A Room Made For Wintering Bees
Categories: WINTERING BEES.Bee Keeping: Mysteries Of Bee-keeping Explained
In the fall of 1849 I built a room for this purpose; the frame was
eight by sixteen feet square, and seven high, without any windows. A
good coat of plaster was put on the inside, a space of four inches
between the siding and lath was filled with saw-dust; under the bottom
I constructed a passage for the admission of air, from the north side;
another over head for its exit, to be closed and opened at pleasure, in
moderate weather, to give them fresh air, but closed when cold, and so
arranged as to exclude all the light.
A partition was extended across near the centre. This was to prevent
disturbing the whole by letting in light when carrying them out in the
spring. By closing the door of this partition, those in one room only
need be disturbed at once.
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2000 Inches Safe For This Section
I am satisfied that 2,000 inches in the clear, is the proper size for safety in this section, and consequently, profit. On an average, swarms from this size are as large as any. The dimensions should be uniform in all cases, whatever size is decid... A Case In Point
I have a case in point. Having been from home a couple of days, I found, on my return, a swarm of medium strength, that had been carelessly exposed, had been plundered of about fifteen pounds of honey, every particle they had.[13] About the usual nu... A Cause Suggested
We are all familiar to some extent with the contagious diseases of the human family, such as small-pox, whooping-cough, and measles, and their rapid spread from a given point, &c. We must also admit that some cause or causes, adequate to the effect,... A Disputed Question
We now approach another disputed point in natural history, relative to the queen leaving at any time except when leading out a swarm. Most writers say that the young queen leaves the hive, and meets her paramour, the drone, on the wing. Others deny ... A Duty
It is the duty of every bee-keeper, who expects to succeed, to know which his weak stocks are; an examination some cool morning, can be made by turning the hive bottom up, and letting the sun among the combs. The number of inhabitants in them is eas... A Moth Can Go Where Bees Can
A hive that is proof against the moth, is yet to be constructed. We frequently hear of them, but when they come to be tested, somehow these worms get where the bees are. When your hives become so full of bees, that they cover the board in a cool mor... A Multitude Of Drones Needed
Instinct teaches the bee to make the matters left to them as nearly _sure_ as possible. When they want one queen, they raise half a dozen. If one drone or only half a dozen were reared, the chances of the queen meeting one in the air would be very m... A Person's Breath Offensive And Other Causes
The breath of a person inside the hive, or among them, when clustered outside, is considered in the tribunals of their insect wisdom as the greatest indignity. A sudden jar, sometimes made by carelessly turning up the hive, is another. After being o... A Room Made For Wintering Bees
In the fall of 1849 I built a room for this purpose; the frame was eight by sixteen feet square, and seven high, without any windows. A good coat of plaster was put on the inside, a space of four inches between the siding and lath was filled with sa... A Rule For The Time Of These Issues
This may be put down as a rule, that all after swarms _must_ be out by the eighteenth day from the first. I never found an exception, unless the following may be considered so: When a swarm left the middle of May, and another the first of July, seve... A Successful Method
When you are all ready, take a stock that can spare a swarm; if bees are on the outside, raise the hive on wedges, and drive them in with a little water, and disturb them gently with a stick. Now smoke and invert it, setting the empty hive over. If ... A Suggestion
Mr. Miner's cross-bar hive is intended to make the bees construct all straight combs, and probably will do it. But the disadvantage of bee-bread and brood in the boxes will not be made up by straight combs. For the benefit of those who have been m... A Test
But while you are learning this nice distinction, your bees may be ruined. We will, therefore, give some other means of protection. Bees, when they have been stealing a sack of honey from a neighboring hive, will generally run several inches from ... A Test For The Presence Of A Queen
If you have a hive that you suspect has lost a queen at this season, her presence can be ascertained nine times in ten by this method. Sweep off the board clean, and look the next day or two after for these eggs. Take care that ants, or mice, have n... A Test For The Presence Of Queen Doubted
It is further asserted that if a hive loses its queen "no pollen is collected." Also, "that such quantities are sometimes collected, and fill so many cells, that too little room is left for brood, and the stock rapidly dwindles away in consequence."... A Tool For Their Destruction
I have used a simple tool, made in a few minutes, and very convenient in this business. Any one can make it. Get a piece of narrow hoop-iron, (steel would be better,) three-fourth inch wide, five inches long; taper from one side three inches from th... A Young Queen Takes The Place Of Her Mother In The Old Stock
In ordinary circumstances, when a swarm has left a stock, the oldest of the young queens is ready to emerge from her cell in about eight or nine days; if no second swarm is sent out, she will take her mother's place, and begin to lay eggs in about t... Accumulation Of Faeces Described By Some Writers As A Disease
This accumulation of faeces is considered by many writers as a disease--a kind of dysentery. It is described as affecting them towards spring, and several remedies are given. Now if what I have been describing is not the dysentery, why I must think ... Accusations Not Always Right
Careless bee-keepers, when their hives are thus robbed, feel regret, or are more often vexed at somebody--at the result of their carelessness. The person, keeping most bees in a neighborhood, must expect to be accountable for all effects of their ig... Advantage Of Proper Arrangement
Two inches being nearly the right distance, each one will be so made that a bee arriving at the top of the hive between any two sheets will be able to find a passage into the box, without the task of a long search for it; which I can imagine to be t... Advantage Of The Hive Close To The Board
An inch hole in the side of the hive, a few inches from the bottom, as a passage for the bees, is needed, as I shall recommend letting the hive close to the board; it is essential on account of robbing; also, it is necessary to confine as much as po... Advantage Of The Patent Vender
Here is where the patent vender has taken the advantage of our ignorance, by pretending that no other hive but _his ever obtained such quantities, or so pure in quality_. ... Advantages In Transferring
I would now like to show the advantages I derived in transferring the twenty swarms before mentioned. We will suppose that each family, from the first of October till April, consumed twenty pounds of honey. That in the centre combs, where there is m... Advantages Of Buckwheat
Under some circumstances, clover will continue to bloom through this part of the season; also, a few other flowers; but I find by weighing, a loss from one to six pounds, between the 20th July and the 10th of August, when the flowers of buckwheat be... Advantages Of Making One Good Stock From Two Poor Ones
This making one good stock out of two poor ones, cannot be too highly recommended; aside from its advantages, it relieves us from all disagreeable feelings in taking life, that we can with but little trouble preserve. ... Advantages Of The Changeable Hive Considered
The value of changeable hives is based upon the following principle:--Each young bee when it first hatches from the egg, is neither more nor less than a worm; when it receives the necessary food, the bees seal it over; it will then spin a cocoon, or...