. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. HELPFUL HINTS FOR NOVICES sea J3g- W^Herrod. WINTERING BEES. {continued from page 64.) About the middle of October the full complement of stores should be made up by rapid feeding, so that the stock has about thirty pounds well sealed over. The stores should be sealed as far as possible, though a little unsealed will do no harm, as it will be used up first. The novice experi- ences difficulty in gauging the weight of food in the combs. If eight combs are well filled, there will be sufficient. To give an idea of what the combs should be lik
. British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser. Bees. HELPFUL HINTS FOR NOVICES sea J3g- W^Herrod. WINTERING BEES. {continued from page 64.) About the middle of October the full complement of stores should be made up by rapid feeding, so that the stock has about thirty pounds well sealed over. The stores should be sealed as far as possible, though a little unsealed will do no harm, as it will be used up first. The novice experi- ences difficulty in gauging the weight of food in the combs. If eight combs are well filled, there will be sufficient. To give an idea of what the combs should be like, I give photographs. Fig. 2, taken last autumn, of five combs from a stock of mine just before it was wintered down. No. 1 shows the outside comb, which contained seven pounds of food. Numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 are of the combs in rotation, and of the side nearest the centre of the hive. No. 2 contains a little over six pounds ; No. 3, five and three-quarter pounds; No. 4, five pounds; No. 5, four and a half pounds. The other five combs were in the same condition, so this stock had about fifty-six pounds of stores. An examination of No. r shows very clearly the extent of the brood-nest on the outside comb, and how, when breeding for the season ceases, these cells are taken advantage of for the storage of food for the winter. The supply of farinacious food in the shape of pollen should not be neglected—one or two combs should contain a supply of this ; if absent, it may be procured from other stocks that can spare it, or a supply can be given by mixing Symington's pea flour with honey to a stiff paste, and forcing it into some of the empty cells with an ordinary dinner knife by a spreading motion, as when putting butter on bread. Having made the food supply all right, the final packing must be com- pleted. It has been truly said that the best packing for wintering is "to pack with bees," and if the above in- structions are carried out the combs should be crowded with y
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