1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



107 



[For tlie Araericaa Bee Journal.] 



Wintering Bees. 



We republish the following from the A. B. J., 

 Vol. IV., page 109, at the request of a number of 

 new subscribers. We regard it as probably the 

 least troublesome and most successful mode of 

 out-door wintering yet devised. 



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 

 oif the excessive moisture which accumulates in 

 well stocked hives. This moisture arises partly 

 from the exhalations from the bodies of tlie 

 bees, but mostly, I think, from the surrounding 

 atmosphere, which constantly liolds in suspense 

 a greater or less amount of moisture, according 

 as its temperature is higher or lower. Tlie 

 warm atmosphere of the hive is capable of hold- 

 ing a considerable quantity, until it 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 oiitside 

 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 wai'ni 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. Tlie entrance to this hive 

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

 tight, without any upward ventilation, as an 

 experiment. All my other colonies wintered 

 well on their summer stands, having their en- 

 ti-ances 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 j^lau with some modifications. I 

 shall omit the outside covering of the hive, be- 

 lieving tliat 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 freslx 

 supplies of food from the outer combs. Tliis 

 plan may lead to a somewhat greater consump- 

 tion of honey ; but if a swarm of bees wall 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 willing 

 to have them eat all they need during the 

 winter. At all events, one of two things must 

 be done, 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- 

 ally. 



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 w^ooUen 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 bed covering. The 

 hives vi\\\ 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 are quite weak, owing to the sudden 

 close of the honey harvest a month earlier than 

 last year, in consequence of the drought. 



R. BlCKFOUD. 



Seneea Falls, N. Y., Oct., 1868. 



* In a subsequent comniunication in Vol. V., No. 10, Mr. B. 

 says that in place of old woollen garments, he covered the 

 frames last winter "wiih a sort of cotton batting comforters 

 made precisely like a comforter forabed; and that he likes 

 these much belter than old carpeting or old clothes." He 

 had one made for each hive, costing about twenty cents 

 a piece. " By lifting one corner of these comforters, the 

 condition of the hive can be seen at a glance. The bees are 

 always found clustered up agaiast these warm comforters, 

 and communicate over the tops of the frames, instead of 

 through the winter passages. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Upward Ventilation. 



Mr. Editor : — I once found a bee-tree, with 

 an excellent swarm in it. I cut it down Gallup- 

 fashion, and moved it home, in the month of 

 February. The entrance was a hole, about three 

 inches in diameter, just at the top of the cavity. 

 The tree was a green butternut. I sawed it off, 

 short enough to handle easy, and set it up in 

 the yard. The combs were bright and clean, 

 and there were not over a dozen dead bees in it 

 when found. It swarmed twice in June folloAV- 

 ing, and next winter I stopped up the entrance 

 at the top, and made another within six inches 

 of the bottom, by boring a two-inch hole through 

 the side. All this time I kept the to^j closed 

 tight. The following winter I came near losing 

 them with dampness and dysentery. Next win- 

 ter, I closed up the auger hole, and opened the 

 toi3 entrance again. They wintered as nice as a 

 pin — no dampness or dysentery. In April I 

 thought I could still better their condition, by 

 making the entrance smaller, and reduced the 

 entrance to one inch in diameter. Within six 

 days after, I came near losing them with damj)- 

 ness and mould. Experimenting still further, I 

 noticed that the fanners or ventilating bees 

 would, in hot weather, be arranged in this man- 

 ner — one set at the lower edge of the entrance, 



