1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



95 



SXAKVATION. 



^ SEXD.1 pices of ("imly, :i simplo of wli;it I bourht 

 _»([ for feedini? one stock of bees. They hiid very little 

 ' — 'honey of their own, being anew sw.irm and transfer- 

 red rather late in the summer from a box to a frame hive 

 —a Rood stron;; stock. Wintered in friend Greenm-in's 

 •ellar. 1 laid the sticks of candy on lop of frames, and 

 •verthcma piece of Brussels carpet which left liUle air 

 spaces at the sides. They seemed to thrive till a month 

 avTO when I placed another large piece of Kidderminster 

 •arpet over the other to make it warmer and cover the 

 •pen spaces. Riitrarice hole not fully open having a 

 piece of wood before it but not close up. I found the 

 bees all dead the other day. Some candy left on top but 

 not much, one stick down among the combs not touched, 

 not one bee above, some lying near the candy, but the 

 most of them on the bottom, entrance choked up and 

 numbers jrone behind the division board. Mice had eat- 

 en off the heads and bodies of some. Query. Were they 

 smothered to death? Were they poisoned with the 11a- 

 voring of the candy? Or were they starved to death? 

 Hive looked clean, and smelt as stocks usually do— bot- 

 tom looked wet. Geo. Gansbv. 

 St vyner. Out., Car)., Feb. >2!!th, 1877. 

 Yei'y many cases, we believe, are starvation 

 aud nothing else, where one who takes a hasty 

 ©bsarvation, would say they had food when 

 they died. The candy sent us we think all 

 ri^ht, aud should have no fear of any of the 

 Savori 112; extracts used in the candies usually 

 sold. Bees in winter, especially those in a 

 good cellar, move about but little, and unless 

 there is honey on all sides, they are very apt to 

 miss it, and become so enfeebled by want of 

 food, as to drop to the bottom helpless, when 

 tood is to be found within a few inches. This 

 is more frequently the case where the hive is 

 large aud op?n, or where there is but a small 

 «luster of bees. If bees are to be wintered en- 

 tirely on candy, it should be given them before 

 very cool weather sets in, that they may liqui- 

 fy a considerable portion of it aud store it in 

 the cells ; otherwise they are liable to be de- 

 pendent entirely on the candy at a time when 

 the few that could cluster on it v/ould be un- 

 able to lick up enough to supply the rest. We 

 have lost colonies several times under just such 

 •ircumstances. Had they been between, or 

 rather surrounded on all sides with thick chafl" 

 cushions, and then candy enough given them 

 *o that the greater part of them coald have 

 elustered over it, there would probably have 

 been no trouble. Suppose you have all the 

 sombs in the hive full of sealed honey, except 

 a circle of empty cells in the middle large 

 anough for the bees to cluster in, do you not 

 see how differently they are situated from 

 those that have to crawl all over a large cold 

 hive to tind little patches of honey that may 

 have been left? Once more; we have no fear 

 at all, of there being too much honey in the 

 hive in the winter for the well-l)eing of its oc- 

 cupants. If the bees do not all perish of star- 

 vation in the way ws have mentioned, they 

 ©ften die in large clusters, sometimes the 

 •lueen among them, and then we have remain- 

 ing a weak queenless colony. Who has not in 

 looking over his hives in the spring, found 

 heaps of dead bees at one side of the hive ? 

 We yesterday looked over the bees belonging 

 to a friend, and while heaps of dead bees were 

 found at the entrances of the unprotected 



hives, tho.se in a couple tif chaff hives pur- 

 chased late in the fall, were found full as nic<- 

 as any in the cellar, and while the combs seem- 

 ed to contain nearly all the honey given them 

 in the fall, not a dead bee was to be seen, 

 cither outside or inside of the hive. He re- 

 marked that he had examined them all through 

 the severest weather, and as no frost was seen 

 near the cluster, he verily believed a potato 

 would have remained unfrozen during thi' 

 whole winter, if placed under the chaff cush 

 ion. The chafl" hives are certainly heavy, ui; 

 wicldy things— nearly 100 lbs. — but they an- 

 really a labor-saving (and bee saving) institu- 

 tion in other respects. 



CHAFF 0¥£ STKAW HINOKR 'S'HK BKE5, 



A:V1> H£-N<I>^KS FOIfc 'J'Ml^ COVKKS. 



^pN looking over Gleaxixgs I see nothing in regard to 

 jjl. i)utting anything uiider the hive. You say nse chafl' 

 ~ cushions at the sides and toj), but nothing under them. 

 Now why not take a straw mat or even loose straw anil 

 set the hive on that ? I think that would prevent water 

 and ice accumulating under the hive in winter, and one 

 could close the entrance to prevent the escajjc of bees on 

 cold days, and there would be no danger of smotherinc; 

 them. 



While I think of it you don't say how you hinge tin; 

 lids or covers to your hives so as to bo mov.able at will. 

 I suppose you use small butts. This would be my way .so 

 as to be movable without taking the butts off every timt^ 

 one wants to move a lid or cover ; take eyelet screws 

 and screw them into covei '2 inch from the lower edge, 

 then take wire of llu right size and bond right angle long 

 enough to reach thi'ough the hive and clinch, then bend 

 at right angles again so as to go through the eyelets in thi; 

 cover. In this w.aj' they will slip on and off without any 

 trouble. If these thoughts are worthy of note, use them, 

 if not, cast them one side. B. G. WiTicrifs. 



Harmony, X. Y., Feb. 20th, 1877. 



There really seems to be an advantage in 

 having chaff under the hive, as well as over it, 

 for the bottom boards of such seem much 

 dryer and nicer, and the hive seems much 

 nearer frost proof. 



We have abandoned all kind of hinges in 

 our apiary, and simply have the covers loose. 

 It is true they would be more convenient if 

 hinged on, but the difliculty of having everj- 

 cover hinged so as to tit every hive is such 

 that vfe have decided it was too much raa- 

 chiner}-, and now have all loose. 



BOX HIVES, AKE TiaiEY EVER A»VIS- • 



^[fl^ONT you tfiink a bo.K hive just as good as one 

 l^|! ly ) with frames for farmers' use, or for those who 

 — never open a hive after the bees are put into it ":' 

 I think packing hives in chaff for wintering the best 

 thing yet devised. C. Aulls. 



Clinton, Mich. ,Feb. 27lh 1877. 

 Those who have bees in box hives frequently 

 lose them, as well as other folks, and after the 

 bees are dead, what is to be done with them'? 

 If the combs are built in frames, even rude, 

 cheap ones, they can be taken out entire, with 

 very much less trouble than where no frame'- 

 are used. When out, if any honey remains, it 

 can b3 used with very little trouble aud not 

 much of the usual muss and daubing. The 

 same will apply to bees tiiat have bsen taken 

 up with brimstone. No'>v we havemanv time.'! 



