®oixu cut ions. 



Read before Livingston Co., Mich., Convention. 



Chaff Packing for Wintering Bees. 



EDWARD GREEMWAY. 



The wintering of bees is one of the 

 most important factors in the manage- 

 ment of the apiary. The loss occa- 

 sioned by the long, and sometimes very 

 severe winters in this latitude, is greater 

 than all the other losses with which we, 

 as bee-keepers, have to contend. 



Hence, we should study this subject, 

 and adopt some plan which will, at 

 least, reduce this loss to a minimum. 



In my opinion, there are only 2 modes 

 of wintering which are really worthy of 



to stock-growing, or any other business 

 for profit or pleasure V 



I prefer chaff-packing to cellar win- 

 tering ; perhaps, because in my 3 years' 

 experience with wintering bees I have 

 not lost a colony. I do not ascribe my 

 success, however, to " luck " but to the 

 " chaff packing " and " proper man- 

 agement in the fall." 



It may be of interest here- to give, 

 somewhat in detail, my manner of pre- 

 paring bees for winter : 



First, Be sure that all colonies are 

 kept breeding until Oct. 1, which they 

 will usually do, unless there is a scarcity 

 of honey in the flowers; in which case, 

 feed them to stimulate breeding; by so 

 doing you have young bees, which will 

 stand the winter much better than old 

 bees. 



Second, About Oct. I reduce the mrni- 



Prof. Cook's Winter Packing Box. 



our attention, viz.: Cellar wintering 

 and packing in chaff on the summer 

 stands. All the other methods I con- 

 sider hazardous, and experiments which 

 are not yet fully demonstrated. 



Some old-style bee-keepers say that 

 they had good luck with bees for a num- 

 ber of years, till a poor honey season 

 came, followed by a hard winter, killing 

 all their bees. They then gave up the 

 business in disgust, saying that their 

 "luck" was gone. Would the farmer 

 who lost his stock for want of proper 

 care, food and protection against the 

 cold winters, ascribe his loss to " luck?" 

 Of course not! Why should not we 

 adopt the rule that " anything that is 

 worth doing at all is worth doing well," 

 and apply it to bee-keeping as well as 



I er of frames in the hive to 5 or 6, ac- 

 cording to the size of the colony. I re- 

 gard it as very important "to use no 

 more frames than the bees can cover." 



Third, Be sure that each colony has 

 at least 20 lbs. of good, sealed honey 

 (coffee A sugar will do as well). 



Fourth, Cut with a tin tube a %-inch 

 hole through each comb for winter pas- 

 sages, and till the vacant space on each 

 side of the frames with chaff-cushions, 

 protected from the bees by white wire 

 cloth fastened to a frame and fitting in 

 the hive like a division board, (the hive 

 is thus contracted to the size of 5 or 6 

 frames), place a chaff-cushion over the 

 frames and contract the entrance to 1 

 inch, and all is ready for the packing 

 boxes. For these procure common 



