1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1211 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE COLONY; ITS BEARING 

 ON THE SWARMING QUESTION. 



1 have been much interested in the "two 

 queens in a colony" discussion. I ran a 

 colony last summer this way: I put queen- 

 excluding zinc between the hrst and second 

 story, with a queen in each story. They 

 made one of the strongest colonies that I 

 have ever seen, and did not oii'er to swarm. 

 Before uniting queens 1 think we must make 

 them acquire the same odor. I use some 

 window-screen between for the hrst twenty- 

 four hours. 



Before I used the two queens in one colo- 

 ny I took a queen, confined her in a mailing- 

 cage without attendants or food, and then 

 introduced another queen. For three weeks 

 they fed her through the screen, and at the 

 end of that period she was as lively as ever, 

 while the free queen was working as usual. 

 This convinced me that the workers would 

 accept two or more queens — any way, if the 

 queens were separated, so I put queen-ex- 

 cluding zinc between, thinking that one 

 queen in each story would bring about the 

 same results as two loose in two stories — 

 that there would be quite a saving of heat 

 for hatching purposes, hence a larger field 

 force would be put out. 



I have been trying to think of some rea- 

 son why two queens would influence swarm- 

 ing. It seems to me that the "piping"- 

 sound of the old queen when the young 

 queen is about to hatch is mournful enough 

 to indicate that she does not want to leave 

 her happy home. Perhaps when thei'e are 

 two in a colony the workers can not decide 

 which one they want to go with, or perhaps 

 each queen is bound to stay just to spite the 

 other. I might mention that I tried to win- 

 ter my big colony in two stories, but the 

 bees all went up into the upper story and let 

 the lower queen die. The lower queen was 

 the younger. J. A. Yeomans. 



Spokane, Wash., June 29. 



PERFECT WINTERING OF BEES IN AN UP- 

 GROUND BUILDING WITH SMALL EN- 

 TRANCES. 



I have a way of wintering bees that is very 

 much different from the various ways some 

 have described. I winter without loss, un- 

 less from starvation, in a building above 

 ground, 28x20, ceiled overhead, with loft 

 filled with hay. I set posts on the inside on 

 three sides, and pack with straw 18 inches. 

 I cover each hive on the back side and top 

 with newspapers. I pack with clover straw, 

 four to five inches — bottom, top, and sides — 



leaving the front without protection of any 

 kind. When I put them in 1 reverse all 

 bottoms from wide to | bottom entrances. 

 Tliis retains all the heat, and I have found, 

 from a number of years' experience, that it 

 gives them ample ventilation. Dead bees 

 never in any way nor at any time clog the 

 entrance, from the fact that the bees do not 

 die in sulticient quantity to do so. If it is 

 very cold, the cluster will move to the back 

 of the hive, where it is warm. If the tem- 

 perature rises the bees will come to the un- 

 protected front, where it is cooler, but never 

 come outside. I leave the entrances open. 

 Bees do not cover the fioor as they did when 

 I wintered in the cellar. The reason that a 

 colony will live through the winter in this 

 climate, in a hollow tree, is that the differ- 

 ent thicknesses of rotten wood in a tree will 

 give them a place to keep warm or keep 

 cool as they may desire in their home. I 

 did not lose any bees during the cold winter 

 that was so disastrous to this business in 

 Wisconsin The unprotected side of my 

 building I keep closed to make it dark in- 

 side. P. W. Maxwell. 

 Hudson, Wis. 



[This kind of building is something like 

 the Boardman illustrated in the A B C of 

 Bee Culture. It has the advantage of being 

 perfectly dry at all times; and when the 

 weather is cold enough to keep down the 

 temperature it serves the purpose nicely. 



We note that our correspondent packs 

 each hive thoroughly, except at the front, 

 and, what is more, uses only a l-inch en- 

 trance, and yet he "winters without loss." 

 There are not wanting facts to show that 

 wide deep entrances, or bottoms of the hives 

 oft" entirely, are too much of a good thing in 

 indoor wintering. Our best wintering in 

 the cellar has come from small entrances, 

 although it is only recently that we have be- 

 gun to grasp the fact. — Ed.] 



wintering IN SINGLE-WALLED HIVES; A 



PROTECTION MADE OF CLOTH DIPPED 



IN LINSEED OIL. 



I have thought of a way of wintering bees 

 that I would suggest as practical to the bee- 

 keepers who are living close to Mason and 

 Dixon's line. It is this: I propose to have a 

 canvas covering or hood about one inch 

 square larger than the hive cover, and oil the 

 same with boiled linseed oil, colony to have 

 30 lbs. of surplus in each hive. Lay ten or 

 twelve thicknesses of newspapers over the 

 top of the hive and sides, then pull this can- 

 vas covering down over the hive and let it 

 extend clear to the bottom-board, and tied 

 securely. I think that colonies so fixed would 

 winter without cellar or straw hives heie. 



Philadelphia, Pa. Geo. M. Steele. 



[Canvas would be somewhat expensive. 

 Oiled manilla paper would be just as good, 

 and, while not as durable, would be cheaper, 

 and, when unsuitable, new ones could be 

 made. The principle of the plan in either 

 case is good. — Ed.] 



