October, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



617 



the South where the bees are much more 

 active during winter, the stores are con- 

 sumed rapidly, and unless they are abund- 

 antly supplied there is great danger of 

 starvation. 



While under favorable conditions only 10 

 or 15 pounds may 

 be needed for the 

 actual broodless 

 period, the colo- 

 nies may need 30 

 pounds or more in 

 addition for 

 spring brood-rear- 

 ing. In most 

 cases this should 

 all be in the hives 

 in October. As 

 many successful 

 b e e k e e pers ex 

 press it, they do 

 their spring feed- 

 know it is done in 



Fig. 1. — Two-inch rim 



ill place about bottom of 



hive. 



ing in the fall; then tliey 

 time. 



Empty Cells for the Winter Nest. 

 Much has been written about the neces- 

 sity of vacant cells for the winter cluster, 

 but it is well to remember that there is 

 greater danger in having too many vacant 

 cells than in having too few. For instance, 

 good wintering could not be expected in a 

 colony having 20 or 30 pounds of honey 

 scattered thruout a two-story hive with but 

 one or two pounds in each comb. When the 

 bees are compelled to form a compact clus- 

 ter it is safer for the cluster to envelop 

 some of the honey on all sides and at the 



top than to 

 be in contact 

 with honey 

 at the top 

 only. 



As the yoai's 

 go by bee- 

 keepers a V e 

 learning t h e 

 great advan- 

 tage of leav- 

 ing ni r e 

 stores than 

 were former- 

 ly thought 

 n e cess ary. 

 Some now' 

 give each col- 

 ony a shallow 

 extracting su- 

 per tilled with early -gathered honey, while 

 others give each colony six or eight full- 

 depth combs of honey in an extra hive-bodv, 

 wintering the bees in two stories. Still 

 others accomplish similar results by using 

 large brood-chambers, which they manage 

 to have well provisioned with honey or 

 sugar syrup in the fall. 



Quality of Winter Stores. 

 In the South, where the bees can fly free- 

 ly every week during the winter, the b^fi- 



Fig. 2. — Paper is fastened to 

 rim by m^ans of lath. 



Fig. 



3. — Cutting opening 

 entrance thru paper. 



for 



keeper needs only to see that each colony 

 has enough stores to last until more can be 

 gathered next spring, the quality of the 

 stores making little if any difference. In 

 fact, some California beekeepers extract all 

 the white honey from the hives late in the 

 summer, and then move to locations where 

 the bees can fill the combs with honeydew 

 for winter. Such a procedure would, of 

 course, result in a 100% loss of colonies in 

 the far North where the bees are confined 

 to their hives without a cleansing flight for 

 several months. Here it is fully as impor- 

 tant that the winter stores be of good qual- 

 ity as that there shall be enough. In fact, 

 it would seem 

 less cruel, 

 and at the 

 same time 

 less expen- 

 sive, to take 

 away all of 

 their stores 

 and let the 

 bees starve 

 in the fall 

 than to leave 

 them 50 

 pounds of 

 honeydew or 

 honey of such 



poor quality that the bees would burn out 

 their lives and die miserably of dysen- 

 tery in midwinter. 



Between these two extremes where, dur- 

 ing most winters, the bees enjoy a cleans- 

 ing flight every two or three weeks, bee- 

 keepers, as a rule, are inclined to take their 

 chances as to the quality of winter stores. 

 Here the occasional severe winter works its 

 greatest havoc, sometimes wiping out more 

 than half of the colonies. It seems strange 

 that thousands of beekeepers should con- 

 tinue to take the chance of losing heavily 

 from poor winter stores when trouble from 

 this source can be avoided so easily by feed- 

 ing each colony 10 to 15 iiounds of good 

 honey or sugar syru[i after brood-rearing 

 has ceased. By wait- 

 ing until most of the 

 brood has emerged 

 before feeding, the 

 good stores are 

 placed in the cells 

 thus made vacant 

 where they will be 

 used first, leaving 

 the poor stores until 

 they may safely be 

 used for brood-rear- 

 ing next spring. 

 Many northern bee- 

 keepers now insure 

 themselves against 

 loss from poor stores by practicing this 

 kind of feeding annually in October, regard- 

 less of the amount of honey already in the 

 hives. When sugar syrup is given it should 

 be fed while still ouite Tvgrm, and given in 



Fig. 4. — Upper edges of 

 paper folded down. 



