290 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



I have begun putting them in as early as 

 October 2Gth, and have left them on their 

 summer stands as late as Christmas. I do 

 not advocate either extreme. If I could 

 only know just what kind of weather to ex- 

 pect I would be pleased, because, if we take 

 them in in the early part of November, and 

 then, as for the last two or three years, the 

 winter proves to be mild, with no colder 

 weather till after holidays, the bees are apt 

 to be a little restless in the cellar, especially 

 as the furnace affects its temperature. 



But those carried in early always come 

 out in the spring in as good condition as 

 those left out for more flights, and with the 

 advantage of having consumed less honey. 



But as I said, I am no extremist. The 

 " happy medium " is about the "right gait 

 to strike." I believe the activity of bees 

 after brood rearing ceases, and of course 

 after the honey flow has ceased, is rather 

 injurious than otherwise. Every bee that 

 dies from the time brood-rearing ceases in 

 the fail till it is resumed in the spring, is a 

 drain upon the perpetuity of the colony. 

 The cluster ought to be kept as large as pos- 

 sible till young bees are reared in the spring. 

 As activity shortens bee life, it is better that 

 they are quiet. 



And I am not one of those who believe it 

 toughens the individual to freeze him. It 

 may toughen the race by killing off all weak- 

 lings, but the chances of improving the bee 

 by this process are too remote for me to hope 

 to reap its benelits. 



The chief objection tho' to putting them 

 in very early is the difficulty with me of 

 maintaining the proper temperature. If 

 that could be adjusted jtist right and the 

 bees kept in that peculiarly sluggish state 

 that we have noticed in the fall, they would 

 undoubtedly be better off than flying over 

 frost-bitten fields, sucking decaying fruit 

 and rotting vegetation. 

 FoBEST CiTv, Iowa, Oct. ;!(), '91. 



Advantages of Putting a Self-Hiver on Top 



of the Hive. — Hew to Manage when Most 



of the BeRS Return to the Old Hive. 



O. n. DIBBERN. 



'^piUEND HUTCHINSON.— I have care- 

 ^f) fully read your comments on Mr. 

 ^'^^ West's article, page 271 of the Re- 

 view, and while your conclusions are pretty 

 correct, they are by no means entirely so. 



During the past two years I have had from 

 100 to 200 self-hivers constantly in use, and 

 consider them a grand success. It is true 

 that my hiver is quite different from Mr. 

 Alley's, though tho principle is the same. 

 I place the empty hive, or an empty super 

 will do just as well, on top of the hive ex- 

 pected to swarm. In 1890 I made my hiver 

 similar to Mr. Alley's, but after watching 

 two swarms issue through them, and noticing 

 that the queens persisted in running u}), and 

 paying no attention to the hole at the side, 

 I concluded that placing the hive at the side 

 was wrong. 



This year I remodeled all my hivers, and 

 so confident was I that the thing would 

 work, that I made 100 more, all having the 

 upward escape for the queen and drones. 

 During the past season I had some fifty 

 swarms issue through the hiver, in fact all I 

 had, except two that swarmed before I got 

 the hivers on. Now I do not mean to say 

 that all there is to do is to put the hivers on, 

 and that the " bees will do the rest." They 

 will do no such thing ! Now just what they 

 will do is this: When a swarm issues the 

 queen and drones readily find their way to 

 the new hive, but, as you state, most of tho 

 returning bees will go back to the old hive. 

 I do not now sec how that can be prevented, 

 unless one is present, and removes tho hive. 

 This I generally do when in the apiary, and 

 it is quite satisfactory. 



It is not Ijest to remove the hiver too soon 

 after a swarm is hived in this way, or the 

 queen will take wing, and the whole swarm 

 will soon follow. It is good policy to keep 

 the hiver on, of course stopping up the 

 tubes, at least for several days, as the bees 

 sometimes try to abscond. I have saved 

 several swarms in that way. 



When no one is present when tlic bees 

 swarm as is usually the case at my out apiary, 

 only small swarms will be found in the new 

 hives. The queen is there, however, all 

 right, and one knows exactly the condition 

 of the old hive. There will usually be bees 

 enough in front of the new hive lo show that 

 the bees have swarmed. I usually visit the 

 out apiary every three or four days. It con- 

 sists of about 100 hives, and on one visit I 

 found that seven had swarmed. 



The way I usually do when I find a hive 

 has thus swarmed is to put the new hive on 

 the old stand and brush oft' about three- 

 fourths of the bees from tho combs in the 

 old hive, thus making a booming good 



