BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
movable-comb observing hives.
Each comb in these hives is attached to a movable frame, and, as both sides admit of inspection, all the wonders of the bee-hive may be exposed to the light of day, as well as that of (pp. 23, 116) lamps and gas.
In the common observing-hive, experiments are conducted only by cutting away parts of the comb ; whereas, in this, they can be performed by the simple removal of a frame ; and if a colony becomes reduced in numbers, it may be recruited, in a few minutes, by giving it maturing brood from another hive.4
These observing-hives may be constructed to accommodate a full swarm. I do not, however, recommend such a hive for ordinary purposes, but one holding only a single frame (Pl. IV., Figs. 14, 15), which, while it gratifies curiosity, admits of easy control, and requires only a few bees to be diverted from more profitable hives.
A parlor observing-hive of this form may be conveniently placed in any room in the house--the alighting-board being outside, and the whole arrangement such that the bees may be inspected at all hours, day, or night, without the slightest risk of their stinging. Two such hives may be placed before one window, and put up or taken down in a few minutes, without cutting or deficing the wood-work of the house. In one, the queen may always be shown, and in the other, the process of rearing young queens from worker-eggs. These miniature hives may be stocked in the same way that a nucleus is formed, or a small after-swarm may be hired in them.
An observing-hive will prove an unfailing source of pleasure and instruction ; and those who live in crowded cities, may enjoy it to the full, even if condemned to the penance of what the pot has so feelingly described as an " endless meal of brick." The nimble wings of these agile gatherers will quickly wait them above and beyond " the smoky chimney-pots," and they will bear back to their city homes the balny spoils of many a rustic flower, " blushing unseen," in simple loveliness. Might not their pleasant murmarings awaken in some the memory of long-forgotten joys, when the happy country child listened to their sootting music, while intently watching them in the old homesetead-garden, or roved with them amid pastures and hill-sides, to gather the flowers still rejoticing in their " meadow-sweet breath," or whispering of the precious perfumes of their forest home!
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One natlve charm than all the gloss of art;
Spontaneous joya, where nature has its play,
The soul adopts and owns their first-born sway;
Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind,
Unenveld, unmolested, unconfined.
But the long poun, the midnight masquerade,
With all the freaks of wanton wealth array'd,
In these, ere trifiers half their wish obtain,
The tollsome pleasure sickens into pain ;
And e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart distrusting asks, 1P lists 88 joy."
GollennitlWINTERING BESS.
## Chapter Xxi. wintering news.
As soon as frosty weather arrives, bees cluster competely together in their lives, to keep warm. They are never dormant, like wasps and hornets (p. 110), and a thermometer pushed up among them will show a Summer temperature, even when, in the open air, it is many degrees below zero. When the cold becomes intense, they keep up an incessant tremulous motion, in order to develop more heat by active exercise; and, as those on the outside of the cluster become chilled, they are replaced by others.
As all muscular exertion requires food to supply the waste of the system, the more quiet bees can be kept, the less they will cat. It is, therefore, highly important to preserve them, as far as possible, in Winter, from every degree, either of heat or cold, which will arouse them to great activity.
The usual mode of allowing them to remain all Winter on their Summer stands, is, in cold climates, very objectionable. In those parts of the country, however, where the cold is seldom so severe as to prevent them from flying, at frequent intervals, from their hives, perhaps no better way, all things considered, can be devised. In such favored regions, bees are but little removed from their native climate, and their wants may be easily supplied, without those injurious effects which commonly result from disturbing them when the weather is so cold as to confine them entirely to their hives.
If the stocks are to be wintered in the open air, they should all be made populous, and rich in stores, even if to do it requires the number of colonies to be reduced one-half, or more.* The bee-keeper who has ten strong stocks in the Spring, will, by judicious management with movable-comb hives, be able to close the season with a larger Apiary than one who begins it with thirty, or more, feeble colonies.
