52 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How to Ventilate Chaff Hives. 



G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



The principal method of ventilating 

 our hives, for the past 10 or 15 years, 

 has been by what is known as " up- 

 ward ventilation." The means gener- 

 ally employed has been a quilt or 

 porous cloth placed over the frames, 

 on the top of which was placed chafl 

 of various kinds, cut straw and saw- 

 dust, which were to absorb the mois- 

 ture from the bees, or let it pass off, 

 and at the same time keep the bees 

 drv and warm. 



As the entrance was to be left open, 

 to some extent, this plan gave a slow 

 draft of air through the hive, thus 

 keeping the air pure, and carrying off 

 the moisture thrown off by the bees. 

 This draft must be in proportion to 

 the size of the colony, else the bees 

 might be kept too cold, as too great a 

 draft would carry away the heat gen- 

 erated by the cluster, so that they 

 could not keep up the desired temper- 

 ature, without consuming more honey 

 than was best for their existence, in 

 order to maintain the proper temper- 

 ature ; or, if too little, the moisture 

 would not be carried off. 



To get this draft just right, appears 

 to be a very nice point, if we can 

 judge from the many losses in the 

 past. My bees have been prepared as 

 above described, for the past 8 years, 

 and my losses have been large in se- 

 vere winters, while in mild ones but 

 little difficulty has been experienced. 

 To try and arrive at the proper amount 

 of air which should pass through a 

 hive, I have experimented largely, 

 and believe that I have erred in allow- 

 ing too great a draft through the 

 hive. ■ 



■ As all our material used is so porous, 

 a very small entrance allows the warm 

 air generated by the bees to pass off 

 very rapidly, and more especially so, 

 when the cluster does not come in 

 contact with any of the surrounding 

 material, only at perhaps two or three 

 places. Thus the heat passes into 

 empty space, and is carried through 

 the porous material much too fast. 



From past experience, I believe, if 

 we shut our hives as tightly at the bot- 

 tom as we conveniently can, that 

 enough air will get in through the 

 cracks to furnish all that is needed for 

 safe wintering. 



I am trying, the present season, 

 another plan of ventilating, which, so 

 far, bids fair to excel our old plan of 

 " upward ventilation." It will be re- 

 membered that Mr. A. G. Hill, editor 

 of the Bee-Keepers' aidde, has always 

 favored chafl packing, but has opposed 

 upward ventilation. He simply places 

 sawdust around the outside of his 

 hives, and lets in all the ventilation 

 the bees get, at the entrance. 



After studying upon the matter for 

 a while, I concluded to try a few of 



my colonies on a plan similar to Mr. 

 Hill's, and pack the majority as I had 

 formerly done. 



In accordance with this determina- 

 tion, I prepared a few colonies thus: 

 I took the enameled cloth and cut it 

 large enough, so that it would com- 

 pletely cover the tops of the hives and 

 tuck down over the sides and also 

 where the side boxes were, placing the 

 enameled side next to the bees. I 

 then put in the packing, filling the 

 sides as full as possible, and also the 

 cap or chamber to the hive, making it 

 so full that I was obliged to place 

 hooks on the same, and hook it down 

 to tlie body of the hive, in order to 

 keep it in place. 



After thus preparing them, I opened 

 the entrance the full size, in all the 

 hives, which is % inches high by 14 

 inches in length. As an experiment, 

 I raised four from the bottom board, 

 placing an inch block in the entrance, 

 which gives them air from the whole 

 width of the front of the hive, an inch 

 in depth. Although this last allows 

 the snow to blow in, to some extent, 

 the bees seem to be in splendid con- 

 dition. 



We have just had some very cold 

 weather, the mercury going as low as 

 15° below zero, yet, upon examination, 

 I find but little frost in the hives, and 

 that in the extreme outside corners, 

 the farthest away from the bees. In 

 one or two I found ice formed in drops, 

 as large as the end of my finger, upon 

 the enameled cloth at the edges of the 

 hive, but the bees invariably look 

 small, bright and healthy ; while some 

 of them with upward ventilation show 

 distended abdomens, with here and 

 there a spot of excrement on the 

 combs. 



