MARCH 1, 1914 



Conversations Avith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



WHEN TO SET BEES FROM THE CELLAR. 



" Will you tell when the bees should be set 

 from the cellar in the spring? Do you think 

 it would be any advantage to set them out 

 the latter part of February or the fore i>art 

 of March if there is a good day? " 



The time of setting out may depend a 

 little upon the time of their last flight in the 

 fall. If you set your bees in the cellar the 

 loth of November, and they had a good 

 flight the 14th, they would be likely to re- 

 main in the cellar in good condition two or 

 three weeks longer than if their last flight 

 had been on Oct. 22, as was the ease in this 

 locality several years ago. One beekeeper 

 said that he knew that, if bees had a good 

 flight as late as November 15, they could 

 stand the confinement necessary from that 

 time till the fore part of April. I do not 

 feel so sure about this. 



My experience has taught me that the 

 time of putting in and setting out, within 

 reasonable bounds, has very little to do with 

 success; and this I say after having set the 

 bees in as early as November 3 and as late 

 as December 18, and having set them out as 

 early as March 5 and as late as May 2. I 

 think I can tell what the results will be 

 as early as January 20 — how the bees are 

 going to come out in the spring, and this at 

 a time when I am without any knowledge as 

 to what the length of the confinement is to 

 be. Some years I am sure that, if spring 

 were to open by the middle of February, as 

 it does generally in May, and the bees were 

 set out then, there would be spring dwin- 

 dling, with many colonies too weak for the 

 first surplus, while at the same time other 

 years I am sure that they could bear con- 

 finement in the cellar till May 1 and come 

 out bright and strong for the harvest from 

 white clover. If, on November 15, I could 

 be informed as to the character of the stores 

 which the bees have in their combs, the age 

 of the greater part of those going into their 

 winter repose, together with the temperature 

 and moisture of the air in the cellar, I could 

 tell pretty nearly how they would come out. 

 But these are things which we are, not al- 

 waj'S sure about, as a cool wet season is 

 likely to give inferior stores and bees with 

 a low vitality, while an open winter makes 

 the control of temperature and moisture 

 much more difficult. 



Some say that, where bees seem to be 

 wintering poorly in the cellar from any 

 cause, they should be set out the latter part 



of February, or on any favorable day there- 

 after, for a fiight, and at night returned to 

 the cellar; but from years of experience 

 along this line I do not find that they are 

 profited thereby enough to pay for the labor 

 required. Others advocate setting all colo- 

 nies out when any are so treated; and where 

 any colony is so " sleepy " that the bees do 

 not seem inclined to wake up we are told to 

 pound on the hive while it is still inside the 

 cellar, so as to stir them up so they will be 

 ready for their purifying flight before the 

 cool of the evening draws on. Locality may 

 make a difference in this matter; but some- 

 bow I doubt it. Here in central New York, 

 when the bees sleep very quietly in the cel- 

 lar, as they are doing to-day (Feb. 6), they 

 do not need .a flight at all. And when we 

 are likely to have spring dwindling, they 

 are so restless that they will run out and 

 spot the hives in front before this time, 

 and, if moved at all, will rush out pell-mell 

 with scarcely any reference to the tempera- 

 ture. At such times as this last, it would 

 seem that a flight might do some good, and 

 for a few days after setting in they do seem 

 more quiet ; but when the time of surplus 

 comes, colonies set out prove no better than 

 those left in, or not enough so to pay for the 

 labor spent in getting them out and back in 

 again. On the other hand, if they are left 

 out they all generally perish. 



I used to try to convince myself that the 

 time to set bees out is when the blossoms 

 of the soft maple and the elm open, and 

 once wrote that, when the bees can come in 

 with pollen obtained from these flowers an 

 hour after setting out, one bee with its fel- 

 lows can rear and bring on the stage of 

 action three other bees, while an earlier set- 

 ~ ting-out would mean that three old bees 

 would be required to raise one young one. I 

 verilv thought this was just as it should be; 

 but from careful watching and experiment- 

 ing, I am free to admit that the best results 

 ore obtained by setting out somewhat earlier 

 than this, or when the buds of these trees 

 begin to show their exjDansion by the sep- 

 arating of the outer covering which has 

 protected them during the winter. In this 

 way brood-rearing has gotten a little head- 

 way by the time the bloom opens, and then 

 the pollen coming in is of greater value by 

 pushing a greater volume of brood through 

 the activity resulting from the scramble in 

 preparing chyle for Ihat already in the cells. 

 The temperature should be 50 degrees F, 



