46 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



and instead of screening all the windows 1 just screen down to the 

 shelf at the back of the hives and cut this in six-foot lengths and hang 

 it up when I work w^ith the bees. Now, while I am keeping bees in 

 my henhouse and others may also do so, I would not feel like advo- 

 cating it for the reason that I fear many might not keep their hen 

 houses as tidy as they should. But if I had a good chicken house 

 and had bees, I would surely put them in, rather than leaving them 

 out. exposed to all the vicissitudes that they would be exposed to in 

 any kind of outdoor wintering. But bees in attics, upper rooms or 

 lofts, are a grand success, as we have fully demonstrated. In fact, it 

 is the only place where they may be kept in cities on account of the 

 proximity of neighbors. 



It is a well-known fact that 

 ])ees placed anywhere above 

 the first story do not trouble 

 anything on the ground below, 

 so when they are placed in the 

 attic, they give no annoyance to 

 neighbors. There are nearly 200 

 colonies in and around Grand 

 Rapids kept in this -way and I 

 have to hear of the first com- 

 plaint about them. 



Bees placed in attics are 

 usually placed at windows, or 

 they may be set on the floor or 

 l)c raised some little distance 

 from the floor. When we place 

 bees at the window we usually 

 saw out a fly hole for the bees 

 as wide as the hive and as deep 

 usually as the sash bar will 

 allow. Then drop in something 

 as thick as a two by four to 

 throw the hive back from the window to facilitate putting the cur- 

 tain up and down and putting on coverings, and for other purposes. 

 But when it can be done, and it almost always can, I would put the 

 bees on the floor by the side of the window and cut the fly slot through 

 the wall. I would cut it as wide as the hive and three or four inches 

 up and down. Cut it in the middle between two studdings. then put 

 a piece of two by four laid flatwise just above the fly hole. Then you 

 can put any kind of a hive up against it and it will be, as you see, four 

 inches in from the wall. The importance of this four-inch pocket can 

 hardly be overestimated. 



Now about light and your windows. It always pays to have 

 plenty of light in handling bees, and if there is not light enough I 



J. A. PEARCE 

 Author of Pearce Method of Bee-Keeping 