So far, our winter has been a steady 

 cold one, and if it does not warm up 

 enough so that bees which are on their 

 summer stands can liave a flight be- 

 fore the 1st of March, I fear we shall 

 hear of mortality amongst our pets 

 again. 



Under the most favorable conditions 

 bees can stand from 4 to B months of 

 conhnement, without harm, but where 

 we are lacking, seems to be in not 

 knovi'ing just vi'hat these " most favor- 

 able" conditions are. If from long 

 confinement and the large consump- 

 tion of honey necessary to keep up the 

 desired temperature, the bees find 

 their vitality giving out, instiuct 

 seems to teach tliem to go to rearing 

 brood, to supply the place of those 

 about to die. As the young bees from 

 this brood are not capable of standing 

 the cold, to that extent which the old 

 bees have been capable of, when the 

 majority of the old bees perish, the 

 colony soon dwindles away. 



That the consumption of pollen has 

 anything to do with this state of 

 affairs, is not sufficiently proved to 

 warrant us in excluding it from the 

 hives. The point I am desirous of ar- 

 riving at is, hovv' can we best secure a 

 condition in which to place our bees, 

 so that an undue consumption of honey 

 can be avoided during a long confine- 

 ment. I think chafl packing, together 

 with lower ventilation, may give us 

 some light on the subject. 



Borodino, N. Y., Jan. 15, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Half-Pound Honey Section. 



DR. G. L. TINKER. 



Dbae Editor : — A sample dove- 

 tailed half-pound section, 43-4x4)^x1}^, 

 as suggested by Mr. Bingham in a 

 recent issue of the Bee Journal, is 

 at hand from Mr. A. E. Manum. It 

 is too thin to look well, and, even if 

 there should be no trouble to get the 

 bees to build straight combs in it 

 without separators, it would not have 

 the advantages of some other form. 



A' half-pound section may be made 

 to put immediately upon the brood 

 frames, if it be of a thickness equal 

 to the distance from centre to centre 

 of the frames. Or a rack of sections, 

 of the right thickness, could be put 

 upon the frames, so that the passage 

 ways between them and the sections 

 would be continuous. This would be 

 of great advantage in many respects, 

 and might fully compensate the extra 

 cost of so many small sections. 



For several years I have sought 

 some plan to put a case or rack of 

 sections down at once on the brood 

 frames, so that the passage ways 

 would be continuous, and found it 

 could not be done with a two-inch 

 section ; but the half-pound section 

 can be made just the thing for this 

 purpose, and since some change in 

 the surplus arrangement of most bee- 

 keepers will be necessary to accom- 

 modate a half-pound section, less 

 than 2 inches in thickness, it would 

 be far better to adopt the most advan- 

 tageous size and form of section at 

 once, and then make the surplus ar- 

 rangement to fit, than to undertake 

 to make the half-pound section to fit 

 a surplus arrangement made expressly 

 for sections of other sizes. 



First, then, the sides of the half- 

 pound section should be 1% inches 

 wide ; the top and bottom pieces l}i ; 

 and it should be used without separa- 

 tors, to make it pay. The thickness 

 being given, the proper dimensions 

 would be 3?4x3»4Xl%. 



This size would be a little gem in- 

 deed, and. beyond question, could be 

 used without separators, if any sized 

 section could be ; 36 of th§m could be 

 put upon one rack (9 rows and 4 in a 

 row), which could be tiered up 4 sec- 

 tions high to advantage, and thus 

 give room for 72 lbs. of honey. In 

 arranging a lot of small sections 

 upon a rack, it will be seen at once 

 that the square form can be worked 

 to the best advantage. 



The rack may be made of slats 

 iiixU^xl7 inches long, nailed at the 

 ends to inch pieces. The brood 

 frames would need to be on a level 

 with the top of the body of the hive, 

 which should be flat and have a re- 

 movable case and cover. The hive, 

 being flat on the top, will permit the 

 sliding of the rack endwise over the 

 frames, so that no bees will be killed. 

 I have tried a similar plan to this 

 with entire success. If the rack is 

 accurately made, the tiering up can 

 be very expeditiously done by sliding 

 one rack of sections over the other, 

 endwise. 



