92 



(1LEAXIN(1S IN BEE CUl.TURE 



Feb. 15 



Conversations with 

 Doolittle 



At Borodino 



SPRING DWINDLING USUALLY CAUSED BY 

 POOR WINTERING. 



"Last spring I had much spring dwin- 

 dling among my bees, and I wondered if 

 you could tell me how to avoid it this 

 spring." 



"The best way to avoid spring dwindling 

 is to insure good wintering Bees that win- 

 ter well are not likely to dwindle in the 

 spring very much." 



"But don't you remember the bad spring 

 we had last year, and how cold it kept for 

 nearly a month after the bees had apparent- 

 ly got started in for a good season? From 

 this I reason that such dwindling results 

 from the colonies becoming chilled during 

 these cold spells that may follow their re- 

 moval from the cellar, or after ihey have 

 had a week of warm weather, where they 

 are wintered on the summer stand." 



"I can not believe that there is so much 

 in the idea that spring dwindling is caus- 

 ed by adverse weather conditions in the 

 spring. From my long experience I am be- 

 coming more and more convinced that the 

 trouble is mamly, if not altogether, an ef- 

 fect of poor wintering." 



"But don't you think that a cold spring 

 has something to do with this matter of bad 

 wintering?" 



"I do not desire to give you the impres- 

 sion that I think such ail verse weather as 

 we had last spring is not harmful to bees 

 after they have had a week or two of weath- 

 er good enough to start brood-rearing quite 

 freely; but I do say that such adverse condi- 

 tions are not the prime factor in spring 

 dwindling. Such weather conditions I can 

 consider as only secondary at most. Let 

 me illustrate: Some years ago a part of the 

 apiary was drifted over with snow, so that 

 I lost sight of the hives for nearly six weeks, 

 while the rest of the yard was nearly bare. 

 When spring opened I found that those col- 

 onies drifted under, becoming too warm, had 

 begun brood-rearing to a great extent, and 

 the bees fouled their hives about the en- 

 trance with their feces, thus showing that 

 they had contracted diarrhea. They were 

 the first to fly when an opportunity offered. 

 The colonies having no snow over them 

 did not show up nearly so strong on their 

 first flight; but after the cold bad weather of 

 an unusually severe spring they were in 

 good condition to breed up for the harvest, 

 while the former kept dwindling till five- 

 sixths of them were hardly better than nu- 

 clei, some giving up entirely. 



"Again, I have noticed that, when colonies 

 in the cellar came out and spotted the hives 

 to any extent they would dwindle away 

 very rapidly during April and May, while 

 others which had their hives all clean and 

 nice were not materially affected, even if 



theie were weeks of unfavorable weather 

 during these months. Take a colony hav- 

 ing bee diarrhea to any extent, and, though 

 you wrap up the hive with all the material 

 for spring protection you can think of, it 

 seems to be of no avail; while a healthy col- 

 ony standing right by the side of it, not pro- 

 tected at all, continues to hold its own, and 

 often makes an increase, with the weather 

 conditions the same in both cases." 



"Do you intend to say that bee diarrhea 

 during winter is the only cause for spring 

 dwindling? " 



"No; I do not intend to convey that im- 

 pression either. But I do believe it has 

 more largely to do with it than any other 

 trouble, while the rank and file of our bee- 

 keepers consider this as a wintering trouble 

 which the first flights of spring will cure. 

 Other causes may also contribute toward 

 spring dwindling, one, at least, of which 

 may date lurther back than bee diarrhea. 

 To illustrate again: One year when I was 

 unusually busy building, after thebasswood 

 flow was over, the parent colonies having 

 cast swarms were not looked at for weeks 

 after the prime swarms issued, and it was 

 well into September before I found time to 

 look them over. I then found several of 

 these colonies had failed to get laying queens 

 through loss of their young queens in some, 

 way, so that I had some ten or twelve queen- 

 less colonies on my hands. As there seem- 

 ed to be quite a good supply of bees in each 

 of these hives, 1 thought by giving young 

 queens and uniting two of these colonies to- 

 gether they would be fully as strong as any 

 of the other colonies which had young lay- 

 ing queens in parent colonies. After bemg 

 in the cellar a month these united colonies 

 showed as large a cluster hanging below the 

 frames as did any of the rest, and apparent- 

 ly wintered as well; but after their first 

 flight it was plain to be seen that the other 

 colonies had not lost nearly so heavily 

 through their cleansing flight as had these; 

 and when the cool and cold days followed, 

 as they always do more or less, these old 

 bees would come out and die almost in heaps 

 about the entrance, some individual speci- 

 mens even trying to fly, and then crawling 

 as far as their legs, benumbed with cold, 

 would let them, so anxious were they to rid 

 the hive of their useless presence. These 

 hives were protected better than were the 

 others, in the vain hope of saving them; 

 but all but two died out entirely, and that 

 after a nice lot of brood had been got agoing 

 from the young queens. Here was a cause 

 for spring dwindling that was almost a year 

 old, but did not show itself till the cool bad 

 weather of the next spring came on. 



"Then we have poor queens as the cause 

 of this same thing — queens which the api- 

 arist should have superseded in August of 

 the year before; bad stores, damp hives, ow- 

 ing to improper ventilation, etc., all of which 

 contribute to the death of colonies every 

 year, while these causes are more often than 

 otherwise wrongfully diagnosed as spring 

 dwindling." 



