began to return to the 

 parent hive before I could hive them, clustering 

 in the portico and over-running the whole front 

 of the hive, I removed the parent hive to a new 

 location and put a new hive in its place, with a 

 comb of brood inserted. Then, with a wing 

 and a dust pan, I removed most of the bees 

 from the portico to the new hive, thus forcing a 

 new swarm. Fortunately the queen was with 

 the bees thus removed, though I did not sec her 

 at the time. In six days they had built eight 

 new frames of comb, which were filled with 

 brood aud eggs. On my return from three 

 weeks' absence, the hive was full — thirteen 

 frames — with combs, honey, and an immense 

 amount of brood. This season, after filling six- 

 teen six-pound boxes, this hive threw a large 



