BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
If there is no fresh water in the immediate vicinity of the hives, special provision should be made to secure it, as it is a highly desirable adjunct to a well-regulated apiary. While there are times during the season when the bees get most of the moisture they need from the nectar, there are other times when they drink water eagerly. This is especially so in the spring when they are gathering much pollen and little water, and the weather is warm. Running water, is more desirable, and if the drip from a faucet flow over a board, or on pebbles, it affords a nearly ideal drinking place for the bees, since they can drink freely and are in no danger of drowning. Some beekeepers invert a Mason jar filled with water, on a board that has a few shallow groves, perhaps one-eighth inch deep; the water flows out slowly owing to atmospheric pressure; if a little salt be added to the water the bees lap it up eagerly.
maxims for feeding
Keep close watch of the bees during the entire season, so as to know whether they need feeding or not.
Feed only good honey or the best sugar.
Never feed scorched sugar in the winter, as it will surely kill the bees.
Observe the practice of feeding at nightfall to preclude robbing.
Never spill the syrup or honey around the yard lest robbers be led on to black deeds.
Feed small amounts to stimulate a swarm or nucleus. Bees are susceptible to small encouragements.
Be careful never to cool off the brood-chamber when feeding in early spring or late fall.
See to it that the bees have water near by, especially early in the season.
## Chapter 11 How to Winter Bees
ideal conditions
The wintering of bees in the northern latitudes is usually attended with more or less loss. Although we now think we know the conditions necessary for perfect wintering it is only now and then that they are attained. There are so many unhappy and unpredictable circumstances and vicisitudes, that one must needs be a true prophet as well as a good bee-keeper to be sure that all his swarms will successfully pass the period of snow and cold.
The problem of wintering hinges as much on protection from dampness as on protection from the cold. We all know that double windows in a room keep the frost off the panes. The reason for this is that the dampness of the room is not allowed to come in contact with the cold outside glass. So it is with the bee-hive; if it is single walled the dampness from the breath of the bees causes the frost to gather on the walls of the hive, which later melts and wets the bees so that they chill easily; the double-walled hive is a guard against this condition.
First of all that watchward of the bee-keeper must be fully realised, "Keep the colonies strong." Most men of experience do not attempt to winter a colony that is not large enough to cover at least four of the Langstroth brood-frames. If a colony is as small as this, the division boards should be used to contract the hive and make it as cosy and comfortable as possible. It is far safer to try to winter a colony that covers six frames than one that covers only four; the more the bees the warmer the hive, the less the loss, and also the less missed are those that die. To secure good swarms it is best to keep up the breeding throughout the summer, which can be done by feeding if the honey is scarce.
Next in importance to a strong colony is good honey and plenty of it sealed in the combs, so that wholesome food may help to sustain the bees during this trying period. With a four-frame colony four frames of sealed stores will be enough. A Langstroth brood-frame should hold about five pounds of honey if it is well filled. If the colony is larger, then more honey must, of course, be given. We never allow any of our colonies to begin winter without at least thirty pounds of sealed honey, and when a colony is very large we have given it thirty-five pounds. This may seem wasteful extra-gance on our part, but the honey not used in the winter is of use in the spring. It is necessary that the honey be of good quality; the bee is such a neat housekeeper that she will suffer death rather than let food pass through her alimentary canal when she is dormant, and thus render unsanitary the bee-city, a devotion to municipal sanitation which is hardly found elsewhere in the annals of living beings. If honey of poor quality is fed to the bees and they hold within themselves such food, disaster is likely to ensue. In preparing the hive for winter what is known as the Hill's device, which is a series of curved pieces of wood held in place by a strip of tin, is placed above the frames to support the cushion so as to allow the bees to readily climb over them. We use a super cover in our chaff hives instead of the Hill's device.
There are three ways of wintering bees in common use. First in the chaff or double-walled hives left in the open. Second, in tenement-hives. Third, the hives are carried into cellars. The reprehensible way of leaving bees out of doors in single-walled hives with no protection during the winter is no longer practised by civilised people.
## outdoor wintering
Many apiarists protect the hive by a box, several inches larger than the hive in every diameter, placed over the live, the spaces between being packed with chaff or dried leaves. A passage-way out is always preserved so that the bees may fly out during the early warm days, and free themselves from the accumulated waste. This is a cheap way of securing the advantages of a chaff hive. Such boxes are sold by the dealers, and many good words are said for this method of wintering.
##### The chaff hive
The chaff hive is probably the most perfect of all of the devices for out-of-door wintering when convenience and the saving of work as well as success are taken into consideration. The chaff hive is a double-walled hive with wall spaces packed with chaff. It is a certain guard against extremes and sudden changes of temperature, as it remains cool in the hot and warm in the cold weather.
