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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Black iron is better than galvanized if it 

 is properly painted, for the reason that 

 salvanized iron will sometimes scale where 



it is bent. When these covers are made, 

 the corners must be made square or they 

 will not lie flat. 

 Peninsula, 0. 



FURTHER EXPLANATIONS AS TO OUTSIDE WINTERING 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



Mr. B. F. Holtermann: — Your article in Glean- 

 ings for Sept. 1, with its fine illustrations, will 

 surely prove valuable to me, and doubtless to many 

 other readers as well, who wish to change from 

 cellar to outdoor wintering, and have single-walled 

 hives. I have waited for the description of your 

 winter cases; and having been away from home I 

 am just now getting them made, and find that I 

 need some further advice and am taking the liberty 

 of writing to bother you with my troubles. It may 

 be possible that, in answering these inquiries in 

 Gleanings, you would be helping the readers again. 



I am located 33 miles south of Buffalo, N. Y., in 

 a rather high, level stretch of country where the west 

 and northerly winds of Lake Erie strike hard, and 

 from 18 to 20 degrees below zero or even colder is 

 not at all uncommon, and our lot is so situated that 

 I cannot very well put up the fence you recommend; 

 but wind is broken from some hives by thick growth 

 of berry-bushes, and I am using good inch material 

 with tongue and groove closely fitted, and painted, 

 so not much wind should go through the packing- 

 cases. 



1. Would from two to four inches more of pack- 

 ing on sides, ends, and tops help offset the lack of 

 the fence as a windbreak, or is there some objection 

 to thicker packing? 



2. Do you have or recommend any ventilation 

 over the top o4 the packing ? if so, how much ? 



3. Do you put sticks or any thing across the tops 

 of your frames to keep cloths up off them so as to 

 allow a passageway over the frames for bees ? 



4. How large a passageway do you provide from 

 hive proper to entrance-holes in a packing-case ? 



5. How large in diameter are these three holes 

 in the packing-case, which, from the cut, I take to 

 be outer entrances leading to each hive ? 



My bottom-boards are reversible. One way up al- 

 lows a 1-inch space under the frames ; the other way, 

 only % ; hives have no portico, and are ten-frame. 

 I have planned to make a passageway from hive to 

 case entrance by cutting boards 6 inches wide, 1 inch 

 thick, just long enough to fit into the hive entrance, 

 planing out crosswise of the board a space % inch 

 deep, 8 long; and it has seemed to me that, to use 

 hive-bottoms with a one-inch space under frames so 

 as to have more room for dead bees would be best 

 by putting the half-inch solid board under the board 

 that has the passageway cut in. 



I would raise the passage up half an inch off the 

 bottom of the hive, making it less liable to clog with 

 fallen bees; but this raising up of the entrance can 

 not be done if I have only % inch under the frames. 



6. Would you advise a 1-inch space under frames 

 or only the % ? 



7. Is this % X 8-inch passage about right for 

 strong colonies ? If not, please suggest best dimen- 

 sions or arrangements. 



8. How much smaller would you make it for, say, 

 a colony that nicely covers five frames, now in 

 warm weather, and has two frames of brood ? 



9. How closely would you contract this entrancef 

 for the weakest colony you attempt to winter ? How 

 small colonies can you reasonably expect to winter 

 safely, provided a good portion of their bees were 

 hatched late in September? 



I have some good queens in four or five frame 

 nuclei ? 



10. As zero air rushes into a warm room much 

 faster through an opening than warmer air would 

 in zero weather, when snow is not over these three- 

 hole entrances would it be wise to cork up one or 

 two of them, removing plugs when weather moderat- 

 ed ? or if snow is about up to them, how about 

 shoveling it against the case enough to cover over 

 the holes? 



11. I take it that you cover frames with cloths, 

 then put loose packing on top of the cloths without 

 any boards over frames. Would four-thickness ordi- 

 nary grain-sacking be all right ? When you remove 

 several frames outside of the hive, do you use a 

 chaff division-board? and if space is left between 

 (he division-board and hive side, do you pack that 

 space? and would sacking, carpeting, etc., be all 

 right for that particular place, as I judge that it 

 would be easier to remove in spring? 



12. In packing the cases do you crowd in all 

 the leaves you possibly can all about and over the 

 hives ? or do you press them down only moderately ? 



13. About how many frames are left in each of 

 your hives in winter on an average? 



Chaffee, N. Y., Sept. 28. A. J. O'Dell. 



Berry-bushes make a very poor substitute 

 indeed for a protection against winds and 

 snow for a fence 8 ft. high, particularly 

 when the space fenced in is not greater than 

 40 to 45 ft. square. 



The following are the answers to the ques- 

 tions asked : 



1. No. The object of the fence during 

 winter is to prevent snow drifting against 

 the winter cases, to keep the cold wind from 

 blowing into the entrance to the hive, and 

 to enable the sun to have more effect in 

 drying out the inside of the cover of the 

 case upon which there is more or less con- 

 densation of moisture which escapes from 

 the bees and passes through the top pack- 

 ing. 



2. Yes, a hole % inch in diameter in each 

 end of the case and under the cover. This 

 allows enough air to circulate under the 

 cover to carry off the moisture mentioned in 

 the previous answer. 



3. No. I use queen -excluders; but sticks 

 or a Hill device would answer the purpose. 

 The object aimed at is to give the bees a 

 chance to change positions in the cluster 

 when clustering in winter. With comb 

 naturally built by the bees they leave pas- 

 sageways so that the entire cluster can com- 

 municate through these passages; but with 

 combs built on foundation they are straight, 

 and each lot of bees between the combs is 

 isolated from the lot on either side. Because 

 warm air rises, the bees can pass over the 



