CHAPTER XI.WINTERING BEES.
There will be little complaint of losses in wintering bees, whether in a cold climate or a warm one, whether indoors or outside, provided the following points are observed with each colony:
(1)The colony must have a good queen.—By a good queen is meant one not over two years old and which shows no signs of failure during the latter part of the season. It is preferable to have a queen of the current season's raising. Such a queen, if reared from good stock and under good conditions during the latter part of the summer, will be in her prime the following spring, and if no other conditions are lacking will have her colony strong for the harvest.
(2)Plenty of good bees.—Bees that are several months old or that have gathered a heavy fall harvest of honey are not good to depend upon for the winter. They drop off gradually of old age before there are young bees to fill their places, and the queen, however prolific, not having bees enough to cover her eggs, can not bring up, as she otherwise would, the strength of the colony to a proper standard in time for the harvest. There should be young bees emerging at all times up to the month of October, or, in the South, even later.
(3)Good food and plenty of it.—Any well-ripened sealed honey that is not crystallized is good winter food. Honeydew stored by bees and honey from a few flowers (cruciferous plants, asters, etc.) crystallizes in the combs soon after it is gathered and the bees are obliged to liquefy it as they use it. They can not do this well in dry, cold weather, and dampness within the hive, though it might enable the bees to liquefy the crystallized honey, is otherwise inimical to bee life, especially so during winter. Some of the crystallized food is also wasted; hence the bees may starve even though the fall weight indicated sufficient stores for winter. Disastrous results are very likely, therefore, to follow the attempt to winter on such food.
The removal of all pollen when preparing bees for winter has been advised by some, who assert that it is unfit winter food and produces dysentery. It will not, of course, alone sustain the life of the adult bees, but if all conditions are right no more of it will be eaten than the bees require to repair the waste of bodily tissue, and this being slight in winter the consumption is small as long as other food lasts. The pollen grains which by accident find their way into honey as the bees gather it would probably be quite sufficient to supply this waste in the case of the adult workers and no harm would result to these bees from thesubstitution of other combs for those containing pollen. But good colonies should begin brood rearing in January or February, and pollen or a suitable substitute for it containing nitrogen most then be present or the nurse bees will be subjected to a fearful drain on their vitality to supply the rich nitrogenous secretion required by the developing larvæ; in fact, they can not do so long, and the colony dwindles. This absurd theory that bees can not have access to pollen in winter without detrimental results can best be answered by referring to the well-known fact that a colony in a large box or straw hive, freely ventilated, yet having some part of the hive protected from drafts of air and kept dry, will almost invariably come out strong in the spring if populous in the fall, heavy with honey, and having a young and vigorous queen. The pollen, it could not possibly be claimed, had been injurious to such colonies, although they always gather and store it without restriction, and are not disturbed in the possession of it. In truth, their stores of pollen have constituted an important factor in their development, and the strong instinct which they have toward making accumulations of pollen for winter use and which they have exercised for thousands of years undisturbed is of great benefit to them.
Fig. 71.—Percolator for preparation of winter food. (Original.)
Fig. 71.—Percolator for preparation of winter food. (Original.)
Other conditions being equal, those colonies having the most honey stored compactly in the brood apartment and close about the very center where the last brood of young bees should emerge, are the ones which will winter best. Forty pounds for a northern latitude and 30 in the middle sections of the Tinted States may be considered only agood supply. When natural stores are found to be lacking in the brood chamber, the best substitute is a sirup made of granulated sugar, which should be fed early in the autumn as rapidly as the bees can manipulate it and store it away. If given slowly the bees will be incited to rear brood unseasonably, and will consume much of the food in this way. If several pounds be given at a time—placed in the top story of the colony to be fed, just at nightfall—it will be stored away quickly, so that in a week at most the full winter stores will be completed. The bees will seal it over better if fed slowly at the last; that is, after the main feeding. Sirup made by percolation of cold water through a mass of sugar and then through some porous material, as cotton, is what is called a completely saturated solution; that is, it contains all the sugar the water can be made to hold, and will not trouble by granulation (fig. 71). The same difficulty is avoided by adding well-ripened honey to moderately thick sirup, about one-fourth or one-fifth as much honey as sirup. Molasses, brown sugar, glucose, etc., are not suitable for winter stores for bees.
Fig. 72.—The American straw hive of Hayek Bros.
Fig. 72.—The American straw hive of Hayek Bros.
Fig. 73.—Davis hive with newspapers packed between inner and outer cases, and brood frames on end for the winter. (Original.)
Fig. 73.—Davis hive with newspapers packed between inner and outer cases, and brood frames on end for the winter. (Original.)
It is poor policy to permit bees to enter winter quarters without an abundance of stores—better twice the amount that will be actually consumed than merely enough to enable them to live through.
(4)The bees must be kept dry and warm.—A substantial hive with a tight roof will keep rain and snow from the cluster; but the bees must have air even during the severest weather and also when in their most quiescent state; hence the question of ventilation has to be considered. It has occasioned more discussion and experimentation than any other point concerned in the wintering of bees. The amount of ventilation both indoors and outside, whether upward ventilation or lower ventilation, or both, and whether through the wooden walls of the hive alone,have given rise to thousands of experiments based on all sorts of theories, and innumerable losses have resulted. The matter is really more complicated than would seem at first thought. The warm air about the bodies of the bees (the winter temperature of the cluster being about 72° F.) coming in contact with the cold surfaces of combs of honey in ordinary hives, or with the inner Avails of such hives, condensation and deposition of moisture occurs. During severe weather this accumulates in the shape of hoarfrost, which, melting with a rise of temperature, trickles down over the combs, the walls of the hive, and the bees themselves, and, entering the honey cells through the somewhat porous capping, sours the honey with which it mixes. The soured food, dampness, and chilling of the bees combine to bring on diarrhea, which is sure to weaken and decimate the colony if it does not exterminate it. To avoid these troubles the surplus moisture of the hive must be carried away by free ventilation, which at the same time supplies pure air, but which does not create drafts in the hive nor permit such an escape of heat as will chill the cluster through. Straw hives (fig. 72) do this well; also the forms shown in figs.73and74if well packed over the combs and ventilated above the packing.
