1894. 



THE AMERICAN BEE- KEEPER. 



179 



crazy as to kill them from rough 

 handling or over attention, when dis- 

 turbing the hive can do no good. In 



fart, do things at the right time and 

 in a proper manner, leaving nothing 

 undone that will contribute to your 

 success. Do not forget to post your- 

 self up in bee literature, carefully 

 nailing the American bee-keeper and 

 other bee papers and books, that you 

 may arrive in all ways to the full 

 stature of au apiarist. 

 Borodino, N. V. 



^ ■■■ ^m 



When to Prepare Bees for a 

 Honey Crop. 



BY CHAS. H. THIES. 



The above question may be answer- 

 ed in many different ways, according 

 to climate, etc., but as a usual thing 

 it is safe to say, commence preparing 

 your bees for a honey crop as soon as 

 you have had your honey harvest. 

 By this I do not mean to say that you 

 should feed your bees to induce them 

 to raise brood out of season, but have 

 them in good shape for winter, plenty 

 of honey where they will get at it, 

 well covered, and above all be sure 

 mice will not be able to get into the 

 hive when bees are unable to fly. Of 

 course bees can be fed in winter if 

 necessary, but it is by far best and 

 safest to have them well supplied be- 

 fore cold w 7 eather. The less you dis- 

 turb bees in winter the better for 

 them and you also. Knowing that 

 your bees are well supplied and in 

 good shape gives a bee keeper lots of 

 satisfaction in cold winter, but even 

 after your bees are put aside in the 

 fall with lots of honey there will sure- 

 ly be some colonies that run out long 

 before more can be gathered ; this 

 certainly wants to be looked after. 



Tin,-, however, will no! occur until 

 well into the spring, at which time it 

 would be well to take advantage of 

 some nice warm day and look them 

 over. It will only be necessary to 

 raise the cloth and peep in. It is not 

 necessary to take oil' all the covering 

 and take out frames, for if honey is 

 on hand it can be seen from above. 

 If this hive has lots of honey, enough 

 to do them until more can be gather- 

 ed, mark it "No. 1." Should the 

 next hive have less honey and you 

 doubt that they will have sufficient to 

 do them mark it "No. 2." The next 

 hive you examine we will suppose has 

 but little honey and you are almost 

 sure they will need feeding — mark 

 this hive " No. 3." The same should 

 be done with all the colonies you have. 

 You will now see you have your bees 

 divided into three classes which will 

 greatly diminish your future work. 

 "No. 1 " will need no particular atten- 

 tion until spring. "No. 2" may 

 possibly need to be fed. "No. 3" 

 will surely need to be fed, but of " No. 

 3 " you should have but few, if your 

 bees were in proper condition in the 

 fall. You may have 200 or more col- 

 onies and out of these 200 colonies 

 have only 10 to 15 that will require 

 any particular attention until warm 

 weather. This is far out-door winter- 

 ing. I have had no experience with 

 cellar wintering, but think I would 

 manage somewhat similar. In order 

 to supply colonies that need feed be- 

 fore spring it is always best to store 

 away a few hundred frames well filled 

 with honey for this purpose. Better 

 too many than too few, as this is the 

 best, safest and most convenient way 

 of feeding in cold weather. 

 Steeleville, III. 



