66 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept. 



queen are covered at the top, sides and bottom, 

 the wire gauze reaching to the bottom of the 

 hive. The queen will thus lay only in those 

 confined combs, while the other combs will 

 remain free from brood and will be filled with 

 honey. The form of the wire gauze frames is 



thus: 

 plan, 

 false 



Its sides are movable. By this 

 also, can the drones be caught. A 

 bottom, however, is needed, by 



which the entrance of the hive is divided into 

 two parts, the wire gauze covering the upper 

 half of the entrance. The drones, on leaving 

 the hive, pass through the gauze, and in return- 

 ing pass in underneath the false bottom, where 

 they can be captured and destroved. Should I 

 desire to have drones, I add a drone comb to 

 these combs under cover. My apparatus will 

 do to cover from six to eight combs. 



Can bees be in winter too warm f 



Dzierzon : It is known to all that warmth is 

 the element of the bee — cold is its death. In 

 winter, should the cold become too great, it 

 may be injurious to the bees, at all events it 

 will cost the honey which the bees will have to 

 consume, in order to maintain the proper degree 

 of animal heat. It is always better when the 

 bees can maintain a proper and even tempera- 

 ture without the exertion of seeking honey. I 

 believe that Herr Schonfeldt has not rightly 

 comprehended his subject. It can happen that 

 a swarm too much protected for the winter may 

 suffer, but will suffer less because it is too 

 warm, than from another ground — the difficult 

 access of pure air. The hive may be too small, 

 or the want of air may arise from the hive being 

 overcrowded with the honey, thus hindering 

 the admission of air ; for the space occupied by 

 the combs excludes just so much air — two 

 bodies never being able to occupy one and the 

 same place at the same time. How would it be 

 possible for a swann to be wintered too warm 

 when the heat comes from the bees, and not 

 from the sides of the hives ? It is true, that in 

 the example given by Herr Schonfeldt, when 

 an outer and higher temperature be artificially 

 produced, it may be injurious to the bees. The 

 bees would be stimulated to breeding, when 

 they should be resting. That would naturally 

 be injurious, but the hive cannot of itself, ac- 

 cording to my understanding, be too warm. 

 The bees are able of themselves to regulate the 

 temperature to suit themselves. Should — 

 through any disturbance — the temperature be 

 raised, some of the bees will appear at the 

 entrance and create draught which will soon 

 cool the hive- I am of opinion that the question 

 must be answered in the negative. In my ex- 

 perience, that hive is nearest perfection which 

 most readily holds fast to the heat and does not 

 allow it to radiate, as then the bees will not be 

 compelled to use unusual quantities of honey in 

 order to g aerate heat. The better the silos of 

 the hive p. vent the heat from escaping fiom 



the inside, so much the better will they in sum- 

 mer prevent the heat of the sun from entering 

 the hive. Thus they will be warm in winter 

 and cool in summer. 



Herr Kneipp : In all the experiments I have 

 made, I have found that the buried bees wintered 

 best. They have an even temperature, which is 

 a great advantage. I not alone have buried my 

 bees for some years past, but others also, and 

 always with the greatest profit. The stocks are 

 weighed before they are placed in winter 

 quarters and when they are removed. With 

 from three 'to four pounds of honey populous 

 stocks winter well. The attempt to winter 

 bees in a warmer temperature did not prove a 

 success. My hives, owing to the warm tempera- 

 ture, obtain young brood too soon and become 

 very restless. As soon as they are allowed to 

 fly in the early spring, owing to the wants of 

 the brood, the bees instantly seek pollen and 

 thus many are lost. I have also made the 

 experiment of wintering in an arched cellar, 

 bees in a Dzierzon hive, leaving the side door 

 open, and have succeeded well, but the burying 

 turns out better. 



Herr Kuhne c I would briefly say that for 

 Upper Austria the wooden hive is absolutely 

 injurious. We can only use hives made from 

 straw or rushes. It gave us no little trouble, 

 yet in the end we succeeded in reinstating the 

 old straw baskets, so built as to admit the 

 introduction of movable combs. In these hives 

 the bees winter wonderfully well; they are 

 permitted to remain on their stands without 

 further protection, both winter and summer. 

 In these hives you discover neither thirst, ice, 

 mouldiness, nor anything else injurious to the 

 bees. The bees adapt themselves to their 

 climate, and all artificial arrangements to aid 

 them will be injurious, and more especially 

 when it is undertaken to give them a tempera- 

 ture at variance with the climate in which they 

 have been reared.* 



Herr Schmidt : I live in a locality where the 

 honey very readily crystalizes, and I found the 

 difference in wintering stocks in hives that are 

 warmer; i. e., pavilions. Here the famine will 

 first break out. For the last few years I have 

 proceeded m the following manner : As soon as 

 I noticed, during the winter, that the bees were 

 becoming restless, I removed the straw covering. 

 Usually by the following day the swarm is 

 quiet, but, if they are not, I place upon the top 

 of the hive two pieces of ice, the size of my fist, 

 and almost immediately they become quiet. A 

 dampness will be precipitated on the walls of 

 the hive by the cooling of the top, which will 

 give the bees the needed moisture with which 

 to soften their candied honey. I now never use 

 the new hives before I have given them two 

 coats of varnish, whereby the wooden walls 



* Have any of our American bee-keepers wintered their 

 bees in straw baskets ; if so, v, ur.t has been their experience ? 