If two or more colonies, which are to be united in the Fall, are not close together, their hives must be gradually approximated (p. 280), and the bees may then, with proper precautions (p. 203), be put into the same hive.
If the central combs of the hive are not well stored with honey, they should be exchanged for such as are, so that, when the cold compels the bees to recede from the outer combs, they may cluster among their stores. If the fullest honey-combs are not of worker size, the caps of their cells may be sliced off, and the combs put in the upper apartment, where the bees can remove the honey, and store it in the centre of the hive. In districts where bees gather but little honey in the Fall, such precautions, in cold climates, will be specially needed, as, often, after breeding is over, their central combs will be almost empty.
As,bees are natives of a warm climate, they do not instinctively place their honey where it will be most accessible to them in cold weather, but simply where it will least interfere with the raising of brood. Neither, if, while the weather is warm, they can easily communicate through the 'combs of the hive, can they be depended on to make such passages through them, as will allow them to pass readily, in cold weather, from one to another.
The Apiarian, should, therefore, late in the Fall, cut, with a pen-knife, a hole, an inch in diameter, in the centre of each comb, about one-third from the top.1
Footnote 1: If these holes are made before they feel the need of them, they will frequently close them, Mr. Wan. W. Cary (p. 204) has invented a process of making these holes without removing the comb. He makes a hole in the side of the hive, which, when not in use, is covered with a button or plug (PL V, Fig. 14) through which he slowly worms an instrument in the shape of a _four or button-factor_ (shappend at the end), until it strikes the opposite side of the hive. By this process of making the Winter passages, only a very few bees are burt. As the queen always runs away from danger, she is not liable to be burt. An application for a patent on this device is now pending. If the patent issues, the right to use it will be free to all owning the right to use the movable-comb hive.
I strongly advise every one using my lives to make Winter passages for their bees. As the frames touch neither the top, bottom, nor sides of the hive, the bees have such extraordinary facilities for Intercommunication, that they cannot be depended on to leave any holes in their comb.
The Winter of 1850-6 will long be remembered, not only for the moon degree and duration of its cell, but for the tremendous winds, which, of the tidya together, swept like a Polar tornado over the kind. Aplaries should go in exposed situations were, in many instances, nearly ruled.
As facts observed have a value far above theories, I shall give the substance of numerous observations made by me, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, in the Winter of 1856-7, on wintering bees in the open air :
Jan. 9eh, 1857.--Examined a number of stocks with _Winter-passages_ in their combs, and with all the holes in their honey-board uncovered. The previous month had been extremely cold, and, for three days before the examination, the thermometer had been one-half of the time below zero, and only once ten above, the wind blowing an almost continuous gale. In none of these hives could I find any frost or dampness, or any bees killed by being caught away from the main body of the colony. In a temperature below zero, they would rush up from their combs on the slightest jar of their hives, rapidly pouring through the Winter-passages, and showing their ability to reach any of their stores.1 In a few colonies, to which no upward ventilation had been given, the interior walls of the hive, and many of the combs were coated with frost.
Jan. 14th.--Carefully examined three hives. No. I, made of boards seven-eighths of an inch thiek, had stood with its honey-board removed, the same as would show by removing (\(f^{\prime}\)) in Plate III, Fig. 9. It had a good stock of bees, and, although the mercury in the morning was 1014 below zero, there was scarcely any frost in the hive. The bees were dry and lively, and the central combs contained eggs and unsenled brood. No. 2 contained an equally strong stock, in a thin hive holding eighteen frames, ten of which (five on each side) had no combs. This hive had no upward ventilation, and was very frosty.
The central combs had eggs and unsenaled brood. No. 3 was most thoroughly protected by double sides, filled in with charcoal, and all the holes in its honey-board were left open. It had a little frost, as No. 1. and its central combs contained eggs and some sealed brood. Although it had a better stock of bees than either of the others, it appeared to have begun to breed only a few days earlier.
