326 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Ma.v 25, 1899. 



by the side, or in the place of the one to be examined. I 

 then lift out each comb and examine it, and if all is satis- 

 factory I place it in the empty hive, and do the same with 

 each comb, arrang-ing them in this way. If the hive faces 

 the south I put a full comb of honey next to the east side of 

 the hive, and if it faces east I place the full comb at the 

 south side. I then place the combs containing brood next 

 to the one filled with honey, and as near as may be in the 

 same relation to each other as they were before I began the 

 examination. I then fill up the balance of the hive with 

 full combs of honey, or enough to last until an abundant 

 supply comes in the spring. 



If there is not such a supply of honey in the hive as 

 will be an abundance for winter stores, I take full combs 

 from supers that have been left without extracting for this 

 purpose. I have followed this plan of preparing my bees 

 for early spring handling for over 20 years. 



Then when settled cold weather puts in an appearance, 

 which in this locality is generally about Nov. 12. all are 

 placed in the cellar without bottoms to the hives, where 

 they remain until such time in the spring as they become 

 too uneasy to safely remain longer, frequently remaining- 

 in the cellar until many of the soft maples have past out of 

 bloom. 



Before removing the bees from the cellar, if I decide to 

 give them spring protection, I place a box made for that 

 purpose on each stand before removing the bees. This box 

 is made of five separate pieces — bottom, two sides and two 

 ends — and these pieces are made of half-inch lumber of any 

 convenient width, being held together with cleats 1 'i inches, 

 or less in width, at each end, these cleats being- placed at 

 such distance from the ends of the side and end pieces as 

 will allow them to be put together as shown by the sample 

 corner sent with this, the cleats having been cut half an 

 inch shorter than the sides and ends are high. The sides 

 and ends are made of such length as will make the box four 

 inches longer and wider inside than the hive is outside, and 

 about six inches higher than the hive-body. The bottom is 

 made of the same kind of material as the sides, and of such 

 width and length as to go inside the box. The cleats on the 

 bottom are placed at least two inches from each end. The 

 box is held, tog-ether at the corners by small wire nails or 

 hooks. 



When the box is ready, or at any convenient time be- 

 fore wanted for use, the bottom is covered with chaff or 

 fine-cut straw to the same depth as the thickness of the 

 cleats it is put together with, and a hive bottom-board put 

 over the chaff, resting on the cleats and chaff. I keep the 

 box covered from storms with a board made like the bottom. 

 but wide and long enough to project over two or three 

 inches on all sides. The bottom-board to my hives is long 

 enough so that when in place in the box it projects beyond 

 the front of the box which has to be cut to fit it, and makes 

 an entrance to the hive. 



In taking the bees from the cellar each hive is set on a 

 bottom-board, and the entrance closed to keep the bees from 

 escaping. The hive is then set on scales and weighed, each 

 having been weig-hed when put into the cellar. It is then 

 carried to its summer stand, and lifted from its loose bot- 

 tom and set in place in the box prepared for it. 



When all are in place, and the entrance fixt, I fill the 

 space between the box and hive with chaff, or some substi- 

 tute for it. It takes but a moment to do this, pressing- it 

 down just enough so that it will not settle of its own weight. 



If I haven't extra bottom-boards I can get along nicely 

 with only one extra one, by having the chaff or other ma- 

 terial in place on the bottom of the box ; the bottom-board 

 releast by lifting the hive from it to place it in the box, can 

 readily be put in the box where wanted. 



I use enameled cloth to cover the frames, on top of 

 which is a rimmed cover, and I fill with chaff only to the 

 top of the hive ; I then cover the enameled cloth with sev- 

 eral thicknesses of new.spaper, and replace the cover. 



I keep the entrance opened or closed, as the weather 

 may indicate, so as to help the bees maintain a proper tem- 

 perature in the hive, frequently closing the entrance at 

 night and during cool days. 



As soon after the bees have had a good cleansing flight, 

 as the weather will admit, I examine everv comb to learn 

 about the strength of the colony, the amount of brood and 

 stores, and whether queenless or not. If I find the colonv 

 in a satisfactory condition, I close the hive and let them 

 alone for ten days or more, according to their apparent 

 condition as seen from the outside, or by turning- up a por- 

 tion of the enameled cloth. 



