216 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 3, 1902. 



windows open and the temperature would go down to 

 40 degrees or so, but during the day the windows had to 

 be closed to exclude the light, and the temperature would 

 run up to 6o and 65 degrees even when it was quite cool 

 outside. 



Of course, with a larger cellar, or a less number of 

 colonies in the same one, there would not have been such 

 a variation in the temperature, even if it vvfas partly above 

 ground. 



Another thing that was very unfavorable was that owing 

 to the hives being crowded so close, I was unable to re- 

 move the great mass of dead and decaying bees that accu- 

 mulated. 



The colonies in the fall were very strong, and the loss of 

 individual bees was from the first very heavy, so those of 

 experience know what these conditions imply. 



As soon as it became apparent that these bees could not 

 he removed to their stands during the daytime, without great 

 loss, I had been thinking about trying to take them out at 

 night, but I had never had any experience in putting bees 

 out at night, and could find but very little in regard to 

 the matter in any books or journals I have, and this is the 

 reason I am giving my experience in regard to the matter. 



I have described how restless and uneasy the bees were, 

 and I will say here, before beginning extracts from my 

 diary, that if the temperature at night was not above 35 

 the bees made no efifort whatever to fly when put out of 

 doors even if it was quite light. When a hive was first 

 put out the bees would set up a great roaring, but this 

 gradually subsided, and what bees were clustered on the 

 outside of the hive soon crawled in. 



My plan was to put outside, near the door, as many 

 hives as I intended to remove that night, and in one-half 

 to an hour and a half, depending upon the temperature, the 

 bees would be so quiet that the hives could be removed 

 to the yard, a number of rods distant, on a wheelbarrow, with- 

 out closing the hives. Here are some of the records: 



March 18 — Carried out 25 hives this evening; temperature 

 28 above zero. 



March 19 — It snowed all day; temperature up to 38 at 

 noon. Many bees flew out and were lost in the soft snow. 



March 20 — Snow^ed and blowed all day. Temperature 16 

 above zero; many bees came out of the hives and died in 

 the soft snow. 



March 21 — Temperature up to 44 to-day. The bees flew 

 quite freely, but many were lost in the snow. 



March 22— Temperature up to 46. Cold north wind; bees 

 flew considerable, but many were chilled and lost ; snow is 

 about gone. 



March 23— Temperature up to 60 in the shade. Bees 

 had a good flight. Tried to remove some from the cellar 

 durmg the day, but gave it up; carried out 50 colonies this 

 evening. 



March 24— Rainy ; cold, raw wind. Temperature up to 

 43 at noon. Thousands of bees from each hive carried out 

 last night flew and were chilled to death. Many, or per- 

 haps nearly all that flew or crawled out of the hives, had 

 bloated, distended abdomens filled with pieces that they 

 seemed unable to void; whether this would have been the 

 case if they had been put out on a warm day I am unable 

 to say, but my opinion is that a large part of them that 

 died to-day would have died just the same, only 'farther 

 away from the hives, if the day had been ever so warm. 

 One thing certain, they cannot stand such daily mortality 

 very long, or they will all have perished. 



March 25— Another rainy, cloudy day. Temperature was 

 up to 46 for awhile. The bees from 50 hives carried out 

 last flew freely, and I think there is no doubt but what great 

 numbers, perhaps thousands, from each hive were chilled 

 and lost that would not have been had the day been warmer. 

 I fear a few more days as unfavorable as yesterday and 

 to-day will cause the loss of the whole 50 colonies. I 

 shall let them remain out now whatever the weather and 

 outcome are. It would be hard to imagine two more un- 

 favorable than yesterday and to-day were; if it had been 

 a little colder the bees would not have left the hives so 

 freely. On the other hand, if it had been a little warmer, 

 or even at the same temperature, if the sun had shone 

 they would not have been chilled. 



The bees in the 35 hives carried out first have not at- 

 tempted to fly since the 23d. I think they will be all right 

 unless the spring should prove very unfavorable. 



March 26 — Cloudy and colder; no bees flew to-day. The 

 ground is freezing to-night and it looks like snow. 