The chaff for packing should be fine. That from timothy hay, oats or wheat is commonly used; saw-dust and planer shavings and dried leaves closely packed are also often resorted to. The packing should be below as well as on the sides of the hive. A cushion made of burlap and filled with chaff is put above.a Hill's device or super cover, as this is the most convenient method of packing the hive on top. The bees should be thoroughly established and have their stores ready as early as October 1st. It is claimed by the admirers of the chaff hive that they prevent spring dwindling by keeping the bees warm in the early spring; and also that they keep the hive cool enough so that the brood is not developed in the combs until the proper time for it.
The chaff hives are sufficiently warm to preserve bees during ordinary winters, but neither they nor any other out-door device were entirely successful during the long, protracted cold of the winter of 1903-04 when many bee-keepers in the Northern States lost 40 per cent. of their bees. It might be wise when such a winter occurs to give some temporary protection to the hives, like covering them with boughs of evergreen or building a close wind-break. The entrance to a chaff hive should always be contracted in winter to keep out cold and mice.
## the tenement hive
This's a box made for holding from two to ten hives, and which we have used with perfect success. Our favourite tenement-hive was arranged for six hives in two stories. The bottom was packed well with dry leaves or chaff, and three hives were set somewhat near each other. Entrances were boxed back, affording a front hall for each hive-entrance. After three hives were thus set in and packed with chaff on every side and between, a shelf was put across and on this were set three more hives which were likewise packed. The entrances to the upper row were on the same side as those to the lower row, and the cover of the box sloped back from the front of the hives and was hinged along its highest edge; thus when we wished to examine the hives we lifted the cover and examined the bees from the back side instead of standing directly in front of the entrance. Our losses were rare and small while using these tenements. The advantage of the tenement over the chaff hive is that it is cheaper, and that several colonies packed together help to keep each other warm.
on the summer stands, each board bearing the same number as the hive which rests upon it, and thus in the spring it is easy to find the home of each colony; but if the bees are brought into the cellar without the bottom boards on the hive they are quite likely to fly out more or less. Usually, therefore, they are brought in on the bottom boards, and these are piled in some convenient place until needed in the spring. In this case it is advisable to have a map made of the apiary, and the hives and their places numbered on the map, and thus each hive may be returned to its old stand in the spring.
If bees are wintered in the ordinary house-cellar it is far better to partition off the part used for the bees from that used for vegetables, and much pains should be taken to keep the air good and the cellar well ventilated.
Special bee-cellars are in vogue in some large apiaries. The cellar is sometimes made beneath the bee-house, and sometimes it is a structure by itself. Of all such cellsars, the Bingham seems to us the cheapest, and surely quite as practical as the others. It is built like a square cistern, twelve feet square at the bottom, sixteen feet at the top and six feet deep; it is cemented at the bottom and on the sides, and the ceiling is flush with the level of the ground. Over this is built a gable roof, the eaves extending down to a drain on either side so that all the water is carried off. The ventilation is secured through a pipe extending from the cellar ceiling to the top of the roof. The floor over the cellar is tight and covered with sawdust; access to the cellar stairs is gained through a trap door. Such a cellar as this should be built on a dry knoll. Mr. Bingham has wintered successfully ninety colonies in this house; and it will hold nearly twice as many.
The bees may come out of the hives and die in great numbers when they are wintered in a cellar. If any such seem distended and swollen they have probably died of dysentery, and the matter should be looked into immediately. However, many of the bees that die in winter are likely to be the old ones which are not vigorous enough to stand the strain of the cold. The cellar floor should be swept several times during the winter and all the dead bees removed so they shall not pollute the atmosphere. The cellar should always be dark, but the bees can be easily examined with a lamp, or what is better, a bull's-eye lantern.
The carrying of hives into the cellar is an onerous task when the apiary is large. The entrance to the hive should be closed the night before so as to be sure the whole family is moved. The hives should be carried with as little perturbance to the occupants as may be; several methods of carrying the hives easily and quietly have been invented. Mr. Root uses a wire bent like a V with the wooden piece of a common nail bale at the angle. The prongs of the V are bent at right angles into hooks which hook under the bottom board; two men carry the hive, one on each side, each with a carrier just described. Mr. Muller has a simple rope carrier that slips under the cleated ends of the live. Mr. Boardman has a delightful device, which is a carrier in the shape of a push-cart with two wheels. A board just large enough to set the live upon with rope handles at either side serves admirably.
when to put bees in the cellar
This should be done as soon as steady cold weather comes on. In this northern climate the colonies should be ready in October, for the appointed time for putting them in the cellar is likely to occur between the first and fifteenth of November. If put in too soon and the weather is warm they become uneasy; they should be put in during a dry day so that the lives will not be dampened by rain or fog.
whiev to take bees oct of tile cellar
This is decided somewhat by the bees themselves; if they awaken and push out and try to escape in great numbers, it is a sign that they had best be put out as soon as it can be safely done. Mr. Root makes the practice of putting his bees out of the cellar in the middle of a warm day in midwinter, so that they may have a cleansing flight, and then puts them back in the cellar that night; which shows that a merciful man is good to his bees. However, some other bee-keepers think that this taking them out in midwinter is fraught with danger.