Jan. 30th. This month has been the coldest on record for more than fifty years. My hives have been exposed to a temperature of 30\({}^{\circ}\) below zero, and for forty-eight hours together the wind blew a strong gale, and the mercury rose only once to 6\({}^{\circ}\) below zero. No. 1 was again examined, and the bees found in good condition. The central comb was almost filled with sealed brood, nearly mature; all the combs were free from mould, and the interior of the hive was dry. In a hive as well protected as No. 3, but which _had no appeared ventilation_, the vapor, or _breadh of the bees_, which had frozen in it, having melted in consequence of a sudden thaw, both combs and bees were in a wretched condition.
As long as the vapor remains congealed, it can only injure the bees by keeping them from stores which they need; but, as soon as a thaw sets in, hives which have no upward ventilation are in danger of being ruined.*
Footnote *: In March, 1854, I lost some of my best colonies, under the following circumstances: The Winter had been intensely cold, and the hives, having no upward ventilation, were filled with frost, and, in some instances, the ice on that glass slides was nearly a quarter of an inch thick. A few days of mild weather, in which the frost began to thaw, were followed by a temperature below zero, accompanied by furious winds, and in many of the hives, the bowl, which were still wet from the thaw, were frozen together in an almost solid music.
Mr. E. T. Sturtevant, of East Cleveland, Ohio, so widely known as an experienced Apisarian, in a letter to me, thus gives his experience in wintering bees in the open air:
" No extremity of cold that we ever have in this climate, will injure bees, if their breath is allowed to pass off, so that they are
## 7 Wintelking heess.
dry. I never lost a good stock that was dry, and had plenty of honey.
"In the Winter of 1855-6, I had twenty stocks standing in a row, all but one of which would have been regarded as in a good condition for wintering--not too tight below, nor yet too open above. One was in a hive suspended twenty inches from the ground, _and without any bottom-board._ The chamber for surplus honey-boxes was open to the _north_; and had eight one-ineh holes, _all uncovered_.
"I left home about the 12th of February, the weather being very cold, and the hives all banked up with drifted snow. Returning the last of the month, I examined the whole row, and found the nineteen thawed out, but in a sadly wet and miserable plight. If I could have taken them into a room, out of the reach of the frost, until they were dry, they might have been saved. The weather changed to severe freezing before the next morning, and all the nineteen swarms soon died; while the one that was apparently so neglected; came out strong and healthy. Before adopting upward ventilation, I had lost my best swarms in this way, until I became discouraged."
In the coldest parts of our country, _if upcard ventilation is neglected_, no amount of protection that can be given to hives, in the open air, will prevent them from becoming damp and mouldy, even _if frost is excluded_. Often, the more they are protected, the greater the risk from dampness. A very thin hive _unparametted_, so that it may readily absorb the heat of the sun, will dry inside much sooner than one painted white, and in every way most thoroughly protected against the cold. The first, like a _garret_, will suffer from dampness for a short time only; while the other, like a _collar_, may be so long in drying, as to injure, if not destroy, the bees.
Much has been said in Germany, within the last few years, of the danger of bees that have upward ventilation perishing in Winter for want of water. Mr. Wagner has furnished me with a translation of an able article in the _Bienienzeitung_, by Von Berlepsch, and G. Eberhardt, the substance of which is as follows :
"The Creator has given the bee an instinet to store up honey and pollen, which are not always to be procured, but not water, which is always accessible in her native regions. In northern latitudes, when confined to the hive, often for months together, they can obtain the water they need only from the water particles contained in the honey, the perspiration which condenses on the colder parts of the hive, or the humidity of the air which enters their hives.
