166 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



hives are benefited by tbe bees taking an occasional air- 

 ing in mUd weather during the winter months, the in- 

 mates of healthy hives sit more closely and quietly to- 

 gether than those of unhealthy ones. On turning up a 

 hive infected with foul brood, we invariably find the bees 

 sitting very loosely in it, and that they begin to spread 

 themselves over the combs rapidly. 



Sometimes bees, in coming out for an airing, take so 

 much honey that they cannot fly. They become benumbed 

 outside, and cannot return to their hives. This is very 

 evident when a great number of hives are standing near 

 each other, and especially when the bees are living on 

 heather-honey. The ground amongst the hives becomes 

 thickly strewed with chilled bees. When this happens 

 the bees should be swept together, gathered into small 

 supers or boxes, and well warmed before a fire or in a 

 half-cooled oven. The heat soon restores them, and when 

 let go, enables them to return to their hives. 



Though September is the best month for feeding bees 

 for winter, some bee-keepers fail to give enough then, and 

 continue to feed afterwards for months. This late feeding 

 cannot be too strongly condemned. There is often great 

 difficulty experienced in getting bees to take food during 

 cold weather. If necessary (from past forgetfulness) to 

 feed bees in January, let the food when given be warm, 

 say 100°, or blood-heat. If the bees will not take it, let 

 them be brought into a warm room or hothouse, and there 

 fed with warm food, keeping them in their hives while 

 indoors. 



The smallest door possible affords bees in straw hives 

 ventilation enough, but those in wooden hives are bene- 

 fited by ventilating-holes in them. Such holes help to 

 let the moisture escape, which otherwise would condense 

 on their sides and rot the combs. Their crown-holes 

 should be left open, but covered with wire to keep 



