I commenced the year 1875 with 12 box hives and engaged
my brother to hive the colonies in movable frame hives on
shares, but the bees swarmed faster than he had the hives
ready—one swarmed 5 times in one week. In the fall I had 16
colonies in movable frame and 20 in box hives. I prepared
them for winter by cutting up a light bed-quilt to cover the
frames; drove stakes about a foot from the hives all around
except in the front, (which faced the south) and packed straw
in the spaces and filled the cap with chaff and straw, and
covered the hives with straw. In the spring but one colony
was living and that was in a box hive. The quilts were laid
down flat on the frames, leaving no ventilation. When it
became cold the bees died and fell on the bottom board,
filling up the spaces between the frames, the moisture fell
on the bees and froze solid, closing the entrance so that I
could not open it even with an iron rod. In the corners of
each hive was a chunk of ice, running half way up the frames.
The bees cut holes through the quilts and when they could,
had crawled into the straw and died. This was murder, but
such was my experience in 1875-6.
Florid, Ill., Mar. 1, 1881.
[We have no doubt your first disasters were attributable altogether to
a too rapid increase.—ED.]
* * * * *
☞ The North Western Wisconsin Bee-keepers Association will meet at
Germania Hall, LaCrosse, Wis., on Tuesday, May 10, at 10 a.m. All
interested in bee-keeping are requested to be present.