WINTERING BEES IN THE CELLAR * 



N. D, West, Middlebukg, N". Y. 



The one most essential point for the successful wintering of 

 bees is to have a good colony of bees to begin with ; a colony of 

 bees in a good hive, with a goodly number of young bees that have 

 been reared late in the season, so that they have not worked out 

 half of their life before the winter begins. 



See that they have 25 or 30 pounds of good honey in their 

 hives, and about the middle of November carry them into the 

 cellar. Properly place them according to the number of colonies 

 you have to winter, and the size of the room that you have for 

 them. If the ventilation is right, and the temperature from 40 

 to 45 degrees above zero, the bees are as sure to winter well as 

 are other live stock on the farm. 



A few days before I put my bees into the cellar, I weigh each 

 hive with a pair of hanging spring scales that will weigh one 

 hundred pounds or more. I use a little lever device to hang the 

 scales on, and with a pair of hooks properly made, the hives are 

 easily lifted and quickly weighed. I mark the weight of each 

 hive on a tag tacked on the front of it. 



When all the hives are weighed, those having less than 25 

 pounds of honey, are supplied by giving them extra combs of 

 honey that I have on hand, or by exchanging combs with those 

 hives that have honey to spare. If I have not sufficient honey in 

 the combs to winter the whole apiary, I feed sugar syrup to make 

 up for the deficiency. It costs me more to feed syrup than it 

 does to have the bees store their own honey in their combs as they 

 gather it from the fields, for winter use. 



The changing of combs should be avoided as much as possible 

 in apiaries that have traces of "foul brood." 



If there are any nuclei that need uniting, I unite them on a 

 cold, frosty morning in the fall of the year, and see to it that they 

 have bees and honey enough for a good swarm. The bees thus 

 treated will not fight, and will winter as well as the rest. 



* Given at the Eastern New York Beekeepers' Convention, at Albany, N, Y, 



[1525] 



