jANUAIiV, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HEADS OF GRAITO :?TO1 JDIFFERENTTiELDS 



A Detachable Porch This is a subject not 

 to Prevent the Loss always referred to in 

 of Bees in the Snow, text-books on bee- 

 keeping. It is, how- 

 ever, one of the troubles that beekeepers 

 find very acute during some winters in this 

 section of British Columbia. The writer re- 

 ceived a communication the other day from 

 a'correspondent in Ontario in which he says: 

 " In winter when a warm day occurs, my 

 bees come out, fall in the snow, and die. I 

 have seen the snow black with them." So 

 the trouble evidently is not confined to this 

 Fro^•inoe alone. Here the winter usually 

 commences in earnest about the beginning of 

 November, and the snow, as a rule, remains 

 on the ground, several feet in depth, until 

 about the end of March, a period of five 

 months or more. During this time, generally 

 in February, we nearly always experience a 

 " Chinook," a warm wind, and brilliant sun- 

 shine, which lasts a few days and raises the 

 temperature during the day to almost sum- 

 mer heat. This has such an eftect on the 

 t)ees that they come out of the hives in 

 thousands, drop on the snow, and a very 

 large proportion become chilled and unable 

 to reach the hive again. This means that the 

 hives become terribly depleted of bees just 

 at the connnencement of the breeding sea- 

 son, when it is most important to the well- 

 being of the colony that the life of every 

 bee in the hive be prolonged to its fullest 

 extent. The bees in single-walled hives, or 

 others with but little protection, are general- 

 ly the worst to suffer, as in this case the 

 insiile temi>erature is sooner affected than 

 in double-walled hives, or hives standing in 

 cases. The remedy usually recommended, 

 of slanting a board in front of the entrance 

 to darken it, by keeping out the sun's rays, 

 or facing the hives to the north, we find of 

 very little use under the conditions that pre- 

 vail here. Some of the beekeepers have told 

 me that they have nailed screen wire direct- 

 ly over the entrances, but this remedy is dis- 

 tinctly worse than the disease; for the bees, 

 in th'^ir frantic efforts to get out, quickly 

 raise the internal temperature of the hive 

 so much higher that " sweating," with sub- 

 sequent suffocation, ensues, and the colony 

 is lost. An eft'ective remedy, the writer be- 

 lieves, can be found by having a detachable 

 porch, or annex, over the entrance of each 

 hive, the front being covered with wire 

 screen. This would need to be large enough 

 for the bees to come out into and fly so that 

 they would then have means of voiiling 

 their faeces. As the winter is now here, iinv 

 beekeepers likely to be troubled in this di- 

 rection might try the plan outlined and re- 

 port the result of their exjtprience next year. 

 Nelson, B. C. W. J. Sheppa'rd. 



[Ten or twelve years ago we tried wirc- 

 i-loth vestibules or porticos for colonies win- 

 tered outdoors. The results were disastrous, 



since old diseased bees, instead of being lost 

 outside, and thus ridding the colony of 

 thoir presence, would attempt to get out, 

 and in so doing stir up the entire colony, 

 causing the cluster to consume great quan- 

 tities of stores and finally resulting in dys- 

 entery. On suitable days these porticos 

 were removed; but even this did not save 

 the bees, and most of the colonies having 

 I)orticos died by spring. Altho many simi- 

 lar devices for preventing bees from being 

 lost in the snow were suggested and tried 

 out by many beekeepers, we believe none 

 proved very successful, and at the present 

 time we know of no better plan than to 

 shovel snow lightly over the entrances on 

 unfavorable days when bees arc likely to 

 desire a flight. — Editor.] 



The Wife Cares Mr. Moore of Fort At- 



for the Bees. kinson. Wis., operates 



over 50 colonies for 

 comb and extracted honey. Mrs. Moore 

 manages the apiary very effectively while 

 her husband is awa,y collecting insurance in 



The iijiiiiry tliat tlio wife manages when the husband 

 is absent. 



(iistant counties during the busy season. She 

 also helps to assemble hives, frames, etc., 

 which he makes during the winter with a 

 small power outfit. Lawrence Bellman. 



Evansville, Wis. 



Beekeepers Exhibit Eealizing the fact 

 Interesting Feature that to keep the price 

 ofFair. of honey where it 



rightly belongs, so that 

 the producer may secure a fair return for 

 his labor and interest on the money invest- 

 ed for bees and equipment, we must increase 

 the demand by increasing the consumption 

 of honey, and that the place to start to ad 

 vocate the more general use of honey is 

 at home, the Chenango County Beekeepers' 

 Society staged one of the most interesting 

 features of the Chenango County Agricul- 

 tural Fair at Norwich, N. Y., August 26-29, 

 by a fine exhibit of apiary products and ap- 



