The American Apicultiirist. 



% JfiDiirnal b^boti^ij ia pradital ^c^kctping. 



ENTERED AT THE POST-OFFICK, WENIIAM, AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



Published Monthly. Henry Aixey, Manager. 



VOL. IV. 



WENHAM, MASS., OCT. i, i8S6. 



No. lo. 



TJ¥£: WINTER PROBLEM : 



OR 

 HOW TO WINTER BEES. 



METHODS PRACTISED BY SOME OF THE 



LEADING AND 1\I0ST SUCCESSFUL 



APIARISTS. 



No. I. 



Dr. G. L. Tinker. 



With the knowledge on this sub- 

 ject gained within the last five years, 

 there should be no difihculty in win- 

 tering bees. It is true there is still 

 difference of opinion on minor points 

 but the principal requirements on 

 which success depends I believe are 

 now quite generally agreed upon. The 

 first of these is protection which in- 

 volves the question of temperature. 

 The writer is known to most ' bee- 

 keepers as the champion of the doc- 

 trine that cold is the primary cause 

 of most of our wnnter losses as 

 against that most fallacious of all the 

 theories that have been set forth of 

 first cause, viz., the pollen theory. 

 But I am pleased to-day to record 

 that my position on this question has 

 been almost unanimously conceded. 

 Protection from cold is now regarded 

 one of the greatest safeguards against 

 bee diarrhoea and not the removal 

 of bee-bread from the combs. 



Next after protection stands the 

 question of food. I have maintained 

 and still hold that good natural 

 stores are first in value and reliability. 

 Sugar syrup has been tried with suc- 

 cess in many instances, but the fact 

 remains that few bees comparatively 

 27 



have been wintered upon sugar 

 stores. And in these few cases when 

 put to the test of severe cold there 

 have been many heavy losses. Hence 

 I can but think that bees winter best 

 on the food that nature has provided 

 for them. 



However, I believe sugar syrup in- 

 finitely preferable as a winter food 

 to the sweet excretions of aphides 

 which bees sometimes gather and 

 store in the combs. It is also no 

 doubt preferable to any inferior qual- 

 ity of honey that may be stored in 

 the fall ; as thin fall honey is especi- 

 ally deleterious and should be either 

 extracted and good food substituted, 

 as thick honey or syrup fed over it. 

 Thin honey may be known by its 

 running out of the combs when held 

 horizontally. 



VENTILATION. 



Bees require free ventilation in 

 winter. They throw off a large 

 amount of moisture in their breath 

 that must have a ready means of exit 

 from the hive or the bees will be- 

 come restless, — a never-failing indi- 

 cation of something wrong. All undue 

 loss of heat must be prevented and 

 it can be easily retained by giving 

 free bottom ventilation and allowing 

 no upward movement of air except 

 through wood or other very close po- 

 rous covering. The best and most 

 economical covering in my experience 

 is solid unpainted wood. Simply 

 place a thin board over the brood- 

 chamber so as to leave a bee-space 

 over the frames in time to have it 

 well propolised and I will guarantee it 

 to hold the heat to the comfort of the 

 bees and at the same time give an 

 (221) 



