OlTOUKR, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



763 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Winter-case Entrance Protection 



Among the many beekeepers who work 

 (]uietly and practically, who never write for 

 tlie apicnltural press, is Wni. Atkinson, Sel- 

 kirk, Ontario. Recently while visiting Mr. 

 Atkinson he showed me an outer cover for 

 a winter-case entrance. He told me what 

 others, including myself, have amply prov- 

 en, that the cold winds are very injurious to 

 the bees. He also said that the sun's rays 

 shining into the entrance tend to draw the 

 bees out of the case so that frequently they 

 •hill during their flight and are lost. 



Mr. Atkinson's device consists of a board 

 fastened over the regular entrance of the 

 cage with one screw. This board, as ex- 

 plained in the illustration, protects the 

 bees from the direct wind or the direct rays 

 of the sun. The entrance for the bees thru 

 the case being thus protected the bees can 

 better draw the dead bees to the outer edge 

 of the case and drop them out. The bees, 

 after reaching the outer edge of the case 

 entrance, have to go downward to reach the 

 outlet in the cover to the true entrance, 

 which is about two inches lower. In other 

 words, the inner entrance, or the entrance 

 to the winter case proper, is covered by a 

 board which has a downward entrance thru 



ENTRANCE 



WINTERCASE J j T —WINTER 

 B \\ CASE 

 WIND-BREAK ENTRANCE 



it, so that the wind is broken, because the 

 two entrances are not opposite one anothei'. 



I do not hesitate to say that this device 

 is valuable wherever there are strong winds 

 and a/ low temperature. It has the advan- 

 tage also that it is very simple, and can be 

 added to any winter cases which the bee- 

 kee{)er may have. R. F. Holtehmann. 



Brantford, Ontario, Canada. 



Why they Swarmed in January 



Do your bees ever swarm in winter? 



1 have twenty hives in my backyard 

 apiarj', and winter under the long-shed 

 plan, with open front to the south. One 

 day in January my wife, looking out from 

 the kitchen window, said, " Your bees are 

 swarming!" I rushed out and found the 

 bees pouring from one of the hives in 

 about the middle of the row. The snow- 

 bank along tlie front was well covered with 

 bees crawling about and dying. I put a 

 small strip of wood in front of the entrance 

 to close the hive, lifted the cover, and 

 peeped into the brood-chamber. It was 

 alive with, bees, buzzing with all the vigoi- 

 of a summer-day activity. 



Well, I thought, here is the drifting 

 trouble again. This hive has collected so 

 many bees that they are too warm inside, 

 and perhaps have used up all the stores 

 and are making a desperate et¥ort to get 

 out and find something. Forthwith I con- 

 demned the shed plan of wintering. 



I pulled the hive out and carried it to 

 another part of the yard. It seemed heavy 

 enough to have plenty of honey, and the 

 glance I had at the combs showed some of 

 them with capped-over celLs. This was 

 enough to prove they were not starving. 



At any rate we were on the track of 

 something, or at least my Boston terrier 

 was; for no sooner had I pulled out the 

 hive than the dog jumped into the opening 

 and dug out a rat's nest that had been made 

 under the bottom-board. The rat was 

 somewhere under the shed, but we did not 

 succeed in routing it out. However, that 

 night it came out and made a new nest un- 

 der a pile of building-blocks; and by mov- 

 ing these the dog caught it and soon ended 

 its career. The next day I examined the 

 colony. It had settled down to a small 

 cluster that was decidedly weakened and 

 had to be nursed to bring it thru the, 

 winter. 



The rat had kept up a continual bump- 

 ing on the bottom-board as it moved about 

 arranging its nest, until the bees were 

 aroused to such a frenzy they had rushed 

 out into the snow and cold of a winter 

 day, ready to die in the defense of their 

 lionie — foolish bees ! Also foolish rat, to 

 make a nest under a hive whose owner has 

 a good dog and values his bees far moie 

 than any rat. dead or alive, and likes dead 

 rats much lK>tler than live ones. 



I)i;. <'. E. Blanchard. 



Youngstown. Ohio. 