"Vital energy in the bee is at its lowest point in November and December, If, at this time, an unusual degree of cold does not force her to resort to muscular action, she remains almost motionless, a death-like silence prevailing in the hive ; and we know, by actual experiment, that much less food is consumed than at any other time. Breeding having ceased, the weather-bound bees have no demands made on their vital action, and we have never known them at this time to suffer for want of water. As soon, however, as the queen begins to lay, which occurs in many colonies early in January, and in some by Christmas, the workers must eat more freely both honey and pollen, to supply jelly for the larvae, and wax for sealing their cells. Mueh more water is needed for these purposes, than when they can procure the fresh nectar of flowers; and the want of it begins to be felt about the middle of January. The unmistakable signs of the dearth of water is a colony, are found in the granules of candidied honey lying on the bottom of the hive. The suffering bees will now open cell after, cell of the sealed honey, to obtain what remains unenadied, and when these supplies of moisture fail, will attack the unsealed larvae, and devour the cegn, if any are still laid. They now give way to despair, disperse through the hive, if the cold does not prevent, as though they had lost their queen, and peigh auld stores of honey, unless milder weather permits them to go in search of water, or the Apiarian supplies it in their hive, when order will again be restored.
"After protracted and severe Winters, of every six bees that perish, five die for want of water, and not, as was hitherto sup posed, from undue accumulation of fines, _Dynentery is one of the direct consequences of water-dearth_, the bees, in dire need of water, consuming honey immediately, and taking cold by roaming about the combs.
"On the 11th of February, we examined a number of colonies, on whose bottom-boards we noticed particles of candidied honey, and found that in all of them, the sealed honey had been opened in various points, and that _breeding had entirely ceased_. The colonies that we had supplied with water on discovering that they needed it, _contained healthy brood_, _in every stage of development_:
"In Mareh and April, the rapidly increasing amount of brood causes an increased demand for water; and when the thermometer is as low as 45o, bees may be seen carrying it in at noon, even on windy days, although many are sure to perish from cold. In these months, in 1856, during a protracted period of unfavorable weather, we gave all our bees water, _and they remained at home in quiet_, whilst those of other Apiaries _tere flying briskly in search of water_. At the beginning of May, our hives _were crowded with bees;_ whilst the colonies of our neighbors _were mostly weak_.
"The consumption of water in Mareh and April, in a populous colony, is very great, and in 1856, one hundred stocks required eleven Berlin quarts per week, _to keep on breeding uninterruptedly_. In Springs where the bees can fly safely almost every day, the want of water will not be felt.
"The loss of bees by _water-dearth_, is the result of climate, and no form of hive, or mode of wintering, can furnish an absolutely efficient security against it. The colonies may be put in yard-long _lager-hives_, or in towering standards, in shapeless gums, in meat straw hives, or in well lined Dixerons; in wood, or straw, or clay domieiles; or may dwell in hollow trees, or clefts of rocks; they may remain unshielded on their Summer stands; be protected by a covering of pine shatters or chaff; or be"stored in dark chambers or vaults--still, water-dearth may occur, here and there, earlier or later, and more or less injuriously; because _it is counter to the original instincts of the bee to dwell in Northern climates_, _confined to its Adaptation for months_.
"If water is regularly given to the bees, from the middle of January till the Spring fairly opens (unless the weather permit them to fly safely), they will not suffer. This water may be placed in a wet sponge in a feeding-box, directly over the bees, and protected by a eushion of mess. A hundred or more colonies may thus, without disturbance, be quickly supplied.17
Footnote 17: I am particularly indebted to Mr. William W. Gary, Mr. Richard Colvin, Bev. J. C. Bodwell, Mr. R. T. Sturterant, and Bev. Lert Whaaten, for careful observations made-last Winter, at my suggestionon whether bees.
That bees cannot raise brood without water, has been known from the times of Aristotle. Buers, of Athens (Cotton, p. 104), aged 80 years, said in 1797 : " Bees daily supply the worms with water ; should the state of the weather be such as to prevent the bees from fetching water for a few days, the worms would perish. These dead bees are removed out of the hive by the working-bees, if they are healthy and strong ; otherwise, the stock perishes from their putrid exhalations." I have repeatedly known colonies to suffer severe losses, for want of water ; and in my correspondence with bee-keepers, the last Winter (1858-9),* have directed their attention to this point, and have had my estimate of the value of water to bees in Winter greatly increased. But as yet, I have had no satisfactory evidence that any colonies, _we chose honey was not candied_, _have died from water-death_.
