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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



December 



PREPARING COLONIES FOR 

 SHIPMENT 



By C. P. Dadant 



A reader of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal asks for an editorial, giving our 

 experience with shipping colonies of 

 bees and asking at what time they 

 had best be shipped. 



Our personal experience extends 

 over a long period, with shipments 

 to all parts of the country, but we 

 have rarely shipped carloads. The 

 shipping of carloads made a great 

 step towards perfect success when 

 some practical man packed them in 

 refrigerator cars. 



Bees in colonies may be shipped at 

 any time. The best time, however, 

 is when the colonies are the lightest 

 in both, or either, brood and honey. 

 At such a time, spring of course, the 

 danger of breakage and loss by 

 smothering is at the minimum. 



The amount of air to be supplied to 

 each colony will depend very much 

 upon the strength of the colony, in 

 bees. We shipped hives of bees by 

 express 500 miles or more, in cool 

 weathe.', during the months of March 

 and April, with no other ventilation 

 than was afiforded by the cracks in 

 the joints of the entrance and cover, 

 when they were closed. We do not 

 believe in ever using a screen over 

 the entrance,, because that is the 

 place through which the old bees are 

 accustomed to pass in and out, and 

 they worry and crowd each other 

 more at that spot than in any other 

 spot. The rare instances, in which 

 we have seen the entrance closed 

 with a screen, indicated that numer- 

 ous bees die against that screen, and 

 it becomes so clogged that it is of no 

 benefit for air. A preferable way, 

 when air is given, is over the top of 



tile frames, at either end in cool 

 weather, or over the entire hive body 

 in warm weather. 



A wooden frame, made of inch 

 square lumber, and as long and as 

 wide as the hive top, with a fly screen 

 of the proper size nailed upon it, is 

 fastened at the top of the brood 

 chamber, right over the brood frames. 

 Then another cleat, of the same 

 thickness, is nailed on top of this, at 

 each end only, and a light board is 

 nailed across the top. This gives the 

 bees an inch of room, above the 

 frames, under the screen. It also sup- 

 plies an inch of space, between the 

 screen and the sheltering board. That 

 board serves two purposes. It pro- 

 tects the hive, from the hive above 

 it, when piled up. It also shelters the 

 hive from the direct rays of the sun, 

 in case the colony is left exposed to 

 it, for a certain length of time. How- 

 ever, let us insist on the importance 

 of avoiding exposing the hive to a 

 strong light; much more important 

 still is keeping it away from the sun. 

 But in loading and unloading, it is 

 next to impossible to always avoid the 

 occasional exposure. 



Bees may be shipped in very hot 

 weather, if they are given plenty of 

 air and are on old combs, with very 

 little honey and but little young 

 brood. Some people imagine that 

 they must have water. That is a mis- 

 take, unless they have young brood. 

 It is true that they will take water 

 if given to them. But the experience 

 of Harbison, who took bees from New 

 York to California, by way of 

 Panama, was exactly in line with the 

 experience which we had at differ- 

 ent times later. Bees that were sup- 

 plied with water arrived in poorer 

 condition, at destination, than those 



which were left witho.ut it. Watery 

 stores, thin honey freshly harvested, 

 are also less safe than very ripe 

 honey or good syrup. The advan- 

 tage of pouring water over the hives 

 is in cooling them. If they are placed 

 in refrigerator cars, or if they are 

 transported in spring, during cool 

 weather, water will prove niore a 

 detriment than a benefit. 



If it is necessary to cite the experi- 

 ence of others, besides Harbison and 

 ourselves, as to the superfluity of 

 water in shipping cases, we will pick 

 out, at random, the account of an ex- 

 perience. On pages 22-3 of the Janu- 

 ary number of Gleanings, 1920, T. 

 Dwight Whitman gives his e.xperience 

 in the receiving of bees from long 

 distances : "I have received bees in 

 pound packages that had only candy 

 feed, no water container, from Cali- 

 fornia (he is in Washington) that 

 came through in better condition 

 than those having water. In fact, 

 some of these packages having only 

 candy in them came through in what 

 I would call perfect condition, there 

 being not over a dozen dead bees in a 

 two-pound package." 



If you ship bees, let there be no 

 fresh honey in the hives, and as little 

 sealed honey as is absolutely neces- 

 sary for their safety. You must be 

 the judge as to how much air they 

 need. If the weather is very hot and 

 the distance great, it may be best to 

 have screens at the bottom as well as 

 at the top of the brood chamber. A 

 very populous colony may need an 

 additional chamber of dry combs be- 

 sides its own brood chamber. In cool 

 weather, or in a well-managed re- 

 frigerator car, the average man 

 would be astonished to ascertain how 

 little ventilation they need. But it is 

 better to err on the side of too much 

 ventilation than too little. 



Whether in a car, or on a truck, or 

 on an ordinary hayrack, the hives 

 should be placed in such a manner 

 that they are well fastened down and 

 will not shake. It is useless to add 

 that hives are placed with the combs 

 lengthwise in a railroad car and 

 crosswise on a road truck, because of 

 the directions from which the jars are 

 produced in each case. But bees on 

 old combs will stand a large amount 

 of jarring, provided the combs are 

 well fastened. The Hoffman frames, 

 objectionable to so many in handling 

 hives, are a benefit here. But loose 

 hanging combs are readily fastened, 

 by cleats at each end, if they are not 

 sufficiently glued with propolis. 



Olives with tops closed with moving screens for short trips in hot weather 



WINTER APIARY IN MISSISSIPPI 

 RIVER WOODS 



By Florcnc-c L. Clark 



Clayton is a village on the Missis- 

 sippi, pocketed among high wooded 

 hills. Stationniastcr and assistant at 

 the depot are Mr. and Mrs. Adams. 

 He works one shift and she another. 

 This is their occupation. Bees are 

 their avocation, and for a number of 

 years they have obtained profit and 

 pleasure, in their leisure hours, keep- 

 ing bees. They have about 200 hives. 

 Part of them are kept in town, and 



