1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1307 



A SEASON'S WORK WITH SECTIONAL 

 HIVES. 



Swarm Control and Comb-honey Prodnc- 

 tion; FeedinjEi: to Stimnlate Brood- 

 rearing in September. 



BT J. E. HAND. 



Sex^t. 1. — Up to this time our bees have 

 received very little attention since we remov- 

 ed our surplus honey in July; and on account 

 of there not being very much honey-yielding 

 llora during this period our queens have not 

 been laying vei'y much, and therefore the 

 strength of our colonies has greatly dimin- 

 ished since that time. This is as it should 

 be; for, since we do not get any surplus hon- 

 ey from fall liowers, there could be nothing 

 gained by producing a lot of bees that would 

 only become consumers of honey. However, 

 it is veiy important that our queens be kept 

 laying during September in order to give us 

 a good strong force of bees of the proper age 

 to go into winter quarters; for our success 

 in wintering depends not upon how strong 

 were our bees during July and August, for 

 these bees will be dead before spring; but it 

 does depend upon how many bees our colo- 

 nies contain that were hatched out during 

 September and October, for these are the 

 bees that are going to stay with us during 

 the winter and spring, or until more can be 

 hatched out in the spring to take their places. 



Since there is very little honey being gath- 

 ered at this time we will place a feeder under 

 each of our colonies and give to each colony 

 about a pint of sugar syrup every alternate 

 day during September unless the fall liowers 

 should yield honey enough to keep up brood- 

 rearing nicely; for the key to successful win- 

 tering, as well as building up in the spring, 

 is to have a strong force of young bees to go 

 into winter quarters. 



FEEDING FOR WINTER STORES. 



Oct. 1. — Having kept our queens laying 

 well during September we shall have a good 

 strong force of young bees to go into winter 

 quarters; and the next thing to be consider- 

 ed is the winter stores, for we must have at 

 least 25 lbs. of honey or sugar syrup in each 

 hive to carry our bees safely through the win- 

 ter and early spring. It is true that we have 

 been feeding our bees mildly during Septem- 

 ber; but this was nearly if not quite consum- 

 ed in rearing brood, and the most of our col- 

 onies will have to be fed. Hence we will 

 hook a spring-balance scale on to our hive- 

 lifter and weigh each hive, marking the weight 

 of the hive on a piece of section which is 

 dropped into the open end of the feeder, and 

 by deducting the weight of the hive and emp- 

 ty combs, and allowing for the weight of the 

 bees, we know just exactly how many pounds 

 of honey each hive contains; and the differ- 

 ence between this and 35 lbs. is what we 

 shall have to feed each colony; and we know 

 without any guesswork that every one of our 

 colonies will have at the very least 25 lbs. of 

 well-ripened stores. We will feed in this 

 case just as we did in feeding for finishing 



off sections, except in this case our feed is 

 composed of granulated sugar and water, 

 equal parts, well churned up so as to dissolve 

 all the sugar. We will give to each colony 

 five or six quarts each evening until each has 

 received the required amount. 



We find that our bees require more feeding 

 this season than usual — in fact, very few of 

 our colonies have their full quota of winter 

 stores; however, with our large rapid feeders 

 this job is soon over. 



MANNER OF WINTERING CONSIDERED. 



Nov. 20. — Having our hives well stocked 

 with young bees, and each hive containing 

 sufliicient stores to carry them safely through 

 the winter, we will next turn our attention 

 to preparing them for their long winter nap; 

 and right here the question arises, "Shall 

 we winter our bees in the cellar or on the 

 summer stands protected by' outer cases?" 

 After years of experience in the successful 

 wintering of bees by both these methods we 

 are as yet undecided as to which method is 

 better, for we have been equally successful 

 with both. Since the hives that are protect- 

 ed by heavy packing enable the bees to build 

 up faster in the spring it is, perhaps, as well 

 to winter bees on their summer stands with 

 suitable protection, south of latitude 41: and 

 since we are located near the dividing line 

 we usually compromise matters by wintering 

 a part of our bees out of doors and the rest 

 in the cellar; hence all our strong colonies 

 are selected for outdoor wintering, and those 

 that are a little light, either in bees or stores, 

 are carried into the cellar about Nov. 15 to 30. 



Our cellar is very dry, and the temperature 

 ranges between 40 and 45, and our bees al- 

 ways come out of this cellar bright and ac- 

 tive, and ready for business. It is not nee- , 

 essary that a cellar be perfectly dry in order 

 to winter bees successfully. However, unless 

 the temperature and ventilation in a damp 

 cellar are properly balanced it is a danger- 

 ous place to winter bees. 



THE RELATION OF MOISTURE AND VENTILA- 

 TION TO THE SUCCESSFUL WIN- 

 TERING OF BEES. 



While we shall not attempt to view this 

 subject from the standpoint of the scientist, 

 yet we feel that our success in wintering 

 bees is largely due to a correct solution of 

 the problem of moisture and ventilation, and 

 its relation to the successful wintering of bees. 

 That the part that moisture and ventilation 

 play in the successful wintering of bees is too 

 often overlooked by the average bee-keeper 

 is evident from the too frequent reports of a 

 certain mysterious disease known as spring 

 dwindling, which is the direct result of ei- 

 ther improper wintering conditions or a fail- 

 ure of the queen to rear sufficient brood dur- 

 ing the autumn months. In either C3se the 

 bees die off before young ones can be raised 

 in sufficient numbers to keep up the strength 

 of the colony; in the former, by disease caus- 

 ed by improper wintering conditions; and in 

 the latter by old age. 



However, in either case the results are the 

 same. It is true that a strong healthy colo- 



