The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1897-09-16
PREPARE NOW FOR wINTERING BEES

PREPARE NOW FOR WINTERING BEES.
While some may think November or
December is early enough to prepare
bees for winter, many OF our best apl-
artists that are the most successful in
wintering prepare their colonies early
in the season, writes o. j. Lowrey, of
Vermont. Three things are very es-
sential to wintering bees we'll l,
Good stores; 2, good strong colonies
of bees; 3, proper temperature. While
the two points first named are the most
essential, the last should not be over
looked.
Good honey, well ripened and cap
ped, may be the best winter food, but
if the bees should store something
with the honey, as they sometimes do
during honey drouth, like honeydew,
or cider from apple pomace or decay
ing fruit, bees consuming such stores
are pretty sure to show signs of dis
ease during long confinement. This
can only be remedied by cleansing
fly, which We cannot with certainty
depend upon during our winter
months. Proper precaution during
the early part Of September, by look
ing over the brood combs of each col
ony and making careful estimate Of
the number of pounds of honey in each
hive and supplying all colonies that
are short of twenty-five pounds of
good honey with feed to makeup that
weight or its equivalent, will go some
way in keeping bees from picking up
improper food in the fall, when flowers
are not secreting honey, and will be
helpful in wintering our bees.
l have found that sugar syrup made
from graduated sugar and fed early is
equal if not superior to honey in win
tering my bees. L have noticed col
onies setting side by side in early
spring; while having their first fly,
those wintered upon sugar syrup seem
ed free from disease; those wintered
entirely upon honey showed more or
less dysentery. This having come to
my notice nearly every spring when
my bees have had long confinement,
l must concede preference for sugar
syrup as a food for wintering bees
when properly made and fed. Some
may say that twenty-five pounds of
honey is more than necessary to win
ter colony of bees. If wintered in
good cellar or winter repository, this
may be true, but as it takes large
amount of food in the early spring to
feed the early raised bees, and the
weather in our northern climatso e.
tickle, it is very necessary that every
colony be we'll supplied with fobd the
fall previous.
AS soon as the white honey harvest
is passed (the fore part of August in
this part of Vermont, is nom too soon
to know that all colGRles have good
prolific queens. bees raised in August
and September are the best bees for
%I1tering, possessing more vitality
the season. Therefore, all colonies
should be looked over early to see that
all have plenty of brood in all stages
of growth. This is the brood that
produces the bees to winter the colony
and build it up the following spring
If for any reason a colony does not
have prolific queen at the end of the
honey flow, such queens should be re-
placed by good ones, SO the colony
can build up before cool weather sets
in. If bees have been neglected in
the above respect, all colonies should
be looked over the fore part of Sep
TENDER, and weak colonies should be
united, that all may be strong before
winter sets in. All colonies being de-
ficient in stores for wintering should
be fed early enough so the feed may
be thoroughly ripened and capped
during warm weather.