The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-11-21

Causes of Fr'Iure-R Requisites to Success
Winternlg on Summer Stands.
There are so many cases Of failure
ehat the problem of successful winter
hhG Of bees cannot be too thoroughly
etudied. The main causes Of such fail
Wres are: A population too weak to
mnintain sufficient degree of heat in
&he hive; quantity of food inadequate
30 the needs of the colony during the
winter months; food of so poor quail
aty that bees living on it cannot remain
IN good health; a hive which cannot
sufficiently protect bees against the cold
Of winter; hive so close that the
Aampness prodEced by their breathing
vets the bees, their comb and their food;
q sequestration of bees, too long pro-
tracted to allow them to get rid of their
feoes before they become sick with di-
arrhea. To overcome these difficulties
1eekeepers have tried several ways of
wintering bees-on their summer stands.
In rooms above ground, in silos, in eel
bars. Charles Dadant, whose successful
operations in the apiary entitle his
epinions to consideration, says in a
communication to Prairie Farmer:
The first requisite to succeed in win
9ering bees on their summer stands is a
largo population. A part of it ought to
be young bees. A large population
maintains easily the heat inside the
hive, and the bees can easily pass from
an emptied comb to another containing
Aoney. A colony containing quantity
of young bees succeeds better in its win.
tering than another with old bees only,
because the young bees, who have gone
out of their hives but few times, are
more careful and do not rush out far
from the hive, as do the older bees.
Honey is the only food necessary in
winter for bees on their summer stands,
but it is to be noticed that the food is
used not only to sustain life, but to pro-
duce the indispensable warmth, for it
has been often ascertained that large
population has consumed less in winter
than a smaller one, whose bees were
compelled to eat more to keep warm. 1t
is generally admitted that 20 pounds of
honey per colony are not too much to
spare the beekeepers all anxiety about
the needs of their bees during the whole
winter.
When but few colonies of an apiary
are short of honey, the most simple
means is to take from those which have
some to spare what the others need.
Such an operation is easy with movable
frame hives. But when no colony has
any honey to spare, and this happens
eften to beekeepers who use small hives,
the best food to give is sugar strip, fed
10 the bees in October. This strip,
made with quart of boiling water and
& pounds of granulated sugar, to which
. pound of honey or more is added to
prevent capitalization, is given at even
ing, when yet tepid, in old tin cans COW
cred with piece of cotton cloth and
inverted on the upper bars of the frames.
The bees suck the strip through the
cloth. The Hill bee feeder, made on
the same principle, but entirely of tin,
- also used and saves much labor. A
strong colony can put in the comb in a
atngle night the contents of three or
Sour Of these cans But the insufficient
quantity of food is not the only want to
b supplied. Its bad quality should also
b feared, for honey dew, or dark honey
rom fall flowers, contains too much in
Aigestible matter.
When the cluster Of bees is unable to
produce the Indispensable warmth dur
ing the GOLD days of winter, they die
sometimes partially and often wholly.
To prevent such accidents some bee
keepers use chaff hives, or hives with
double walls, the interior of which is
filled with chaff or with sawdust. Some
ether beekeepers, for winter, lodge ev
cry one of their hives in a large box
furnished with a passage for bees. We
prefer to protect our hives during win
ter only against the northern winds.
Our method is to heap around each hive
. pack of dry leaves or straw, which is
kept against the hives, on three sides,
with rope ladders, each of which is
made with about 10 half laths, leaving
abe front side Of the hive free, SO as not
10 prevent the sun from warming the
sntrance during the few warm days of
winter. Before winter we remove the
alright ceiling which covers the top of
the frames of our hives and replace it
with straw mat, ON which we heap up
dry leaves. The dampness produced by
1.-The bees passes through the mat and
tcondenses in the leaves which are wet
by spring, while the inside of the hive
is very dry.