Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1874 — Ventilation of Bee-Hives. [ARTICLE]

Ventilation of Bee-Hives.

There has been a great deal written and said about ventilating hives. We all know that the bees will stop every crack they can with propolis, or “ bee-glue,’'and thus secure themselves against drafts of cold air in severe weather. . In summer bees hang more or less outside the hive, and by fanning with their wings at the entrance indicate that plenty of air is acceptable. We find some commendably sensible notions on this subject credited to Mr. S. C. Balch, as read before the National Bee-Keepers’ AssociatioEFS&l recent meeting: I have my hives made as tight as the best mechanics can make them (they are double hives at that), and in the fall allow the bees to glue the top as close as they will (and they will make it nearly air-tight), and am very careful not to remove the covers too late for them to do so. I then close the entrance so as to leave not more than one inch square for the strongest colonies—others in proportion—and if they have sufficient food and enough bees they are there prepared for their winter winter comes. My winter repository is as tight as brick and mortar can make it, with two outside ventilators, each two by four inches, and one at the top four inches ‘square, which I consider “ventilation” enough for 100 colonies; and were it not for my belief that it is always besFtodefr-well-enough alone, I would give none at all. But will not hives and combs become damp and moldy with such treatment? There will be a little dampness and some jvhite mold, but is there not still more with upward ventilation? Cold air, passing through the hives and being warmed by coining in contact with the bees, would of itself create a humid atmosphere, which would condense and collect on unoccupied comb and the walls of the hive. As a result of this weHave our uncapped honey diluted, fermented pollen and moldy combs. Bee-keepers, do you not find this the case with upward ventilation? Ido not without it. Again, the cold air passing in from the bottom of the hive strikes the bees on the outside of the cluster, and like some farmer’s hogs, sleeping in a fence corner, that quarrel and squeal for the middle of the nest, they, too, are constantly trying to get inside the cluster where it is warmer, and the whole colony is kept on the move, the bees on the outside trying to get inside, and those on the inside of the cluster to stay inside. Bees have another peculiarity-instinct if you please—and that is, whenever disturbed they do one of two things—fight or eat They have nothing to fight, so they eat until gorged with honey, and finally void their foeces in the hive. This,in myopinion, accounts for the bees soiling their hives, or, as many term it. dysentery. My bees do not have it. Do yours? You lay' it to bad honey; may' it not also be bad pollen or bee-bread, and are you sure that it is not made so by the way you treat your bees? Now for summer ventilation I give them entrance according to the strength of the colony and the _ amount of work they have to do. I have nine one-inch holes or ventilators to the hive, and if the colony be strong and the weather excessively' warm I open all, ventilating in proportion to strength of colonies and warmth of atmosphere; and rarely' have bees -el ust er ou tsi de the hi ve, and still not have it so cold asTo chill, brood or prevent their making comb or molding wax.— Rural New Yorker.