246 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



OUTDOOR WINTERING AT THE HOME 

 OF THE HONEY-BEES. 



HoAV to Pack; Taking Birdseye Photos of 

 the Apiary and Lumber-sheds. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



I have said considerable about indoor win- 

 tering as practiced here at Medina, and bvit 

 very little, comparatively, about the outdoor 

 method employed here. Like Mr. Doolittle, 

 we use the two plans; for during a very cold 

 winter the bees inside seem to fare better 

 than those outside; but during an open sea- . 

 son, such as we have been having up till 

 within the last few days, the outdoor colo- 

 nies seem to do better. 



There is one thing we have never deter- 

 mined yet, and that is this: Granted that the 

 bees outdoors consume more stores from 

 month to month, is it or is it not true that 

 this extra consumption produces stronger 

 and more vigorous colonies for the harvest? 

 This question has been raised time and again, 

 but so far I believe there is no definite data 

 that furnish absolute proof one way or the 

 other. If we could be sure that the indoor 

 colonies were just as good in the spring, with 

 a consumption of stores of only one-half, we 

 will say, of those outdoors — I say if we could 

 be sure, we would abandon the outdoor 

 method entirely, and we could well afford to, 

 because the sugar or natural stores sufficient 

 to take care of 600 or 700 colonies in a win- 

 ter runs up into a big sum of money. If this 

 amount could be cut in two it would be 

 worth considering. I know this: That our 

 outdoor bees packed according to our regu- 

 lar method come out in the spring with a 

 loss on an average not to exceed three per 

 cent; but every year we lose more than that 

 because we are constantly trying different 

 methods of outdoor wintering with the view 

 of determining whether even the three per 

 cent can be reduced. If it were not for the 

 pui-pose of learning something we would 

 cease our experimenting, and be content to 

 continue on in the good old way by using 

 double-walled hives packed with chaff or 

 planer-shavings in the manner shown in the 

 adjoining illustration. 



Right after a snowstorm this winter I took 

 a number of snap-shots from different points, 

 illustrating our home apiary reposing in its 

 cover of snow, and surrounded on all sides 

 by a windbreak of evergreens and factory 

 buildings. You see in these views something 

 like 300 colonies packed for winter. At the 

 outyards the bees are put up in precisely the 

 same way. Briefly stated, what is our ideal 

 method of wintering ? A double- walled chaff 

 hive, which is sold by all manufacturers, the 

 space between the walls filled with planer- 

 shavings, chaff, or any other porous material; 

 an entrance contracted from |X 13 inches for 

 summer to 8xi inch, by means of a suitable- 

 sized stick with a slot cut on one side. 



Instead of using a Hill device, a piece of 

 burlap, and a loose cushion, as formerly, we 

 now put on a thin board cover, or what is 

 c Ikd in the bee-supply catalogs a "super 



cover." This the bees hermetically seal down. 

 Between this and the frames there will be a 

 bee-space of y\, so the bees can pass readily 

 over the top. Over the super cover is placed 

 a wooden tray made of | lumber 5 inches 

 deep, with a bottom of burlap tacked on the 

 under side. Into this is poured planer-shav- 

 ings, chaff, or any other porous material. 

 The burlap bottom is nailed on loose enough 

 so that the sides of the tray fit down snugly 

 over the raised edge of the water-table of the 

 hive. A seven-inch cover telescopes over 

 this tray, the edges projecting down below 

 the before-mentioned water-table and the 

 other portions of the hive. 



The illustration in the upper left-hand cor- 

 ner gives a closer view of how the hives are 

 prepared. 



In the end of the telescope cover will be 

 seen an auger-hole. Some years ago, when 

 we used the Hill device and chaff cushion, 

 we considered these ventilating-holes a ne- 

 cessity, in order that the moisture accumulat- 

 ing from the bees could dry out; but in later 

 years, since we have adopted the sealed cov- 

 er and the chaff tray, we consider these holes 

 not only useless but detrimental. We soon 

 discovered that a driving rain would beat 

 through these holes, wetting down the pack- 

 ing material. We now nail over them a lit- 

 tle strip of section, closing up the hole en- 

 tirely. 



The hives all sit up on hive-stands with an 

 alighting-board attached to the entrance. 

 The arrangement would be more perfect if 

 the board reached clear down to the ground, 

 for many bees get too much chilled to fly in- 

 to the entrance, alight near the hive, and, 

 unable to take wing again, perish, so that 

 the illustration in the upper left-hand corner 

 in this respect does not quite show the ideal 

 arrangement. 



The lower view on the left is looking from 

 the southeast. The right-hand lower view is 

 from the northeast. 



By looking very carefully in the center of 

 the yard you will see a small structure that 

 we call our smoker-house. It has a little 

 cupboard door on one side, and on a shelf 

 two-thirds the way up are several smokers, 

 and in the lower part the fuel, consisting of 

 greasy waste in a bushel basket. The Tow 

 oblong building is the automobile-house, the 

 same being located right over a steam-pipe 

 which carries heat over to A. I. Root's dwell- 

 ing. It is in this auto-house that we keep 

 the machine that makes the trips to the out- 

 yards. 



Thus far 1 have described the ideal meth- 

 od for outdoor wintering that gives such ex- 

 cellent results in wintering. It is practical- 

 ly the same we have used for years, with 

 this difference: We have abandoned the old 

 absorbing cushion, which we found too often 

 would soak with moisture from the bees, 

 and freeze, leaving, as it were, a big cake of 

 ice on top of the colony. We soon discover- 

 ed that the sealed cover, that would shut all 

 dampness within the hive, leaving the pack- 

 ing-material above perfectly dry, is far bet- 

 ter. The moisture, as fast as it accumulates, 



