100 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 1, 1906 



up each hive body from its bottom-board. I put inch blocks 

 under the two front corners. In over one-half of the hives 

 I find the bees clustered right down on these bottom-boards, 

 but the cold draft soon drives them up into the hive. 



• Then about 8 o'clock I begin to move them. I place an 

 extra hive-stand beside a hive, with a large gunny-sack 

 laid on top. Then I raise the hive to be moved and place it 

 on the sack. Next I tie the sack about the hive with a cord 

 having a heavy piece of elastic in the middle. This gener- 

 ally keeps the bees in. 



Other years I used a common wheelbarrow, and took 

 only one hive at a time. But this time there was a foot of 

 snow, which made it necessary to use a horse and light sled, 

 taking 3 hives at a trip. This was easier than the wheel- 

 barrow, but setmed to rouse up the bees just the same. 



Of 30 hives put into the cellar, 29 were heavy with stores 

 and strong in bees, to judge by the roar. The other one 

 seemed light in both. 



It is interesting in this connection to note that all the 

 29 strong colonies had young queens of the past season's 

 rearing, while the one weak colony had at the last examina- 

 tion a clipped queen of the previous season. My queens live 

 only one year, as a rule. In 4 years I have had but one that 

 lived 2 years, and the result was not satisfactory in that 

 case. The first season her colony gave me 210 pounds of 

 extracted honey ; the second season only 65 pounds. This 

 was about the poorest colony yield of that second season. 

 My queens are either lost at swarming-time or superseded 

 soon after. This gives a good chance to requeen from the 

 best stock, which I have been doing the past season, and 

 hope to reap returns next year. 



My bee-cellar, as now enlarged, is 16 feet long, 6 wide, 

 and 6'i feet deep — just room for two rows of hives with a 

 space in the middle. There are 2 pieces of 2x6 inch stuff 

 for each row of hives to rest on. These are set edgewise 

 about 11 inches apart, and fastened firmly together by cross- 

 pieces. They are also blocked up 2 inches from the ground. 

 There is room for 10 hives in each row, so that by putting 

 in 3 or 4 tiers there would be room for 60 to 80 hives. 



The cellar has a board roof just above ground. On this, 

 after the bees are put in, I place a good layer of forest 

 leaves, and then a load of wheat-straw. There is a trap- 

 door for ventilation. I put several gunny-sacks over the 

 opening, and a few sacks filled with leaves on top. I have 

 a thermometer hanging down by a string so that I can as- 

 certain the temperature at any time. I can usually keep it 

 within a range of 5 degrees all winter. So far this winter 

 (Jan. 10) there has been only 1 degree's variation. It has 

 been either 42 or 43 degrees all the time. This cellar cost 

 $10 besides my own labor. 



Other years my bees have had sugar syrup almost en- 

 tirely for winter stores, and have come through finely. This 

 winter they have nearly all honey. It remains to be seen 

 if they will winter as well as formerly. 



Detroit City, Minn. 



Work in the Apiary for February 



BY C. P. DADANT 



THERE is less work in the apiary during this and the 

 previous month than in any other month of the year. 

 Now is the time for the apiarist to prepare for another 

 season by getting the hives, sections, etc., ready for sum- 

 mer use. If all goes well we should be prepared for a honey 

 harvest when it comes. The apiarist is usually a farmer or 

 a gardener, or fruit-grower, and he is kept busy with his dif- 

 ferent lines at the time when the bees store honey. There- 

 fore, he will succeed best if he can save time during the 

 winter. 



A good sunny basement, with plenty of light, is an 

 ideal place to nail hives or sections. The more prosperous 

 apiarists will have a heated room in some part of their house 

 where they can do all the work, including folding sections 

 and fastening the comb foundation. Painting hives is also 

 a good thing to attend to at this time. Old hives that are 

 accidentally unoccupied by bees should be overhauled. 