In a climate like that of New York it is hardly safe to take the hives from the cellar before the last of April or the first of May. The general rule is to wait until there is a prevalent temperature of \(70^{\circ}\), and the willow, the alder, and the soft maples are in blossom, so that the bees may gather pollen as soon as they are put out..The glowing banners of the red maple blossoms give signal to most of the beekeepers in the northern climate that it is time that the bees were on the wing.
## 10.18 Spri:g dwindling
The cause of this is attributed to various conditions by various beekeepers. The evidence of it is shown by the listlessness of the swarm, and by the dying of the bees. Whatever the reason, all apiarists agree it is more common during cold, backward springs, and that it is less prevalent when the bees are put out in warm, sunny locations. The only remedies suggested are that the brood-chambers be contracted so that the bees can easily keep the comb warm, and that plenty of good syrup and rye flour and water be given to the bees if they are unable to get food from the flowers. Many apiarists have tried the joining of two colonies when this dwindling appears, hoping thus to get enough bees in a hive to keep it warm, but they all agree that this does not help the matter.
## 10.2 maxims for wintering
Keep the colonies strong. Be sure that a good-sized swarm has at least thirty pounds of scaled stores.
Pollen should not be left in the comb for winter use.
How to Winter Bees 153
Be sure that the honey is of good quality, and not made from decayed fruit or honey-dew.
Give the live ventilation from below.
If wintered out of doors, give the bees a chance to fly.
If wintered in cells, do not put too many bees in a cellar. If you have space for fifty colonies, do not try to winter more than thirty in it.
In cellars take off the bottom boards and arrange the lives so that the bees will get plenty of ventilation from below.
Have a thermometer in the cellar and keep watch of it. This should not show more than ten degrees of variation. If the temperature rises to 55\({}^{\circ}\), open the windows at night.
Keep the cellar dark and the air sweet.
Sweep the dead bees off the cellar floor several times during the winter.
Contract the brood-chamber in the fall, and again, if necessary, when the lives are set out in the spring, until there is only comb enough so that the bees can cover it well.
See that the bees have plenty of food and good water near by when set out in the spring.
## Chapter Xiv
Rearing and introducing Queens
Queen-rearing
In a small apiary there is little need for the special rearing of queens; the natural increase may safely be depended upon to supply all the colonies which lose their queens or which have unprofitable ones. It is always well for even the most casual bee-keeper to take the trouble to re-queen from his strongest and best colonies. However, the time when queen cells are naturally built may not be the most convenient or the most desirable time for giving certain colonies a new mother. This being the case, queens may be developed through the power of suggestion, as follows: Select a frame of brood from the best colony; with a toothpick tear down the partitions between three worker cells which contain eggs or larvae less than two days old and destroy two of the eggs or larvae; repeat the operation in several places. Place the frame back in the hive, being very sure that there is sufficient space between it and its neighbouring frame, so that good queen cells may be built. If there is a scarcity of honey, feed the bees. The cleverness of bees is clearly proven by the readiness with which they take a hint, and theyalmost invariably build queen cells upon the comb thus treated.
This method we have found perfectly satisfactory, but for those who rear queens for sale, other very interesting practices have been invented. The greatest of these was devised by Mr. Doolittle, one of the foremost queen-breeders in America. He makes artificial queen cells by dipping a small, smoothly rounded stick in warm wax repeatedly, thus making a little cup, thin at the edge and thick at the bottom. Rows of these little cups are placed on a bar the thickness of a brood-frame and fastened there with hot wax. In each cup is introduced a bit of royal jelly and a very young larva. The bar is then inserted horizontally into a frame of brood-comb, part of the latter being cut away to give room for the future cells, which project down from the bar. In such a royal nursery, he develops his queens for the market.
## introducing queens
Though royalty in the hive is of quite another feather than in human society, yet there is quite as much ado when it comes to installations in one as in the other. While a bee-colony is absolutely devoted to its own queen, it may seriously object to a queen thrust upon it by some outside power. And thus it happens that the introduction of a new queen into a hive is fraught with danger to her majesty as well as to the pocket-book of the beekeeper.
