October. 1921 



GLEANINGS IN B R E f ) U I. T U R E 



in the liivo. In tlie ilouble-walled or any 

 well-packed hive the cluster will extend out 

 over the honey, in some cases nearly filling 

 the brood-chamber even on cool mornings. 

 It is usually better to unite colonies which 

 do not occupy at least five or six spaces be- 

 tween combs, the small colonies can be win- 

 tered by reducing the brood-chamber to fit 

 the cluster. This can be done by taking 

 out the combs not occupied by bees and 

 filling this space either with chaff division- 

 boards or a tight-fitting board with packing 

 material, such as dry leaves, sawdust, oi' 

 planer shavings, filled in the space back 

 of it.. The cluster of bees should touch the 

 sides of the hive on cool mornings in Octo- 

 ber, and by reducing the size of the brood- 

 chamber even small colonies can be made to 

 do this; but, of course, it is much better to 

 have larger clusters so there is no need of 

 reducing the space in the hive. 



Winter Stores. 



In addition to having plenty of young 

 bees to form a good-sized winter cluster 

 each colony should have plenty of good 

 honey suflicient to last them not only thru 

 the winter but also for their early spring 

 needs. To determine how much honey is in 

 the hive weigh an empty hive without 

 frames, add 10 pounds for the weight of the 

 TO frames and comb and about five pounds 

 more for the weight of the bees and some 

 pollen. Knowing the weight of the hive, 

 combs, and bees, the weight of the honey 

 can be easily determined by weighing the 

 hives containing the colonies. If platform 

 scales are not available for this purpose the 

 weight can be determined near enough by 

 ordinary spring scales, weighing one end of 

 the hive at a time by hooking under the end 

 of the hive-bottom and lifting up just 

 enough so that it will clear the hive-stand. 

 Add the two weights thus secured together. 

 This sum is about the total weight of the 

 hive, bees, combs, and honey. After sub- 

 tracting the weight of the hive, combs, and 

 bees there should be a difference of from 

 30 to 40 pounds for the honey. If there is 

 less than 30 pounds, more stores should be 

 given early this month. If frames of honey 

 are not available for this purpose, the bees 

 should be fed a syrup made of two or two 

 and one-half parts of granulated sugar to 

 one part of water. 



To make the syrup, first heat the water 

 to the boiling point, then add the sugar, 

 stirring it until the crystals are dissolved. 

 To reduce the tendency of this heavy syrup 

 to crj'stallize in the combs a teaspoonful 

 of tartaric acid for each 15 or 20 pounds of 

 sugar used should be dissolved in a little 

 water and added to the syru]). When this 

 is done the syrup should again be heated 

 to the boiling point, or nearly so, to hasten 

 the action of the acid. If the syrup is not 

 made heavier than two parts of sugar to 

 one part of water and the colonies are 

 strong, especially if they are packed for 



winter before feeding, the acid may not be 

 necessary, since under these conditions the 

 bees will modify the syrup as they store it, 

 reducing the tendency to crystallize. 



The syrup can be fed to the bees in 10- 

 pound honey pails having perforated lids, 

 about 100 small holes being punched in the 

 lid by means of a small nail. When the 

 syrup has cooled enough so it does not burn 

 the hands the pail, filled with the warm 

 syrup and the lid in place, should be in- 

 verted and placed directly on top of the 

 brood-combs in an empty hive-body or 

 above an escape-board having the bee-es- 

 cape removed, the pail being placed directly 

 over the hole in the escape-board. In the 

 latter case a little syrup should be poured 

 into the hole in the escape-board to start 

 the bees to work promptly. The bees will 

 take the syrup thru the holes in the lid, but 

 the syrup can not run out if the holes are 

 small, being held by atmospheric pressure. 

 The space in the upper story around the 

 feeder should be packed with old clothes, 

 burlap, or planer shavings, to keep the 

 syrup warm until the bees have had time to 

 carry it down. 



Winter Protection. 



The final requirement for winter is that 

 of protection. While in exceptional cases 

 bees may be wintered out of doors even in 

 the northern States in the regular summer 

 hives, it is not safe to attempt to winter 

 them in this way. Farther south the bees 

 may apparently winter well in single-walled 

 hives during an occasional open winter such 

 as last winter. For this reason beekeepers 

 in the middle latitudes are too often tempt- 

 ed to leave their bees unprotected year 

 after year, hoping that the winter will be 

 mild. Except in the extreme South it pays 

 well to provide some kind of protection for 

 the hives in addition to that afforded by a 

 single thickness of lumber. This may be 

 given by the use of double-walled hives or 

 by packing the regular single-walled hives 

 in winter packing cases, as described else- 

 where in this issue; or in the far North by 

 carrying the hives into the cellar next 

 month, to be left there until the latter part 

 of March or early in April. One would nat- 

 urally think that putting them in the cellar 

 during cold weather would be the best way 

 to winter the bees, but successful cellar 

 wintering depends upon having so many 

 things just right that the beginner will <lo 

 well to winter his colonies outside unless 

 located where the winters are extremely se- 

 vere. Bees can be successfully wintered out- 

 side, if well protected, even in the most 

 northern tier of states and parts of Canada. 

 The hives should be packed on all sides and 

 top with several inches of finely crushed 

 forest leaves, dry sawdust, a mixture of 

 sawdust and planer shavings, or some such 

 material, avoiding coarse material such as 

 straw or corn fodder. The entrance should 

 be reduced during cold weather to about % 

 inch bv 2 inches. 



