Beekeeping in Kansas. 13 



killed, consequently they were forced to exist on the stores which were left 

 in the hives in the fall. One colony between October 4 and May 19 con- 

 sumed 52%" pounds of honey, after which it was fed two half-filled frames of 

 honey and six pounds of sugar. This will explain why some of the colonies 

 became short on stores before they were weighed in the spring. 



During the winter daily weights were taken and recorded. On the 19th 

 of May, 1920, the number of. bees, the amount of brood and the amount of 

 honey were again determined. This date is two weeks later than the one on 

 which the bees were weighed in 1918-19, and each colony should have shown 

 several thousand more bees this year on the 19th of May than it did last 

 year on the 4th of May. In 1918-19 the one-story unpacked hive in the 

 windbreak gained 313 bees, while the packed hive in the windbreak gained 

 24,844; but during 1919- '20 the one-story unpacked hive in the windbreak 

 gained 10,000, while the packed hive, similarly placed, gained only 3,700. In 

 1918-19 the two-story hive in the windbreak gained 5,936, whereas in 1920 

 it gained 8,125. These results would seem to overthrow any evidence that we 

 may have had in the past as to the value of winter protection, especially 

 when we consider the fact that the packed hive in 1918-19 had 24,331 more 

 bees than the unpacked hive, while in 1919-'20 it had 6,300 less. This would 

 seem to indicate that the packing had not been of any great value to it, es- 

 pecially when the unpacked one-story hive had five frames of brood, while 

 the packed hive had only three frames. Had it not been for the fact that 

 daily records of the changes of weights were kept, those results would have 

 been very disconcerting, and extremely hard to account for, but upon turning 

 to the daily record we found that on April 20 the packed hive reached its 

 lowest weight. From then until the 19th of May the gains and losses ranged 

 from nothing up to an eighth of a pound, showing that on April 20 the winter 

 stores were exhausted in that colony, and from that time forward they were 

 barely able to secure enough nectar from the field to even maintain the 

 existence of the colony. On the 19th of May, when the colony was weighed, 

 no honey at all was found in the packed hive, while in the one-story unpacked 

 hive there remained three and one-half pounds of unconsumed stores. The 

 unpacked hive had five frames of brood, whereas the packed hive had only 

 about three. To all ordinary appearances the packed hive was a good, strong 

 colony of bees on the 19th of May, and anyone would have been justified in 

 thinking that it had wintered well. However, when the fact is taken into 

 consideration that during the previous year this colony gained 24,844 bees be- 

 tween the fall and spring, and this year only gained 3,700; we can see that 

 something was radically wrong. As the one-story unpacked hive contained 

 five frames of brood, while the packed hive .only had three frames, we can 

 understand why this weakened condition was brought about. On the 19th of 

 April, when the stores were exhausted, the queen in the packed hive did not 

 lay as many eggs as the one in the unpacked hive. To all appearances this 

 colony had wintered well, yet when we consider that the date of weighing 

 was two weeks later than the previous year, and that during these two weeks 

 the queen should have deposited from 30,000 to 40,000 eggs, which would 

 have filled six to eight frames of brood, when as a matter of fact it only had 

 three frames, it showed plainly that the queen was seriously affected by the 

 shortage of stores. Had we not the daily records of the changes in weights 



