The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-11
w1NrERINe BEES oUr-DooRs.


bling-block OF bee-culture in the north
ern and central States of America There
are so many cases of failure that the \
problem of a successful wintering of bees
cannot be too thoroughly studied, says
Charles Dadant in the Prairie Farmer.
The main causes of such failures are:
l. A population too weak to maintain
a sufficient degree of heat in the hive
?. a quantity of food inadequate for
the needs of the colony during the win
ter months.
living on it cannot remain in good
1. A hive which cannot sufficiently pro-
tect bees against the cold of winter.
3. A hive so close that the dampness
produced by their breathing vets the
bees, their comb and their food.
g. A SeQueStratiOn of bees, too long
protected to allow them to get rid Of
their feces before they become sick with
To overcome these difficulties bee-keepN
ers have tried several ways of winteringA-
bees:
In rooms above ground. Third. In silos.
successfully all these means.
The first requisite to success in win
tering bees on the summer stands is a.
large population; part of it ought to be
young bees. A large population main
tains easily the heat inside the hive, and
the bees can easily pass from an emp .
/ tied comb to another containing honey.
Besides. as the outside of the hive is kept
warm, the bees do not need TO eat so
much to maintain the Indispensable heat,
and they can more easily bear longer
seclusion, since their lntestineS are not
so much loaded with feces.
A colony containing quantity or
young bees succeeds better in it's winter
| ing than another with old bees only, be-
cause the young bees, which have gone
more careful and do not rush out far
from the hive, as do the older bees.
! which, accustomed to go IN quest OF
honey or pollen, go far away, without
looking backwards. during bright win
/ ter day, and are often caught and
chilled by a change of wind, or by an
4 occasional cloud which darkenS the sun.
! A sufficient quantity of food. Honey is
the only food necessary in winter Tor
| bees on the summer stands; but 1t is 10
| be noticed that the food IS USED not only
! to sustain life. but to produce the ind1S-
pensable warmth, for 1t 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 ad-
mitted that twenty-five pounds of honey
per colony is not too much, to spare the
bee-keepers all anxiety about the needs
of their bees buring the whole winter.
Several means are used to provide bees
but few colonies of an apiary are
short of honey, the most simple means
is to take from those which have some toS
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 case happens
too often to the bee-keepers who use
small hives, especially In poor years like
this one, the best food to give is sugar
syrup, fed to the bees in October; This
syrup made with quart or ooilng
water and four pounds Of graduated
sugar. to which one pound OF honey or
more is added to prevent crystallization,
Is given at evening, when yet tepld, IN
old tin cans covered with a piece of cot
ton-cloth, and inverted on the upper bars
of the frames. The bees suck the syrup
through the cloth. The Hill bee-feeder,
made on the same principle, but entirely
of tin, is also used, and saves mucn
labor. A strong colony can put in the
comb, in a single night, the contents OF
three or four of these cans.
But the insufficient quantity of FOOD Is
not the only want to be supplied. Its pad
quality should also be feared, for honey
dew. or dark honey from fall flowers con-
tains too much indigestible matter. Wnen
bees. during winter, can NY out once OF
twice per month. they have good oppor-
tunities to void their feCes, and they can
remain in good health with food OF poop
quality; but when the weather rema1gs
cold for six or seven consecutive We7hs
or more bees fed on poor honey get Ihe
diarrhea, soil the inside of their hFe'
and perish. - 8. -
To prevent these bad results, It is OF
good MANAGEMENT to extract all the dark
honey especially the honey-deW. ana 70
replace IT with sugar syrup. rms eA-
tracing is especially Indispensable Wnen
4
bought the combs of some hundred col
onies which had been unable 10 I'VE IN
winter on these juices which contains
too much water and otner matters, anu
When the cluster of bees is unable to
produce the Indispensable warmth our our
ing the cold days of winter, they die,
sometimes partially, and often whoiIy.
To prevent such accidents, some pee
keepers use chaff hives, or hives s,,I with n
double walls. the interior OF winch 10
fT1ed with chaff or with sawdust.
Some other bee-keepers. for winter
lodge every one Of their hives In a large
box furnished with a passage for pees.
We have tried both systems. Bees; IN
such hives, do not feel the cold days'
but neither do they feel the warn, days,
and cannot take advantage OF ,ne
warmth to fly out and get rid Of their
feces. We prefer to protect our hlves
during winter only. against the northern
/ Zach hive a pack of dry leaves or straw,
which is kept against the hives, on tnree
sides, with rope ladders, each OF Wni i
is made with about twelve haif latns'
! leaving the front side of the hive Tree,
so as not to prevent the sun from warm
ing the entrance during the few warm
ud BS n the way. should warn the young
bee-keepers against the idea OF trans
porting their hives to some warmer
places just before winter. one OF our
pai9hboTs has lost nearly all his colonies
in consequence of this unadvisa3le
change of place. Most OF MS coIonies
PEI aa iIiaTu for the old bees. accustomed
. TO fIy from the hives without looking
backyard. return to the old place where
thew used to be. and are lost:
move the air-tight ceiling which covers
the the top of the frames of our hives. 81, and nd
replace it with a straw-mat on wnlch we
; baen mn drv leaves The dampness pro
Snced BY the bees passes through. the mat
and condenses in the leaves, which are
wet by spring. while the inside OF tne
n TNr
Rv the means expounded above. bees
can sustain long sequestration without
TOO much loss and suffering.
ON ROTHSCHILDe. ~. 80 y.