181,8 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



21 



Report of the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Cou- 



veutiou, Held in Chicago, Nov. 10 and 



11, 1897. 



KEPOBTED BY A SPECIAL BEE JOUBNAL EEPORTEB. 



(Continued from page 7.) 

 WINTERING BEES OUTSIDE. 



"What is the best way of wintering bees outside?" 



Mr. Moore — Putting sheet Iron covers over them. 



Mr. Green — That is one oT the ways ; I use such covers, 

 and find they are very practical. 



Pres. Miller — Who has been very sucessful in outside wln- 

 tering of bees ? Let me ask this question : How many of you 

 prefer for yourselves outside wintering of bees to cellar win- 

 tering ? 



Eight preferred outside wintering. 



Pres. Miller — It might be interesting If we knew some- 

 thing of the location of those different ones. Mr. Green, for 

 instance. Is somewhat down in the State of Illinois. It might 

 be expected' that those farther south would be more in favor of 

 outside wintering than those farther north, but it Is not al- 

 ways the case ; perhaps it would be Interesting if we could 

 know something of the amount wintered, and about the dis- 

 tance norih or south. 



Mr. Karch — I have been keeping bees from my boyhood. 

 I have not a convenient cellar as some of my neighbors, who 

 keep their bees In the cellar very successfully. My cellar Is 

 not large enough. I have to winter them outside, and that is 

 why I askt this question. 



Mr. Rohrs — I have been in the bee-business about five 

 years. I have tried wintering bees in the cellar, but with poor 

 success. Now I don't know whether it Is on account of my 

 cellar or because I don't know better, so I have tried to win- 

 ter them under a bee-shed like they do in Germany, and I suc- 

 ceeded a good deal better in the cellar. Certainly I have lost, 

 but I always think I am one of those who has to learn more to 

 have better success than I do, and I have been of the opinion 

 that It is well to have a hive that protects the bees all the 

 year round. In the old country they leave them as they are, 

 and they always winter perfectly well. I have been thinking 

 of having a hive that would be good for winter and for 

 spring, and I believe that we want protection for bees in 

 spring. I think a bee-shed is a good thing, except there is one 

 objection. After you have hives close together, you are bound 

 to lose queens now and then ; and I have been looking for 

 another and better hive, so that the changes of winter will 

 not affect the hives so easily. I would prefer to have the bees 

 outside. I am from the southern part of Wisconsin. I have 

 my bees on the sunny side of the house, towards the south- 

 east. I hope I will have good success with the hives I have at 

 present, because I know I have good protection. I have the 

 Champion hive. I want a hive that in the spring I can take 

 off the back and handle it easily. I want my bees packt again 

 after that, because we have very changeable weather. In the 

 spring we get a warm spell, then a cold spell. I want a hive 

 that will give protection to the bees. This hive I can take 

 apart and clean it easily. Then I want my bees packt again 

 until the honey-flow comes. I have seen other parties in my 

 neighborhood use chaff hives successfully, and I don't see why 

 I cannot. I can ventilate this hive. 



Mr. Miller — I am from eastern Pennsylvania. While I 

 never kept bees on my own account, my father is a beekeeper 

 and my life has been spent among them. At home we have 

 tried wintering In the cellar with fair success; in a shed, with 

 a loss of 30 per cent., and have tried them without any pro- 

 tection, far better than In the cellar or shed. The chaff 

 hive was the best thing that we had. My father finally got 

 some thin slabs and sawed these up and made a rough hive, 

 set it over the other hive, and filled that up with chaff, and in 

 the spring he took the chaff out and left the hive there, which 

 gav} protection against winter storm, and afterwards took it 

 away — all but the front part of the hive — and then finally 

 took that away altogether ; in that way the loss during the 

 winter was reduced to almost nothing, while before he lost In 



sheds fully 30 per cent, during the winter ; probably ten per 

 cent, in cellar. 



Mr. Green — That is practically the way I have followed 

 for years, altho I prefer to have four hives together In one 

 large case, two entrances facing east and two west, two or 

 three inches apart and four inches between the hives and out- 

 side walls, often covered with one roof ; a very simple, easy 

 plan of protection, and it works very well Indeed. 



