1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



335 



dicates how much must be left in the 

 hives for storage, in order to winter 

 successfully strong colonies. On May 

 4th, 1919, it was considered that the 

 honey-flow had started and the 

 spring weighing was taken, with the 

 following results : 



Unsheltered — No Windbreak 



One-story hive, 11718 bees, 3 2-3 

 frames of brood. 



Two-story hive, 16406 bees, 3y 2 

 frames of brood. 



Packed hive, 3t>718 bees, A l / 2 frames 

 of brood. 



Sheltered— Windbreak 



One-story hive, 14063 bees, 4 1 /. 

 frames of brood. 



■ Two-story hive, 20936 bees, 3% 

 frames of brood. 



Packed hive, 38594 bees, Sj4 frames 

 of brood. 



Upon examining the above figures 

 the value of the different forms of 

 wintering is apparent. Whether pro- 

 tected by windbreak or not, the 2- 

 story hives have about 5,000 more 

 bees in the spring than the 1-story 

 hives, and the packed hives have 

 about 25,000 more bees. Figuring 

 5,000 bees to the pound, valued at 

 $2.50 a pound, the packed hives would 

 have $12.50 worth of bees more than 

 the unpacked hives. The difference 

 in the value of a windbreak is more 

 apparent, as would be expected with 

 the hives which were not packed, al- 

 though there is about 2,000 bees dif- 

 ference in the packed hives in favor 

 of the windbreak. 



The comparison between number 

 of bees in fall and in spring weigh- 

 ing is as follows : 



No Windbreak 



1917-18 1918-19 



Gain or Loss Gain or Loss. 



1-story hive -332 .3282 



2-story hive 2808 -469 



Packed 4578 22968 



Windbreak 

 1-story hive 4538 313 



2-story hive 13346 5936 



Packed hive 15132 24844 



The above figures show several 

 things. The winter of 1917-18, in 

 Kansas, was a very severe winter, in 

 which the bees were confined to the 

 hives for a long time without a flight. 

 The winter of 1918-19 was one of 

 those open winters when, according 

 to popular opinion, there is no need 

 of packing bees. An examination of 

 the facts stated above will, however, 

 dispel this illusion. For instance in 

 the 1-story hive, during the severe 

 winter, there were 332 bees less at 

 the spring weighing than in the fall. 

 After the open winter in the same 

 colony there were 3282 less bees. In 

 comparing the figures of all the other 

 hives during the severe winter, with 

 those during the mild winter, the fact 

 is brought out that, in a mild winter 

 the bees need to be packed even 

 more than during a severe winter. 

 Another fact which is distinctly 

 shown in the figures is the import- 

 ance of the windbreak, the 1-story 

 hive in the open had 132 bees less in 

 the spring than the fall, while the 1- 

 story hive in the windbreak had 4538 

 more bees. In 1918-19 the 1-story 

 hive in the open had 3282 bees less m 

 the spring than in the fall, while the 



1-story hive, in the windbreak, gained 

 313. However, the most marked re- 

 sult which these figures show is the 

 value of the packed hive. During 



1918-19, while one colony of bees 

 was decreasing 3282, the packed hive 

 gained 22,968. While the other 1- 

 story hive was gaining 313, the 

 packed hive gained 24,844. The differ- 

 ence between the packed hive and the 

 unpacked hive during 1917-18 was not 

 as great as 1918-19. because packing 

 material used in 1917-18 was excel- 

 sior and shavings, while during 1918- 

 19 it was forest leaves firmly packed. 



As stated above, more hives would 

 be desirable in carrying on this work, 

 but it seems to be very clearly 

 proved that the windbreak is very 

 valuable in winter protection, that 2- 

 story hives are preferable to 1-story 

 hives for the bees that remain un- 

 packed throughout the winter, and 

 that the difference in the number of 

 bees, between packed hives and un- 

 packed hives, in the spring, is so 

 large that it has justified the extra 

 expense incurred in packing. The 

 fact has been brought out already 

 that no locality may claim immunity 

 on account of the fact that it has 

 open winters, as these open winters 

 are harder on the bees than a se- 

 vere winter, where brood-rearing is 

 postponed until warm weather has 

 set in. 



Manhattan, Kans. 



The Queen Condition of Parent 



Hives After Natural 



Swarming 



By Morley Pettit 



A CORRESPONDENT has raised 

 a question which is very im- 

 portant in connection with nat- 

 ural swarming. She has found that 

 three of her "old swarms" have no 

 queens, and wishes to know how ;o 

 proceed. 



It is a common experience where 

 natural swarming is allowed, to find 

 that some of the parent hives fail to 

 get laying queens afterwards. By the 

 time their condition is discovered 



they have usually become just a 

 bunch of "buzzy bees," which are 

 practically worthless because of their 

 age and the difficulty of requeening 

 them, and what is almost worse yet, 

 they have filled their combs so full 

 of pollen that about the only cure is 

 to melt them down. 



It is best to examine all parent col- 

 onies in three weeks after swarming 

 and, if eggs are not found, give a 

 comb containing eggs and very 

 young larvae. A week later an exam- 

 ination may reveal a fresh batch of 

 eggs indicating that the young queen 

 has got down to business. This may 

 not prove that she was not laying be- 

 fore, however, for I have found eggs 

 only one day, then a few days later 

 no eggs in the same place. I think 

 the workers being elderly and not 

 used to babies, ate them. 



When a young queen finally gets 

 going well we are still not satisfied 

 till she has enough brood capped to 

 indicate that she is ''off to a good 

 start" and is not likely to develop 

 drone-laying propensities early in 1 

 her career. 



To requeen colony which fails to 

 prove a queenright condition, we 

 first make sure it has no queen of 

 any kind, then place on it, over an 

 excluder, a nucleus having a full 

 brood-chamber of combs and a good 

 queen. One week later the order of 

 bodies is reversed so that the nucleus 

 on top becomes the brood-chamber 

 of the colony. 



Georgetown, Out., Aug. 30, 1919. 



Another Short Course Announced 



We have been advised that a short 

 course for commercial beekeepers 

 will be held at Yakima, Wash., begin- 

 ning November 10 and continuing for 

 five days. 



Dr. E. F. Phillips, George S. De- 

 muth, A. P. Sturdevant and H. A. 

 Scullen of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, together with western 

 men, will appear on the program. 

 This is the first of these short 

 courses to be held in the northwest, 

 and it is hoped it will be largely at- 

 tended. 



Colonies used in Merrill's expe 



