Sterling, Ill.
ANSWER.—There is nothing better than to give them frames filled with
honey. Carefully remove two or three of the empty combs till you strike
the brood-nest—that is, till you come to a comb with bees on—then put
in a comb of honey. Be sure that there are bees enough on the comb next
to the honey so that there will be no doubt about their commencing on
the honey right away, for there might be such a thing as their starving
without ever touching it, unless it were pushed right under their
little noses. If the first frame in the brood-nest has too few bees, it
may be best to put the honey between this and the next comb with bees
on. If the temperature of your cellar varies, don't take the time when
it is coldest.
=Bees Dying in the Cellar.=
As I have always had bad luck in wintering bees out-of-doors, I thought
I would winter them in the cellar this winter, so I have followed the
AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL along, and studied closely all that has appeared in it
about wintering bees in the cellar. I finally settled upon the way of
one writer's plan, thinking it perhaps a good way; that is, to raise
the hive from the bottom-board about an inch, by putting blocks under
the corners. I believe he said that the bees would not come out if kept
in the dark—that I have done, and I find every time I go to them, that
the ground is covered with dead bees, and at this rate I think there
will not be any left by spring. Why do my bees come out, if others do
not?
My crop of honey last season was none, as usual, and I have had to feed
to carry the bees through the winter.