Mr. Whitcomb — If the cellar is extraordinarily dry and ex- 

 traordinarily well ventilated, they winter nicely in the cellar, 

 but we In Nebraska have best success In wintering In a 4-inch 

 packing case, well hookt together with hooks in the corners, 

 and If necessary to examine the hive you can remove one por- 

 tion and let the other remain. We have tried corn chaff, but 

 It Is villainous stuff to get dry. Dry leaves are better than 

 anything else. We have reduced the loss in winter to almost 

 a minimum. The packing case Is lower in the back and high 

 In front, with one cover that covers the whole thing, painted 

 red, made of the lightest lumber possible, Hundreds of thsm 

 can be piled, one on top the other when not in use ; the little 

 board that covers the entrance Is separate — everything Is sep- 

 arate, with two books on each corner. We have been using 

 them for 15 years, and I don't see but they are as good as 

 they ever were. They are always ready; each one is made ex- 

 actly alike, and they cost about 90 cents a piece. They are 

 cheaper than the chaff hive, and are not cumbersome at all, 

 and usually around the yard you can rake up leaves enough, 

 •but avoid as much as possible keeping bees under sheds or in 

 a place where the packing will get wet. I would rather a lit- 

 tle colony of bees would stand. out without any protection than 

 to be packt in wet packing, because then you will find your 

 colony in bad condition In the spring. We avoid sheds of all 

 kinds and descriptions. In the summer time. In Nebraska, 

 the evenings are very cool ; I find under the trees and build- 

 ings the mercury runs down three or four degrees more than 

 it does in the open air. With us the sun comes out very early 

 in the morning, and it Is only the bees that get out In the 

 morning that are able to lay up stores. In keeping a record 

 of the colonies, I found the ones that are the farthest away 

 from sheds and buildings always put up the most honey. I 

 had a hive on the north side of a little plum tree — It was quite 

 a small tree when I put it there, but as it grew, I noticed the 

 stores in the hive were less and less every year, so I moved It 

 away from there a few feet, and found the stores from year to 

 year increast. I don't use any shed at all, except an artificial 

 shed that shades the top and side of the hive, and gives free 

 circulation of air. My hives always face the east for two rea- 

 sons, first, the front aud rear of the hive is not shaded. I 

 want the sun to shine upon them as much as possible, and as 

 long In the evening as possible. If you ever went to a bee- 

 hive late at night, you heard the evaporation going on. 



Pres. Miller — I see planer shavings are highly recom- 

 mended for packing ; have you tried them ? 



Mr. Green — I have used planer shavings extensively, and 

 they are most satisfactory. I should be very careful not to 

 use straw or corn of any kind, because It attracts mice. Chaff, 

 of course, is one of the worst things in that respect. 



Pres. Miller — I never heard of corn chaff before. 



Mr. Whitcomb — In all the elevators of the great grain 

 belt they have a great deal of corn chaff ; corn chaff comes 

 from corn that Is shelled ; you can go there and get a hundred 

 wagon loads of It if you want ; a few drops of water will spoil 

 It; It must be kept dry. 



Pres. Miller — What further upon the best method of win- 

 tering bees out-doors ? 



Mr. Baxter — I am in the bee-business for the money I 

 can make out of It. I have been in It for about 20 years, and 

 I have experimented a great deal, and never kept less than 

 250 colonies. After all my experiments I find that the 

 Dadants plan beats anything else I ever tried. I have tried 

 other plans, and find the Dadant gives the best results. I put 

 a mat made of grass on top of the frames, then fill the cap 

 with dry leaves, and Invert it right on the hive. In the spring, 

 if I think the bees are short of stores along the latter part of 

 March or beginning of April, I can lift up the cap, with the 

 leaves and everything, and just remove the mat and see how 

 they look. If they need any feed I can feed them without 

 unpacking them. I believe In unpacking them very late, as 

 late as possible. I have unpackt them as late as apple blos- 

 soms, and have lost but very few colonies during the winter. 

 There is a big difference in wintering, whether you are run- 

 ning them for comb honey or extracted honey. 



Adjourned until 1:30 p. m. 



(To be continued.) 



See " Bee-Keeper's Guide " offer on page 14:. 



