1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



53 



made a success. I am of the opinion that the 

 bees would winter much more successfully if 

 left out where the snow could come up about 

 the hives so as to parili,lly cover them, and 

 where the sun could shine on them whenever it 

 is not obscured by clouds. My advice would be, 

 not to put bees inside a cold repository; but if 

 you do, keep its temperature up to from 43 to 

 48°, or leave them out to get the advantage of 

 outdoor wintering. As a general thing it is best 

 to adopt the method that has most generally 

 proven safe with the main part of our bees, and 

 stick to it. If we are not fully satisfied with 

 this, then set apart a certain portion of the api- 

 ary for experimental purposes, till by experi- 

 ments we have proven what is best for us in our 

 locality, when we can then serve the whole api- 

 ary according to the successful plan, without 

 danger of losing all our bees on some untried 

 venture. 



HOLES THROUGH COMBS. 



Question. — Do bees ever freeze ? I find little 

 clusters of bees away from the main cluster, in 

 my hives, dead, and a neighbor tells me that 

 they were frozen to death. He also says that, if 

 I will make holes through the center of the 

 combs in the fall, it will obviate this trouble. Is 

 he right? 



Answer. — In reply to this let me give a little 

 of my experience and observation during the 

 past quarter of a century. As fall approaches, 

 if we minutely examine a colony of bees we 

 shall find that the activity manifested during 

 the spring and summer, in the interior of the 

 hive, becomes less and less, so that, by the 

 middle of October, in this latitude, all brood- 

 rearing has ceased, and the bees have become 

 partially dormant; still, so far they have not 

 packed themselves away in a snug cluster, or 

 compact shape, for winter. Every opportunity 

 given by a warm day is improved to void the 

 f^ces, so the bees may be prepared for a long 

 cold spell when such occurs. As the weather 

 grows colder, the bees contract their cluster, 

 many packing themselves away in the cells till 

 the smallest possible space is occupied by them, 

 and thus the requisite warmth is secured to 

 keep them alive when the mercury sinks below 

 zero. In this contraction of bees (at certain 

 times) many of them are left singly, or in little 

 clusters of from five to fifty, which do not re- 

 cede with the main cluster, and thus are chilled 

 where they are; and if the weather becomes 

 cold enough they may be frozen, thus losing to 

 the cluster that number of bees. 



The reason formerly given for this was that, 

 owing to the movable frames, no cross-sticks 

 were used, as was the case with box hives, and 

 hence the bees left no holes in the center of the 

 combs as they did around the cross-sticks, thus 

 compelling the bees to pass over and around 

 combs of cold honey to keep pace with the re- 

 ceding cluster, instead of passing through the 



center of the combs to the next range, which 

 was more nearly filled with bees. In thus pass- 

 ing around, many became stiffened and were 

 caught by the cold, which might have been 

 saved if the holes had bren provided in the cen- 

 ter of the combs for them to pass through. To 

 this end the Langstroth frame and others were 

 provided with a shaving, bent to form a circle 

 an inch in diameter, which was suspended from 

 the top-bar by means of a little strip of tin, 

 supposing that this would effectually secure a 

 passageway for the bees. However, but a short 

 time elapsed before it became apparent that, 

 during a good yield of honey, this shaving 

 would be filled with comb and honey, and hence 

 the passageway was cut off. 



Next, the practice of cutting holes through 

 the combs, each fall, by various means, was re- 

 sorted to, only to be filled up the following sum- 

 mer, when, as winter approached, the process 

 had to be repeated. After trying all of these 

 plans it became apparent to me that the reason 

 assigned as the cause of the death of the bees 

 was not the real trouble, for bees would stay 

 and die within half an inch of these holes, when 

 it would appear they could have passed through 

 these passages just as well as not. I also dis- 

 covered that, when the weather was cloudy, 

 cool, and rainy for several weeks before it be- 

 came severely cold, this loss was apparently 

 much greater than when a clear warm day oc- 

 curred immediately before a severe cold spell. 

 By the number of bees that were found on 

 boards and such places, dull and stupid after 

 such a fine day, I concluded that these were the 

 same bees that would have died by not follow- 

 ing the cluster, had not a warm day occurred 

 for them to leave the hive to die; hence, I say 

 that the loss was apparently greater when no 

 such day occurred, for many more bees were 

 seen outside the cluster dead, as they had no 

 chance to go out of the hive to die. From 

 years of experience in this matter, I see no rea- 

 son for changing the conclusion thus formed. 



After the bees once get thoroughly clustered, 

 I do not see this loss occurring to any such ex- 

 tent after a warm spell, and but little after a 

 mild fall as the past has been. After being ful- 

 ly settled for winter, and this loss of old bees 

 has passed away, a colony will lose but few 

 bees for six weeks or two months, and will remain 

 quiet. If at this time a warm day occurs so 

 they can fly freely they again cluster back qui- 

 etly and remain so about the same length of 

 time, when they again desire to fly; and if such 

 a chance occurs all will go well, and the bees 

 will winter well. Thus we have a colony in a 

 normal condition, and all the cold ever obtain- 

 ed in any portion of the world where bees can 

 be kept with profit (occurring during this peri- 

 od between their flights) will not freeze or ma- 

 terially injure them if they have plenty of good 

 stores within easy access. 