Fig. 74.—Double-walled hive adapted to outdoor wintering as well as summer use below 40° north latitude in the United States. Thickness of each wall, ⅜ inch; space between walls, 2 inches, packed with dry chaff or ground cork. (Original.)
Fig. 74.—Double-walled hive adapted to outdoor wintering as well as summer use below 40° north latitude in the United States. Thickness of each wall, ⅜ inch; space between walls, 2 inches, packed with dry chaff or ground cork. (Original.)
(5)There should be no manipulation out of season.—Breaking up the cluster and exposing the individual bees and their combs to a low temperature, as well as causing them to gorge themselves with honey when an opportunity for a cleansing flight may not occur soon, are also causes which bring on diarrheal difficulties. Feeding to complete the winter stores, when necessary, should be done soon after the last honey flow, so that the bees will settle down for the winter on the approach of cool autumn days. After this they are better off if left undisturbed until the final work of preparing them for winter is done, which, if the hive is well arranged, will be no material disturbance to the bees. It is always preferable not to be obliged to touch the brood combs or disturb the cluster when the weather is too cold for the bees to fly freely.
A consideration of the requirements above mentioned leads at once to the essential features of any plan of outdoor wintering that may be followed in the colder portions of our country with uniform success, namely, the presence in the colony of a vigorous queen less than two years old; a good cluster of healthy bees bred the latter part of the season, that is, of sufficient numbers so that when closely clusteredduring quite cool weather late in October or November not less than six spaces between the brood combs, and preferably eight or nine spaces, shall be occupied by a good number of bees, or that the cluster shall be at such a time not less than 8, and preferably 10 to 12, inches in diameter; the stores should consist of 30 pounds of well-ripened honey or thick sugar sirup, stored and mostly sealed over and about the bees; since in a long, shallow hive the heat is too diffused, combs much longer than deep should be on end for the winter, to enable the bees to economize their natural warmth; free access of pure air, but without the creation of drafts, hence the entrance should be indirect or screened in some manner; the ventilation should permit the gradual passing away of the moisture-laden air of the hive, but not the escape of heat, hence 6 or more inches (in the coldest portions of the United States 10 or 12 inches) of dry, porous material, soft and warmth-retaining, should be on all sides of the cluster and near to it, the whole being protected by waterproof walls from any access of outside moisture. Care to establish in all cases conditions similar to the above before bees cease flying in the autumn will insure the apiarist against any serious losses in wintering out of doors, even in the severest portions of our country.
Fig. 75.—An apiary in Vermont—winter view. (Reproduced from photograph.)
Fig. 75.—An apiary in Vermont—winter view. (Reproduced from photograph.)
In the extreme South, where bees can fly out at any time of the year, little extra precaution is needed for the winter beyond seeing that the stores do not become exhausted during a drought or a protracted rain, when no honey can be gathered. Just in proportion to the severity and length of the winter season the above general rules may be looked upon as applicable, always bearing in mind, however, that in the variable climate of the middle section of the country many of the precautionsstrictly essential in a colder climate may still be profitably followed, although fair results may be expected in the main without their strict observance.
Dry cellars or special repositories are utilized in those portions of the country where the cold of winter is extreme and likely to be somewhat continuous. Economy of food is one of the chief advantages, but two-thirds as much, or about 20 to 25 pounds per hive, are needed to bring a colony through if conditions are favorable. The colonies, prepared as regards bees, queens, character of stores, etc., the same as for outdoor wintering, are carried into the cellar or repository just before the first snows come or severe freezing occurs. Caps are removed or lifted up and cushions or mats laid on the frames. Light is excluded and all other disturbing influences in so far as possible, the effort being made to keep the temperature at about 42° F. during the earlier part of the winter. Later, especially after brood-rearing may have been begun, a somewhat higher degree is admissible—45° to 46°, some even allowing it to go up to 50°. No definite rule can be given, however, since much depends upon the humidity of the air, etc. As long as the bees remain quiet the temperature is not too high and is preferably to be maintained. Should they become exceedingly restless, and the opportunity occur during a winter thaw to give them a cleansing flight, it will be advisable to return them for a few hours or a day or two to their summer stands, and when they have flown and quieted down, replace them in the cellar or repository. In the spring there should not be too great eagerness to get them out of the cellar, provided they are not restless. Their confinement indoors makes them somewhat sensitive to the outside cold, and due caution should be observed, else the ranks of the workers will become greatly decimated before young ones appear to take their places.
The same questions regarding ventilation of hives indoors that puzzle many in the case of those left on their summer stands have been discussed over and over. All that is necessary, however, is to consider the same points, the question being less complicated, though, by reason of the greater uniformity between the temperature surrounding the cluster of bees and that outside the hive when the latter is in a suitable winter repository. Some have reported success in wintering in damp cellars, yet it is probable that such success was purely accidental, or rather occurred in spite of the dampness of the repository, the other conditions very likely having all been favorable, especially as regards ventilation of the cellar, and the important points of having good stores and an even temperature, which should be several degrees higher than is required in a dry cellar. Wintering in a damp repository is, however, attended in general with such risks that it should by all means be avoided, and the bees, even in a severe climate, intrusted preferably to their summer stands, if well prepared as regards their stores and populousness.