The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-26
Preparing Bees for Winter.

correspondents AMERICAN huIdi bouie.
Some seem to think that bees need little -r no
attention during the months of September and
October, believing that the month of November
is early enough to prepare bees for winter. L
used think So too, but after losing heavily sew
eral times when preparation was thus delayed,
made no my mind that something was wrong,
and took the advice of an old bee keeper who
told me that the month of September was the
proper time to fix bees for the winter. After
working on his plan for a number OF years.
find that he was quite right about 1t, ana as
am now fixing my bees for the coming winter, L
thought it might not be uninterestiug to your
readers TO know how do.
The point which seems to have the greatest
bearing successful wintering is the getting
of the winter stores in and around the cluster of
bees in time for them to settle down into that
quiescent state conducive TO good wintering
prior to Nov. ]. To arrange these stores and
properly seal them requires warm weather.
hence all will see the falacy of putting off caring
for them till cold weather arrives. TO be sure
all have the desired amount of honey, there Is
only one certain way to do. and that is to omen
the hives and take out each frame, and weigh
it. after having shaken the bees of from 1t
Next weigh a frame of empty comb or several
of them. as to get the average weight which.
when deducted from the weight of those in the
hive will give the weight OF the honey. 1t it is
found that there are twenty five pounds Of
honey, call that colony all right-for winter.
If less. it must be fed the deficiency; II more, Ii
is short In this way go over the whole yarcl
equalizing and feeding If it is required, till all
have the required twenty five pounds
But, I hear some one say. this is a fearful jot
to shake the bees off of every comb and weigh it.
Well so it would be IL done with each colony.
but you will have to do this with one or two till
you get the right conception of just how muck
honey there is in each frame by simply looking
at it. when you can count off the number OF
pounds almost to certainty. However; you
will havQ wpiph q few If hQvA
riced this plan, to give you the necessary trains
ing required. can cOunEoff combs OF honey So
as to rarely vary one pound on the whole hive.
and yet do 1t as rapidly as / can handle the
combs, and when the apiary is thus gone ovei
there is a certainty about 1t which gives the
apiarist great advantage over any other moda
Of procedure.
AS l go over the hives in this way I carefully
note the quantity of bees, age OF queen amount
of pollen in the combs, ETC., which is jotted dowu
on piece of honey section, this piece being left
on top of the hive so that the next spring can
tell just what was in each hive the fall before. SO
that in case of loss ] can form some idea of what
occasioned il. This little piece of section also
helps me to decide what Queens to supersede
during the next season. for on it keep quite
record of when the colony swarmsd and how
much honey 1t made. etc. .-1-
After having the bees prepared AZ above as to
honey for winter. they are 20 be snugly tucked
up in their chaff and sawdust cushions at any
time before the first of November, when most
convenient, where they are left undisturbed till
spring, unless a chance TO fly is given by the Ap.
pearance of a warm day in mid-winter.