The Baron Von Berlepsch says, that "death from this cause more rarely occurs in districts where there is late Fall bee-forage than in those like his own, where pasture fails occasionally in July, and usually early in August. In such regions, the honey becomes very thick in Winter, and sometimes thoroughly candi! before Spring." It is fortunate that, in the coldest parts of our country, late forage is usually abundant.
Berlepsch and Eberhardt not only condemn upward ventilation, as depriving the bees of the moisture which they need, but insist that it often hastens the ruin of a stock, by causing an excess of dampness among the bees, although they are actually in want of water. Dzierzon thinks that these acute observers have here fallen into a great mistake; and, did my limits permit, I could show that their objections to upward ventilation do not accord with facts, as observed in this country. So far from its being true 4 that the hive in which perceptible condensation of moisture occurs needs water, and that in which it does not take place needs none"--moisture often condenses so as to wet _the combs and the bees,_4 showing plainly that there is an excess of water instead of a deficiency. The following facts, which have been furnished to me by the Rev. J. C. Bodwell, of Framingham, Massachusetts, are highly important in this connection. His colonies were wintered in a very dry cellar:
Footnote 4: In very cold weather, ice and moisture may super-abound in a hive, but it may be so far from the elaster that they cannot obtain it, even when perishing for the want of it.
"About the beginning of the year (1859), opened my single glass hive, and found the bees abundant, and apparently healthy, but no eggs nor brood.
"Feb. 2.--Examined the same hive, and found sealed brood, and unsealed, but no eggs. A considerable part of the brood had perished, probably from lack of water.
"Opened another hive, not so full of bees, and found the same state of things, except that less of the brood had perished. Combs dry in both, and many honey-cells open. Gave water to all, to their evident Joy, and closed up the glass hive at the top, for experiment as to dampness, leaving the rest with upward ventilation.
"Feb. 5.--Examined both hives. No eggs in glass hive. The been had been busy expelling dead brood. In the other, found eggs in moderate quantity, Very small larvae in both.
"Feb. 11.--Opened glass hive, and found the cells mostly emptied of dead brood, and abundance of eggs, and larvae just hatched. Discovered an opening between the hive and top-board, permitting upward ventilation, and closed it.
"March 1.--Made a thorough examination of both hives. Eggs, larvae, and sealed brood in both. The glass hive very wet, water standing on the tops of the frames, and at least a gill on the bottom-board; combs mouldy, and whole aspect of things comfortless. The other, _quite dry_, both hive and combs. Examined two other glass hives, having top ventilation, and found them dry. All have been treated precisely alike, except that the closed-up hive has had less water, as the bees did not seem to want it--manifesting no pleasure at receiving it. This hive had not so many eggs as the other, though much the larger stock, and appeared in a less healthy condition generally."
In any of my hives which have an upper cover, the bees can be easily supplied with water, and in those which have none, it may be injected with a straw into the winter entrance, or poured through the roof by a small hole, stopped with a plug, care being taken not to give too much.*
_If the colonies are strong in numbers and stores, have upward ventilation, easy communication from comb to comb, and water when needed--and the hive entrances are _Aketered from piecering winds_, they have all the conditions _essential_ to wintering successfully in the open air.
Great injury is often done by disturbing a colony of bees when the weather is so cold that they cannot fly. Many which are tempted to leave the cluster, perish before they can regain it, and every disturbance, by roasing them to needless activity, causes an increased consumption of food. About once in six weeks, however, it will be advisable to clean the bottom-boards of hives wintered in the open air, of dead bees, and other refuse. Where permanent bottom-boards are used, this may be done with a scraper (Plate XL, Fig. 30), made of a piece of iron-wire, about two feet long; this, when heated, is bent about four inches, and flattened to one-quarter of an inch wide, both edges being made sharp.*