If I find any colony .short of an abundance of stores and 

 otherwise in good condition, I supply the lack by removing- 



one or more combs having the least honey and no brood, 

 and supply their places with combs more or less full of 

 honey, that have been saved for this purpose from the pre- 

 vious year. 



If I find a colony weak in numbers, but strong enough 

 to be worth building up. I put the bees on as many combs 

 as they can profitably use, and contract the brood-nest with 

 a division-board, making sure that they have plenty of 

 stores. Sometimes I put the colony in the center of the 

 hive, using two division-boards, and fill the spaces between 

 the division-boards and sides of the hive with chaff. 



If I find a colony queenless I make the entrance as 

 small as will allow the bees rather a close passage to guard 

 against robbing, and leave it until a pretty cool evening, 

 when I remove the covering of the weakest colony with a 

 queen, and place a queen-excluding- honey-board in place of 

 the covering, and when all are quiet carefully set the hive 

 with the queenless colony on it, leaving off the bottom- 

 board. The bees of the queenless colony will readily go to 

 the colony with the queen, and, in m^- experience, without 

 any quarreling. I have united weak colonies in the winter 

 in the cellar in this way, leaving out the queen-excluder, 

 and had no trouble. 



If I find colonies with queens too weak to be profitable, 

 I remove such queens as I care least for, and unite two or 

 more as may seem best, as above, uniting but two at a time. 



If I don't find plenty of unsealed honey in the hive I 

 uncap some, unless the bees are able to gather some from 

 the fields, for they seem to build up more rapidly when they 

 have a supply of uncapt honey. 



In a week or ten days, more or less as circumstances 

 may indicate, I give another examination as at first, treat- 

 ing them in the same way. Sometimes, but rarely, I find 

 too much honey in the hive, being so full that the queen 

 does not have the room needed -for depositing eggs. In 

 such cases I replace one or more combs of honey with 

 empty, or nearly empty, ones, always leaving an abundance 

 of stores. 



If I do not give spring- protection I do just the same as 

 where protection is given, only that when I give the first 

 examination I furnish each colony a hive with a tig-ht bot- 

 tom in this way : 



I nail a bottom to a hive-body with four nails an inch 

 and a quarter long. That will hold the bottom on firmly, 

 and still permit of its easy removal when I prepare the bees 

 for winter quarters. I remove the colony I wish to examine 

 from its stand, usually placing it in the rear of where it 

 was, and place the empty hive with the tight bottom in its 

 place. I then proceed to remove the combs from the full 

 hive to the empty one, examining them and arranging the 

 entrance according to the needs of the colony, and the 

 weather. 



When the combs have all been removed from the old 

 hive, any remaining bees are brusht or shaken into, or 

 down in front of, the new hive. 



The loose bottom is then nailed to an empty hive which 

 is then ready for the colony next examined. This process 

 is repeated until all have been examined, and each colony 

 is treated in the same way as where spring protection is 

 given, but I much prefer to have all colonies protected.. 



I keep a record of everything I do to a colony, and also 

 what it does. This record I keep either on a piece of heavy 

 card-board, a piece of section, or a small piece of smooth, 

 thin board, like a piece of planed shingle. 



Your secretary didn't ask me to give any rcas.otis\for 

 my way of doing-, but perhaps he will allow me to say that 

 after a good deal of experience in stimulative feeding in 

 the spring, I have found that with plenty of sealed stores 

 in the hive the bees will do the best for me in getting strong^ 

 colonies. Of course, the queen must have room to "spread 

 herself." I have also experimented in spreading brood to 

 hasten brood-rearing, but it takes too much time and atten- 

 tion to make it at all profitable for me. ^^ 



Lucas Co., Ohio. "A. B. Mason. 



[Continued next week,] 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a pretty song- in fsheet 

 music size, written by J. C. Wallenmeyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The regular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at J20 cents each, as 

 long as they last. Better order at once, if you want a copy 



of this song. 



.* • »■ 



The Premium offered on page 2.S4 is well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at it. 



