842 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



NOVEMBEE, 1917 



THERE are 

 t h ousands 

 of colonies 

 t h r u o u t the 

 United States 

 left on their 

 summer stands 

 in northern lati- 

 tudes with no 

 other protection 

 weather than a 



CHEAP WINTER PACKING 



oA Scheme for JVinter Protection 



Requiring No Equipment Beyond 



that Found in Any Apiary 



By E. R. Root 



between them and the 

 single thickness of yg 

 boards made into a hive. Such protection 

 is altogether inadequate ; and the only won- 

 der is that all colonies in single-walled hives 

 do not actually freeze to death. The records 

 show that many of them do and many others 

 survive the winter in a weakened condition. 

 One reason for this lack of protection is 

 labor and expense. A quadruple winter 

 ease such as is recommended by the Govern- 

 ment involves considerable expense for the 

 lumber. 



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Fig. 1. — The Deniuth method of winter packing. 



It consists of three hive-bodies, cover, and bottom 

 for outer case and a six-frame box of thin lumber 

 for inner case. This is stood on end when packing 

 material is poured around and on top. 



"When we were visiting the Government 

 apicultural building, at Drummond, Md., 

 JMr. Geo. S. Domuth, one of the employees 

 under Dr. E. F. Phillips, suggested a plan 

 for wintering bees in single-walled hives 

 that required little more than the equipment 



already in a bee 

 yard. The 

 amount of pro- 

 tection afforded 

 by it pei'haps 

 would not be as 

 ami^le as that 

 provided by the 

 quadruple win- 

 ter case, but enough, probably, to pro- 

 vide sufficient protection for most north- 

 ern localities — at least those south of the 

 Great Lakes. The plan involves a scheme 

 for using ordinary single-walled hives and 

 supers, with a very little additional outlay 

 for an inner case to hold the winter nest 

 of the bees. Practically every extracted- 

 honey producer must have one or two full- 

 depth supers in addition to the regular 

 Jiives for the brood-nest. These supers are 

 not used during winter except to hold 

 combs; and even if so used, the combs might 

 better be stored in cheap racks put up in 

 an ordinai*y honey-house. The equipment 

 for wintering as we shall here outline it 

 consists of an ordinary ten-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive and two ten-frame full-depth 

 supers. Practically every ten-frame colony 

 can be squer^zed on six combs. Now, then, 

 if these six combs with bees are put into a 

 cheap box made of %-in. lumber without 

 ends, we have a complete outfit for winter- 

 ing. When the first cool day comes, the 

 bees with the six selected combs are put in- 

 to the box just mentioned. The whole thing 

 is then set on end in three hive-bodies tiered 

 up on the regular stand. It will thus be 

 seen that the frames holding the cluster 

 stand on end. There should be a slot cut in 

 the bottom end of the inner case holding the 

 six combs, and a bridge should connect this 

 slot Avith the regular hive-entrance proper; 

 see Fig. 1. Packing material of any sort is 

 now poured between the inner and outer 

 case. If the bees are short of stores, a 

 pie-plate of hard candy can be inverted 

 over the top end of the inner case. If the 

 combs are well filled with sealed stores, a 

 tele-scope cover can be set over the inner 

 case, or even a piece of burlap or old car- 

 peting. Last of all, packing material ma" 

 !>e poured over the whole until the top of 

 the three stories of the regular hive is full, 

 when the regular liive-cover is put in place. 

 This leaves between four and five inches of 

 ])acking. It should be noted that tliis ar- 

 langement provides a tall winter brood- 

 chamber of small lateral dimensions which 

 is theoretically, at least, the best possible 

 shape to conserve the heat of the cluster. 



In selecting combs it is advisable to choose 

 six of the best, including those that contain 