March 27 — Clouds and sunshine to-day. with cold wind 



from the north. Temperature up to 42 for awhile during 

 the middle of the day. Many more bees from the 50 hives, 

 carried out last, flew and were chilled to death in the cold 

 wind. The bees from the other hives did not fly. 



March 28 — Clear to-day ; temperature up to 40 for awhile ; 

 cold wind. Thousands of bees from the hives carried out 

 last flew, and many were chilled to death. The rest of the 

 bees in the basement are getting very imeasy. Great num- 

 bers are leaving the hives and dying daily. 



March 29 — Fair most of the day; temperature 42 for 

 a short time; cold wind from the east. Large loss of bees 

 again from the 50 hives carried out last. It is evident that 

 these bees are dying for want of a flight, but the condition they 

 are in. a flight means death during such weather as there has 

 been since they were put out. It must be there is consider- 

 able hatching brood in those hives or they would, after 

 sufl:'ering such great losses daily, be weaker than they appear 

 to be. This evening they all, with few exceptions, responded 

 quite strong and brisk to "taps" on their hives. Three are 

 about gone and another one is very weak. I think most of the 

 rest would pull through if they could have a good flight 

 soon. 



March 30 — Snowed some last night and this forenoon. 

 Temperature 26 above zero ; no bees left the hives. 



March 31 — Temperature up to 49 for awhile; no wind. 

 The bees in all the hives out-of-doors flew freely. Consid- 

 erable loss of bees again. Carried the rest of the bees out 

 of the basement this evening. 



April I — Fair; still -^v . temperature up to 55 in the 

 shade. 



I will not quote from the diary any farther just now. 

 The spring turned out to be fairly favorable ; the loss among 

 this lot of bees was much less than I expected it would 

 be. There was no colony that died outright. A'^few col- 

 onies spring-dwindled, 3 or 4 lost their queens during the 

 winter or early in the spring, before they had commenced 

 to lay, and a few colonies deserted their hives soon after 

 they were put out. 



As I surmised, almost all of these colonies had com- 

 menced to rear brood in the cellar; many of them had an 

 amount nearly equal to a whole frame of hatching brood, 

 and it was this early-started brood-rearing that saved them. 

 The old bees died ofif very rapidly after they were put 

 out. The majority of the colonies got down pretty weak, 

 but they built up fast. 



If the spring had been late and cold the loss from spring 

 dwindling would undoubtedly have been great. There were 

 148 colonies put into this basement in the fall, and by 

 referring to my record-book I find that there were 119 

 colonies in this yard the first of May recorded as strong 

 to medium, and 4 weak ones. As I said in the first part 

 of this article, the colonies were all very strong in bees in 

 the fall. There was a late fall flow so that brood-rearing 

 was kept up late, and they had plenty of good, sealed stores, 

 but there was another matter that might be expected to be 

 against favorable wintering even in a good cellar; perhaps 

 I can best explain by quoting a brief extract from my 

 diarv' anai'^ ; 



Dec. 16 — Finished putting the bees in to-day.; they have 

 not had a flight since the fore part of November ; left them 

 all out in hopes that they would have another flight, but 

 there was no day warm enough. There were no very bad 

 storms or severe cold ; a few nights it was down to zero 

 or a little below. 



The rule is to put bees in within a day or so after they 

 have had a good flight, but these were out in the yard for 

 5 weeks or more after their last flight. 



Considering the cellar they were to be wintered in, they 

 were perhaps as well off in the yard as they would have 

 been inside, as long as the weather was not very severe. 



Before closing I will speak of a matter in regard to 

 cellar-wintering upon which my opinion has been asked. 

 Two years ago, I think it was, Mr. Barber, in one of our 

 bee-papers, claimed that no fresh air should be admitted 

 to the cellar when the bees became sn warm that they were 

 uneasy, but instead the cellar should be banked and fas- 

 tened up still closer towards spring, or during a warm 

 spell, so as to exclude all fresh air from entering. He 

 claims fresh air does harm because it arouses and excites 

 the bees. Dr. Miller and others advise letting in fresh, 

 cool air at night, when the cellar becoms so warm that the 

 bees are restless and uneasy. Both Dr. Miller and Mr. 

 Barber are veterans whose opinions are entitled to great 

 respect, and in this matter my experience has been such 

 that in a way I agree with both of them. I believe the 



