THE america:n bee journal. 



743 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



G. yi. DOOLITTLE.Q 



Having my bees iieaih- prepared for 

 winter, I thouglit it might not be un- 

 interesting to tlie readers of the Bee 

 Journal to know bow I have done 

 it. In the (irst place, about Sept. 10, 

 I examined every colony in the yard, 

 and noted their condition upon a piece 

 of a honey-section. Tliis piece tells 

 just how ruuch lioney eacli colony had, 

 just how much they were fed, and 

 also all about the pollen, some having 

 no pollen, others but a few cells, while 

 others have several combs nearly 

 solid with pollen. As this piece is to 

 be left on the hive, I shall know next 

 spring about what there is of the 

 pollen theory, if we should happen to 

 have a severe winter. Although I 

 have watched carefully, I have seen 

 no proof yet to disprove the statement 

 which I made a year ago, that bees of 

 mature age do not eat pollen, except 

 as it is used to form chyme for the 

 young brood ; while Dr. C, C. Miller 



fives in a late number of the Bee 

 OURNAL conclusive proof that I was 

 right in my statement. 



After having the exact condition of 

 each colony put down on a piece of 

 section, I next fed each colony enough 

 food to make up the requisite amount 

 needed for winter. Some were fed 

 but two or three pounds, while others 

 were fed the full amount, 2o pounds. 

 As a careful minute was made of this, 

 I shall also know how those come out 

 "which had 1.5 pounds of honey and 

 were fed 10 pounds of sugar syrup, 

 according to the plan of the editor of 

 the Bee- Keepers'' Guide. 



AfterHrying all plans of making a 

 •winter feed for bees, and being pleased 

 with none of them, I hit upon the fol- 

 lowing : Take 1-5 pounds of water 

 and put it into a tin vessel over the 

 Are, leaving it there till it boils, then 

 put in 30 pounds of granulated sugar, 

 stirring for a moment or two till the 

 sugar IS partially dissolved, so that 

 the sugar shall not settle down on the 

 bottom and burn. • Leave it on tlie 

 fire till it boils, when it is to be taken 

 off, after which pour in -5 pounds of 

 well-ripened honey, and stir till the 

 honey is thoroughly mixed with the 

 syrup. This gives about -18 pounds 

 of nice, thick syrup which will not 

 crystallize, sour or granulate, no mat- 

 ter how long it is left before it is used. 



For feeders I took pieces of boards 

 1 inch thick by 3 inches wide by 11 

 inches long, and nailed to the ends 

 two side-boxes of my frames, having 

 the ends of the frame-stuff come even 

 with one side of the board, which left 

 the side-pieces sticking above the 

 boards 1% inches. On each side of 

 these I nailed thin stuff which was 

 only 1^ of an inch thick by lli inches 

 wide by 11 inches long, which gave 

 me a feeder holding 4 pounds. The 



feeder was now filled with hot bees- 

 wax, which was next poured out into 

 another feeder, and so on until all 

 were well coated. A top-bar of a 

 frame was now nailed on to the ends 

 of the frame-stuff, having a hole 

 bored in it, in which to insert a fun- 

 nel in feeding, when I had something 

 in tlie shape of a division-board and 

 feeder combined. If I wished to feed 

 rapidly, I could place three or four of 

 these feeders in the hive at a time ; if 

 slowly, pour only as much into one as 

 I wished to feed. 



The beauty of the thing is, that it 

 works equally well as a division-board 

 in connection with a quilt or sheet of 

 enameled cloth, as the quilt can hang 

 over the outside of the feeder, thus 

 keeping all snug and warm. Also, 

 this feeder can be kept in the hive all 

 the while, so as to be ready for use at 

 any time. No float is needed to keep 

 the bees from drowning, as the feeder 

 is so narrow than they can climb out 

 on either side, even if you pour the 

 feed all over them. 



Having the bees all fed, I next 

 packed hne oat-straw in behind the 

 division-boards, after first putting a 

 strip of cotton-cloth over and down 

 on the outside of them. These strips 

 of cotton-cloth are long enough to 

 reach over the top of the orood-cham- 

 ber, so that when both sides are 

 packed there are two strips of cloth 

 above the bees. 



I next made cushions by taking two 

 pieces of cotton-cloth 18 inches 

 square, and sewing them to a strip 

 72 inches long by i% inches wide, tliis 

 strip extending all the way around 

 the edges of the two square pieces. 

