THE AMERICAJ!^ BEE JOURNAL. 



659 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees Successfully. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



Mr. Editor— In order to reply to 

 a larger number of letters than lam 

 able to answer privately, allow me to 

 add still another paper to the great 

 nnmber already written by myself and' 

 others npon tliis subject. 



I think .that nearly all will agree, 

 that aside from the disease known as 

 "dysentery," " bee cholora,"' " diar- 

 rluea,'" etc. We have little to fear in 

 regard to successfully wintering our 

 bees. 



A knowledge of the cause of that 

 disease or ailment, as any and all may 

 clioose to call it, would be of great 

 aid in pointing out the cure, and with 

 that fact in view many of us have 



us, bees often fly more during a large 

 portion of our winters than many bee- 

 keepers suppose. On account of tlie 

 benefit of these flights, of pure aii-, 

 the warmth and life-giving elements 

 of the sun's rays during winter, and 

 the fact that packing is of great bene- 

 flt during the early working days of 

 spring, 1 favor tlie out-door packing 

 system of wintering. 



The chaff-hive has a good winter 

 record, but I have found that to get 

 this record, it is not necessary to use 

 hives that one cannot alone handle to 

 advantage, and tliathe must lift every 

 upper frame out, one at a time, in 

 order to get at one of the lower 

 frames. 



I have further learned that where 

 only eight Langstroth frames are used 

 instead of ten, such a hive is, not 

 only the best for the storing of sur- 

 plus honey in summer, but that the 

 winter stores it contains, will be much 

 more accessible to the cluster of bees 

 during protracted periods of cold. In 

 this locality, we do not in any fall, find 

 one colony in 2.5 short of winter stores, 

 or find those stores in a false position 

 in the hive. If we find any short of 



we place one case, empty. This case 

 we lill witli chaff, or what is just as 

 good, planer shavings, or forest 

 leaves. It is hard to lind an apiary, 

 where one of these heat-.saving ab- 

 sorbents are not abundant. Now 

 place on the cover, E, with four 

 shingle nails under each corner of it. 

 The space thus created, is large 

 enough to let out all moisture and not 

 let in mice. 



Now, we have packed the top of our 

 shallow hive, and given it all the out- 

 let for dampness needed. Now by the 

 aid of Fig. L>, we will describe how we 

 protect the sides? in the simplest and 

 cheapest manner. A, shows the end 

 of the permanent bottom board to t!ie 

 hive. F, the stand the hive sets in. 

 D, the case as filled, as al)ove des- 

 cribed. 11, our summer shade board. 

 I, tlie winter bridge composed of 4 

 pieces, 1 piece 11 J| inches long (the 

 inside width of the hive) by 3x%, and 

 tlie others llj^x4x%, and the side 

 pieces, each, JI-xJ-^xO. Now, let us 

 proceed to push this bridge in its posi- 

 tion, the points into the entrance, the 

 piece marked I, outside for an alight- 

 ing board, and the other piece, form- 



FiG. 1. 



Pig. 



thrown upon the eyes and ears of the 

 apicultural world, theories and hy- 

 potheses, some of them seeming to 

 bear very close relation to all the 

 effects connected with the death of 

 our bees. Yet none are satisfied of 

 the true cause, and hence none have 

 mapped out any practical, sure pre- 

 ventative. 



Of the 14 years that 1 have win- 

 tered bees, with all sorts of results — 

 my colonies numbering from SS to 500 

 — -iiot one winter has passed, without 

 a series of experiments and observa- 

 tions. I now fully believe, that I can 

 winter colonies of bees with as much 

 certainty as I can a horge or a cow. 



I'.ut before any may take too much 

 courage from the above statement, I 

 wish to say that in my opinion tlie ex- 

 penditure of time and money is 

 greater than the risk we run, when 

 our bees are prepared in the cheap and 

 practical manner, I am about to des- 

 cribe. 



The best methods of out-door and 



in-door protection have many advant- 



. ages peculiar to themselves. In this 



latitude 42^, and South and West of 



stores it takes only 24 hours time to 

 give them 2.5 pounds of liquid feed, 

 through our feeders, and they will put 

 it in a proper position in the liive. 



Now supposing that the hive is all 

 in suitable condition in the breeding 

 apartment, we proceed as follows : 



Fig. 1, represents my modification 

 of the 8 frame Langstroth hive, with 

 one of the tiering cases shown. This 

 case, D, being made to hold 28 434x41^ 

 xlp^ sections, without tin separators, 

 or 24 4t4x4t4x2 sections with separa- 

 tors, is just 4% inches deep. This 

 depth I believe to be more than ample 

 for top packing. The honey board, 

 C, is composed of a narrow outside 

 frame, witli 9 slats running from end 

 to end, and the side and end pieces 

 (outside) and .S cross pieces, are H inch 

 higher than tlie slats, thus making a 

 % sink in the 4 centers of the board. 

 It is turned over for winter (thus 

 creating a space of % over the tops of 

 the frames), enabling tlie bees to bet- 

 ter pass over the frames of comb, to 

 get at plenty of honey at all times. 



Over this honey board, or rack, we 

 spread a piece of burlap, and on this 



ing the bridge, to keep the packing 

 out of the bee's passage-way. G, is 

 a rim made of rough lumber, being 

 6, 8 or 10 inches larger, inside measure, 

 than the hive is, outside measure, thus 

 giving 3, 4 or 5 inches of space on all 

 sides, to fill with packing. Sawdust 

 preferred by me, and sawdust fresh 

 from green logs does well, and soon 

 dries out. 



You will see by the engraving that 

 the sides and back end are wider than 

 the front, and they may be enough 

 wider to come down to the ground, or 

 no farther than shown in the engrav- 

 ing, as may be preferred. The hive 

 being ten inches deep, the front end 

 of our rim is represented as being 

 about 12 inches, and the sides and 

 back pieces about sixteen inches wide ; 

 any old "cull" lumber will do for 

 this rim. When we use them as shown 

 in the engraving, we fill in the dust 

 till it banks up on the ground, and 

 tlius stops running down, and soon 

 tills up. We press it snugly and fill 

 up to the top of the rim, and the 

 dotted line shown about two-thirds 

 of the way up the case; this line be- 



