348 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Importance of Warm, Dry and Pure Air in 



Wintering Bees and How it May 



be Secarea. 



C. SPAETH. 



>R. EDITUR:— I have just received 

 the Review vyhich reminds me of 

 the article on house apiaries which 

 I promised to translate for your paper. 1 

 am very sorry that I did not find time to do 

 it ; translation is for me very slow, tiresome 

 and imperfect work, therefore I am not sat- 

 isfied with it. I send you the article in Ger- 

 man ; perhaps you can find somebody that 

 can translate it for you. You can also see 

 in it one of the best bee houses imaginable 

 for wintering bees by all methods. 



The wintering trouble and cause of bee 

 diarrhoea is solved by Rev. C. Weygandt, 

 of Flacht, Germany, editor of the Bee, a 

 monthly bee paper. He has made the most 

 thorough experiments for years, and has 

 solved a good many riddles, mysteries and 

 problems that still puzzle a good many bee- 

 keepers and papers. I do wish you could 

 read two books which he published three or 

 four years ago on those subjects. The name 

 of those works are : " A Small Contribution 

 to Promote Bee-Keeping." 



He kept a good number of bees in his 

 study room, where there was a coal stove 

 burning all winter. The entrances of the 

 hives were left open, the openings l/eing two 

 to three inches wide by one-quarter inch 

 high. He had holes made througli the win- 

 dow case or a channel under it. The bees 

 wintered splendidly and came out strong and 

 vnry healthy. 



For years he closely observed bees in win- 

 ter and tried all kinds of experiments with 

 them. He found out what was the life ele- 

 ment that must be taken into account if we 

 want safe wintering. This life element is 

 pure, dry, warm air, and good food, which, 

 of course, also includes bee bread. 



Some colonies he gave daily their portion 

 of food. He found them scattered all over 

 the combs, the latter, of course, keeping per- 

 fectly dry and clean. Their abdomens did 

 not become extended and swollen and there 

 was no need of a cleansing flight. The bees 

 would not try to fly out when the weather 

 would not permit, but they would just peep 

 sometimes out and then go back again. 



He found out that dampness and cold com- 

 bined kill the most bees ; causing indiges- 



tion, catarrh and inflamation of the bow- 

 els or diarrhcBa. He cured the worst kind 

 of diarrhoea in a warm, dry, pure air, and 

 with clover honey. Some will say, it is not 

 a disease. They know not what they say. 

 Smell it once, he says ! Does it smell like 

 healthy fseces ? It nearly knocks one over, 

 it will take your breath away. 



Some bees will show much more uneasi- 

 ness after a few month's confinement than 

 others under the very same conditions, from 

 such bees he would never breed. 



After all these experiments he built a bee 

 house which is a model, and not after very 

 many years, all our Northern bee-keepers 

 will have one like it, or similar to it. 



He keeps his bees in a chaff hive all the 

 year in the bee house. This is done so that 

 the heat cannot directly strike the hives or 

 bees, it also serves other purposes. If the 

 weather is not too severe he does not have 

 the house heated, or if he has, and it should 

 get too warm, he opens all the doors and 

 windows and has wintering in the open air 

 or on summer stands packed. In a few min- 

 utes he can close the outside openings, which 

 he sometimes does, also the doors and win- 

 dows, and he has cellar wintering, but with 

 much better conditions for the bees. The 

 whole house is then pitch dark. He then 

 opens the entrances on the back part of the 

 channels of the hives. 



He has no spring dwindling. As soon as 

 the bees bring in natural pollen, he com- 

 mences stimulative feeding, and breeding 

 once commenced in good earnest never is 

 checked by cold spells or poor weather. He 

 has giant colonies at the time of fruit bloom 

 and of rape, which is one of his main crops. 



Some brag that they winter their bees 

 with success in the old way. But it is one 

 thing to winter bees that just pull through 

 and are kept busy till the latter part of .June 

 getting ready for the harvest, giving no 

 spring surplus whatever ; and another thing 

 to bring out very strong, rousing swarms 

 which give the least work for the bee-keeper 

 but the most pleasure and profit. 



He claims that it pays to have such a house 

 and saves time, money and work. In the 

 first place he can use poor lumber for hives 

 and outer cases, sometimes he used dry- 

 goods boxes. Then they need no paint, and 

 he only needs to pack them once and need 

 not carry them to and fro, and he can do all 

 his work inside. His bees also have shade 

 and are safe from storms and thieves. 