"Balling" in the hive is an indignity that may well have suggested to other societies the method of black-balling unwelcome seekers after honours. The bees ball an unwelcome queen by gathering around her in a compact mass, remaining there until the unfortunate usurper is smothered or starved, or both. As if to live up to their mathematical reputation, this ball is quite spherical because each bee is an animated atom of centripetal force scrambling and pushing toward the centre. This method of smothering royalty is regarded as an evidence of the worker's reluctance to sting a fertile queen. But observations are recorded which state that the bees on the outside of the ball seem fiercely trying to sting, and that the individuals nearest the queen ofttimes share her fate because of this venomous attitude of their sisters. Whether this use of the sting by the outsiders is for the purpose of fighting their way toward the centre, or whether they are mad with a desire to kill the queen, is by no means a settled question. However, if they were bent upon stinging her to death, she would scarcely be alive after having been balled for some time; while it is a matter of common experience that by breaking up the ball and driving off the murderers, the queen may be saved. Sometimes the bees will ball a queen for a time, then voluntarily release her and accept her.
There are two ways generally followed for dis solving this lump of excited regicides and saving the queen. One is to drop the ball in a shallow bowl of water. This baptism seems to cool the hot blood and the bees swim off, trying to preserve their own lives. The other is to smoke the ball until it dissolves into individual bees, so anxious to get breath for themselves that they forget to shut off the breath of the obnoxious queen. There is a danger attending the latter method, for unless the smoking be done carefully and without blowing hot air on the bees, they will become infuriated by the heat and surely sting the queen; as they evidently regard her, and rightly, as the cause of their suffering.
When to introduce a queen
The colony should have been queenless long enough to realise the danger of the situation, but not long enough to have done much toward building queen cells and developing larval queens; in the latter case they prefer a queen of their own dynasty and object to any other. Thus, if a queen is to be superseded she should be removed and, about two days later, the new one should be introduced.
It requires experience to know certainly that a colony has become queenless, for often, when there is no brood or eggs in the cells there is a virgin queen, which eludes the eye, as she does not appear very differently from the workers; a colony with virgin queens of its own cannot be induced to accept an introduced queen.
Mr. Root tests a colony which he suspects is queenless in the following clever way : He takes a cage containing a laying queen and holds it over the frames so that it touches them and the bees may thus get the scent. If the bees have no queen they express their pleasure at this godsend in a very pretty manner by a joyful fluttering of the wings, which conveys the idea of happiness to even our dull senses. To such a colony, the queen may be given with no formalities.
How to introduce a queen
The colony should be made good-natured by having plenty of food. If there is scarcity of honey, the bees should be fed for a day or so, great care being taken not to start other colonies to robbing by exposing the syrup. The queen is then introduced in a queen-cage, which should be placed between the brood-combs. This should be done as carefully as possible without disturbing the bees. At the end of forty-eight hours an examination should be made, and if the bees are balling the cage, she should be left twenty-four hours longer. When the bees gather around the cage in normal numbers she may be entrusted to them without fear.
queen-cages
First of these are the shipping-cages, and it is a thrilling moment when one takes a package from the mail, labelled "Queen Bee, Deliver Quick." And it is still more exciting when the cover slidesaround, revealing her gracious majesty with a few attendants, safe beneath the wire screen; for no bele-dealer would be so heartless or foolish as to send a queen on a journey without a few ladies-in-waiting to give her companionship and care.
The cage in which a queen is shipped is always tagged or labelled with directions for introducing the queen, which, if followed implicitly, almost always insures success.
The plan of a queen-cage is a cell made of wire screen with twelve to fifteen meshes to the square inch, large enough to allow the bees to thrust in their antennae and thus get acquainted with their proposed sovereign, but not large enough to permit a sting to be effectively thrust through. The cell, itself, is large enough so that the prisoner will not suffocate if the cage is balled. At one end of the cage is an opening into which is pressed a cork of candy, over which is tacked a piece of pasteboard, through which is a central line of perforations. At first the bees are wild to get at the queen, and incidentally in their attack they get a taste of the candy through the holes in the pasteboard. This distracts their attention, and they work industriously at biting away the pasteboard to get at the candy. And by the time they have worked their way through the delectable door, their attitude towards the prisoner is naturally sweetened, and usually they accept her at once. 'The "Good candy" is used for this purpose, for the queen is also sustained on this confection during her incarceration,and unless a moist candy is used, she will suffer for lack of water.
Home-made cages are usually employed in introducing queens from the home apiary. These are of various forms and devices, the Miller being a favourite. His materials are as follows: One block of wood 3 x 11 x 3 in.; two blocks of wood 1 x 7-16 x 3 in.; two pieces of tin 1 in. square; two pieces of fine wire 9 in. long; one piece of wire-cloth 42 x 312 in.; four wire nails 1 in. long. (Plate V.)
The illustration shows how the material is used. The space between the two small blocks of wood, held in place by the pieces of tin forms a door for the candy. The large piece of wood serves as a plug at the other end of the cage, which may be removed, and the cage set down over the queen, thus capturing her without handling her. When a queen is placed in a cage she should always be allowed to climb up into it. It is not natural for her to climb down.