84 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



During the warm spell the latter 

 part of last month, the temperature 

 in the cellar under my son's house 

 where we are wintering some more 

 than 200 swai'ms of bees began soar- 

 ing toward 60 degrees F. and while 

 the bees are wintering well upon 

 sugar syrup, mostly, a few having 

 white clover and basswood honey as 

 stores, the high temperature caused 

 them to get somewhat uneasy, and 

 we carried out 50 of those nearer the 

 cellar door, and they have had a very 

 fine fly. As the cellar is crowded, 

 those 50 swarms set out will not be 

 carried back into the cellar, but, 

 instead, will be papered with a tar 

 paper, as shown in cut which we sub- 

 mit. It will be noticed that no pack- 

 ing will be used, as when they ai-e 

 packed up in the fall, the paper only 

 being enough for the more mild 

 spring month's. 



As we have told you before, the 

 light swarms from the different yards 

 were grouped together and brought 

 home and fed up and are being win- 

 tered in the cellar. Some unfortu- 

 nate colonies were light in bees, as 

 well as winter stores. Among the 

 50 colonies we mentioned above as 

 being now upon their summer stands, 

 four or five are of those that are 

 weak in bees. Those light in bee 

 colonies will not be risked upon the 

 summer stands thus early, but will be 

 put back into the cellar and left until 

 the remainder are removed soon after 

 the 20th of this month. If this mod- 

 erate weather should continue, we 

 may be compelled to remove more 

 from the cellar, to be able to keep 

 the bees quiet; for this is important- 



Michigan has had a favorable 

 winter thus far, Feb. 22nd for winter- 

 ing bees outside in packing cases. A 

 warm favorable winter for wintering 

 outside, is usually unfavorable for 

 repository wintering. It has been so 

 with us this winter, although our bees 

 in the cellar have wintered well thus 

 far, they could have wintered better, 

 had the temperature run lower and 

 more even. As it was, the cellar 

 varied all the way from 46 to 60 de- 

 grees F. 



Notice we say packed, not wrapped 

 in tar paper, for our bees are packed 

 in about three inches of forest leaves, 

 or clover chaff, something like a half 

 being packed with each material 

 mentioned. During the last five days 

 bees have had a good clearing flight 

 in this part of our state, so, barring 



accident, will winter well, providing 

 they are in good condition at this 

 time. Our Wolf yard of 86 swarms 

 were looked over last week and found 

 in good condition, not a single dead 

 swarm in the yard. Although some 

 few unfortunates had lost rather 

 heavy of bees, none were effected se- 

 riously in this respect. The experi- 

 enced beekeeper can tell when bees 

 have wintered well, or not, by the ac- 

 tion of the bees. Poorly wintered 

 bees are usually extended, and look 

 abnormally large, and when they un- 

 dertake to fly, some fail to take wing, 

 their constitution being weakened. 

 Others may be able to take wing, 

 still being sick, the loss of vitality 

 being such that they will "spring 

 dwindle" and not be of much use, 

 should the colony survive. Ours seem 

 to have wintered so well that they are 

 lightweight and "agile" there being 

 no difficulty in their taking wing, al- 

 most as well as a summer fly. There 

 will be no "spring dwindling" among 

 such bees next spring. 



We are going to stop here long 

 enough to say that there is no such 

 thing as "spring dwindling." To be 

 sure, bees dwindle during the spring 

 months, but it is invariably the re- 

 sults of poor wintering. To prevent 

 "spring dwindling" winter your bees 

 well. To winter your bees well, see 

 that they have good stores. The 

 method of putting them up for winter 

 is of second importance. If your 

 bees have not wintered well this 

 winter, another fall your first con- 

 sideration should be the stores they 

 have for winter use, the method of 

 packing, or the repository can be left 

 as a second consideration. 



I'm just a little off the subject, or, 

 perhaps you had better consider this 

 the main subject, it being of more 

 importance. But to return: The Wolf 

 yard is packed in three inches of 

 forest leaves, held in place with tarred 

 paper. This is for the sides of the 

 hives, for there is six to eight inches 

 of packing on top. At this yard each 

 colony is packed singly, while at two 

 of the other yards, the Welch and 

 Stanton, two hives are set side by side 

 and packed in pairs. This latter way 

 is as we shall pack in the future, as a 

 considerable more packing can be 

 placed around and over the top with 

 this method of procedure, with the 

 same amount of material and labor. 



Yesterday, Feb. 21st was a fine bee- 

 dav. With a 1; right sun and no wind 

 to speak cf and almost a summer 