In painting hives, especially old ones, attention should 

 be paid mainly to the corners and joints, as they are most 

 apt to rot. The careless painter should be told what the 

 good housekeeper tells a careless housemaid, " Clean the 

 corners, and the middles will take care of themselves.'' So 

 we will say to the hive painter, " Paint the angles and the 

 joints, the middles will take care of themselves," for we 

 paint hives fully as much to make them last as to make 

 them look nice. 



Good roofs, for sheltering the hives against the sun 

 and rain, are made very cheaply from old dry goods boxes, 

 which you may be able to secure from the general store in 

 your town. A fair size dry goods box will make six flat 

 roofs. If you have artistic taste, these roofs may be made 

 ornamental. But if you are working for profit without re- 

 gard to the esthetic, a flat roof will be sufficient to secure 

 the hive against the inclemencies of the weather, the soak- 

 ing of the rains and the drying and warping action of the 

 hot summer sun. 



A hive sheltered with the very roughest of roofs will 

 last twice as long as one which is only painted and left to 

 withstand the irregularities of the Siberian winters and 

 African summers that are so often the portion of our so- 

 called temperate countries. 



The bees will need attention only if the weather be- 

 comes mild. A warm, sunny day, when the thermometer 

 rises to 60 in the shade, is quite a boon to the bees, espe- 

 cially if the ground is free from snow. On such a day we 

 must make sure that nothing will prevent or disturb their 

 flight. If the hive-entrance should be clogged with dead 

 bees they should be removed. 



But, on the other hand, during the cold weather we 

 must be very sure that nothing arouses our bees. Cattle or 

 sheep in the bee yard will disturb them from time to time. 

 When the hive is jarred some of the bees leave the cluster 

 to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and they are often 

 chilled before they can return. Thus the colony will slowly 

 dwindle, and when spring comes it is too weak to recuperate. 



So far (Jan. 10) we have had the finest winter that I 

 have ever seen, and if it continues the bees will winter 

 finely. But February is yet to come, and it is probably the 

 most treacherous month in the year. Hamilton, 111. 



(£onr>ention 

 Proceedings 



"^ 



J 



Report of the Ontario Convention 



[Continued from page 84.] 

 PRODUCTION OF COMB HONEY 



In the production of comb honey colonies must be strong 

 in bees and brood at the beginning of clover bloom. As soon 

 as the first blossoms appear put on one super of clean or new 

 sections ji tied with thin super foundation and with separators. 

 As soon as this is about half filled, if well covered with bees, 

 put another super under the first ; when these are about filled, 

 and prospects are still good for some days, put a third super 

 on top of these. When well started in this last super, the 

 first two will likely be ready to take off, after which, if pros- 

 pects are good for a continued flow, put another under: if 

 likely to close before both are finished, and bees need room, 

 put it on top. Should there still be prospects of continued 

 flow from clover or basswood, continue as before — put a third 

 on top. I do not think it advisable to put more than 3 supers 

 on at any one time. 



Thus far it is assumed that bees have not swarmed. 

 Where they swarm— and usually 5'J to 75 percent will do so in 

 producing comb honey — hive them, 2 and sometimes more, 

 swarms together on 4 drawn combs or full sheets of founda- 

 tion ; fill up the balance of the hive with dummies on the old 

 stand, first putting the supers from the old hive on the new, 

 with a queen-excluder under. Turn the old hive around and 

 set it a little way back. In the evenin? turn it around and 

 set it along side the swarm on the right hand side. If in- 

 crease is desired, move to a new stand the sixth day, and they 

 will seldom swarm again during the season. In about 3 weeks 

 examine them to see if they have a laying queen ; if so, and 

 quite strong in bees, and prospects are good for a fall flow, 

 give them an extracting super with 4 or 5 combs ; fill up the 

 super with dummies, and they will, if the season is good, give 

 cjuite a little surplus. Give the queen room below for brood. 



Where increase is not desired, in about 2 weeks after the 

 swarms are hived, fill up the hives with bees and brood from 

 colonies that have swarmed within 7 days, fint cutting out 

 all queen-cells. If there are still more colonies than you want, 

 double up by shaking off all the bees from any number of. 

 colonies into one with a voting laying queen, until they are 