 Before sewing the two ends of the 

 strip together, I filled the cushion or 

 sack with fine, dry basswood sawdust 

 which I saved last winter when saw- 

 ing sections. After the sawdust is 

 put in, the two ends are sewed to- 

 gether, when I have a cushion 18 

 inches square by 4 inches thick, which 

 projects 2 inches over my brood-cham- 

 bers on all sides, as that is but 14 

 inches square on top. 



The hives on which I use these 

 cushions are chaff-hives, permanently 

 packed front and rear, and made ac- 

 cording to the description that I gave 

 in the little pamphlet, " The Hive I 

 Use." After these cushions are put 

 on, the entrance to the hive is regu- 

 lated to 6 inches long by % of an inch 

 deep, and an 8-inch wide board set 

 leaning up in front of the entrance, 

 to keep cold wind and snow out of 

 the hive, when the bees are left to 

 care for themselves until the arrival 

 of spring. In this way one-half of 

 my colonies are fixed ; the other half 

 are in single-walled hives, and have 

 been fed the same as the firet ; but in- 

 stead of using strips of cotton-cloth 

 above the frames, I use a quilt made 

 by sewing a strip of cloth 40 inches 

 long by 1.5 inches wide, sewing up the 

 sides after doubling it, so as to form a 

 pillow-case or bag 20 inches long by 1.5 

 wide. Into this is slipped a sheet of 

 wadding, four double, which just fills 

 the quilt so that I have two thick- 

 nesses of cloth and four of wadding 

 above the bees. The cap or hood to 

 the hive is now filled with fine straw. 



so tightly pressed in by means of a 

 follower, that it will stay in the cap in 

 lifting it on or off. 



On Nov. 20 these last named hives 

 are to be placed in my bee-cellar, 

 which 1 described two or three years 

 ago in the Bee Journal. In putting 

 them in, the tier of hives at the bot- 

 tom of the cellar are raised % of an 

 inch from their bottom-boards, so as 

 to give abundant lower ventilation ; 

 while the next tiers stand on the caps 

 of the first, being raised on 3^-inch 

 blocks as are the others. 



As I shall try no artificial heat this 

 winter, I expect the cellar to keep at 

 an even temperature of 42°, as it al- 

 ways has dune heretofore when no 

 artificial heat has been employed. The 

 plan of cellar wintering is the same 

 as that which I successfully employed 

 previous to last winter ; but the other 

 is new to me, except as 2 colonies were 

 successfully wintered in that way 

 during the winter of 1883 and 1884. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Why do Bees Eat Pollen? 



J. F. LATHAM. P 



Bees eat pollen only at such times 

 when their physical requirements de- 

 mand as food something containing 

 elements necessary for the support of 

 bodily stamina ; or in other phrase- 

 ology, food necessary for the renewal 

 of the waste of tissue at times when 

 muscular labor calls for extra sup- 

 port. When pollen is used only in 

 compliance with the promptings of 

 nature, it is taken into the mandibles, 

 masticated and swallovped, after the 

 manner of herbivorous animals, in 

 considerable quantities, as may be 

 readily noticed, especially in the 

 spring, when hrood-rearing is pro- 

 gressing rapidly on the first new pol- 

 len of the season. 



Aside from the calls of circum- 

 stances, bees will not eat pollen un- 

 less, perchance, it is mixed with the 

 honey in the combs, or with the nec- 

 tar when gathered from the flowers. 

 When mixed in the latter way, it 

 seems that the quantity eaten is too 

 small to do harm, even if pollen were 

 the prime cause of diarrhoea. If the 

 intestines were loaded to distention 

 with honey free from pollen, it is 

 evident that the result would be the 

 same as though their contents were 

 honey pollenized in the nectar (un- 

 less a special disease be created for a 

 special condition). 



I have seen bees, during their first 

 spring flight, attempt to rise in the 

 air ; but, being unable to do so in 

 consequence of their distended bodies, 

 they would fall on the snow, discharge 

 their fceces and die, the excreta 

 scarcely making a stain. What 

 would evidently have been the con- 

 sequence had those bees been con- 

 fined to their hives awhile longer? 

 Had they evacuated their intestines 

 in the hive, it would have been styled, 

 in apicultural parlance, bee-diarrheea. 

 Had they died without relieving their 

 surcharged organs, their demise could 

 have been from no other cause than 



