344 WINTEBING. 



and we found that bees bred as fast, in our ordinary 

 hives (double only on the windward sides), owing to the 

 quick absorption of the sun's rays by the boards. 



643. To obtain the advantages of the chaff-hive without 

 any of its disadvantages, and at the same time retain in use 

 the single wall Langstroth or Simplicity hives, some bee- 

 keepers have devised outer-boxes to be placed over the col- 

 onies during Winter, and removed in Spring. These can be 

 filled with absorbents, and make the best and safest out- 

 door shelters (Fig. 109). They are only hooked together 

 by nails partly driven, and are taken off in pieces, in the 

 Spring and put away, under shelter. The roofs may be 

 used over the hives all Summer, if desirable. The only 

 disadvantage of outer-boxes is that they may harbor mice 

 or insects. Some use them, without any packing, and we 

 know by experience, that even in this way, very small colo- 

 nies may be wintered safely. If the hive has a portico, the 

 front of the box is made to fit around it. In any case, the 

 portico itself can be closed, during the coldest weather, by 

 a door fitting over it, but it must be opened on warm days. 

 In the extraordinary Winter of 1884-5, several bee-keepers 

 of McDonough County, Illinois, among whom, we will cite 

 Mr. J. G. Norton, of Macomb, safely wintered their Sim- 

 plicity hives with this method, while their neighbors lost 

 all, or nearly all, their bees. 



644. If the colonies are strong in numbers and stores, have 

 upper moisture absorbents, easy communication from comb to 

 comb, good ripe honey, shelter from piercing winds, and can 

 have a cleansing flight once a month, they have all the condi- 

 tions essential to wintering successfully in the open air. 



