334 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Preparing the Bees for Winter 



H. W. SANDERS 



WE come now to a time of year in the apiary when 

 the bees are preparing for their long \\'inter 

 rest. They do not sleep, or hibernate, after the 

 manner of flies and other insects which lose all sem- 

 blance of life during cold weather and revive again 

 when Spring returns, but retain their activity all 

 through the Winter, and even when their repose is 

 deepest the slightest jar or tap on the hive, or the ef- 

 fect of a rise or fall in temperature is felt by the bees 

 and the experienced beekeeper can tell by carefully 

 listening to the gentle buzz that comes from the hives 

 whether the bees are comfortable or not. 



The exact means b'y which the bees keep up the heat 

 inside the cluster is not fully understood. They are 

 not warm blooded animals, yet a thermometer pushed 

 into the centre of the dense cluster that is formed dur- 

 ing cold weather w^ill register not very far from the 

 level of the human body — in other words blood-heat. 

 We know that they do this by the consumption of 

 honey, in itself a very concentrated food-fuel, but just 

 how they turn their muscular energy into heat is ob- 

 scure. The most that science can tell us is that there 

 are bees inside the cluster busily "fanning" with their 

 wings as they do during a hot day at the entrance to 

 the hive, and this is the sound that the beekeeper 

 knows so well. 



In the preparations for Winter the most important 

 thing is to see that there is an abundance of food, for 

 the use of heat production as above outlined. In the 

 case of most of the animals that are kept by man, the 

 exact nature of the food is capable of considerable 

 variation, and it is better for the animal if a varied 

 diet is given. With bees, however, the sole function of 

 the food provided is to produce heat, and therefore it 

 is of the utmost importance that the food should be a 

 heat-producer (carbo-hydrate), of the utmost purity. 

 Nature has provided this in honey, and if it is neces- 

 sary to supplement what the bees have provided the 

 only thing that will take its place is syrup made from 

 the best granulated sugar. In fact, where the honey 

 gathered is of such a nature as to granulate rapidly 

 sugar syrup is far better. One of the photos shows a 

 comb filled with candied, or granulated honey that was 

 gathered from certain flowers that bloom in the Fall, 

 chiefly Aster, and although there was plenty of this in 

 the hive a colony starved to death through their inabil- 

 ity to utilize it.' The honey from the earlier flowers, 

 such as Clover or Basswood is nearly always safe, and 

 the practice of many of the best beekeepers is to leave 

 combs filled with such honey in sufficient quantity as 

 to ensure the food being abundant. In order to be 

 sure of this we always weigh our hives and if one 

 scales less than 65 pounds for a ten-frame Langstroth, 

 we feed enough sugar to bring it to that figure. For 

 an eight-frame hive the amount is 53 poun<ls. 



To feed for Winter, take granulated sugar two parts 

 and water one part and dissolve, heating the water be- 

 fore putting the sugar in it. Feed by taking a ten- 

 pound honey pail and puncturing a number of holes in 

 the lid with a nail. Fill this with syrup and turn it up- 

 side down inside a super directly over the combs in the 

 hive. Cover to keep the hive warm and robber-bees 

 out. 



In order to conserve the warmth of the bees on tiie 

 cliilly fall nights, the hives may well be covered with 



tar paper. A piece is laid over the cloths after the 

 cover has been removed, and folded down like a par- 

 cel, then secured with a slat and nail and the cover re- 

 placed. 



There are two ways of wintering bees, in the cellar, 

 and outdoors, and it depends a great deal on the lati- 

 tude as to which is the better. In the Northern States 

 and Canada, where Winter is long and severe, the cellar 

 is the safest place, but further south, where days occur 

 during the Winter on which the bees can fly, they may 

 be packed and left on their summer stands. Bees can 

 only void their excrement while on the wing, and dur- 

 ing these "cleansing flights" they can relieve them- 

 selves ancl then form again the cluster in another part 

 of the hive, until the next opportunity for a flight oc- 

 curs. In the far north it is very unusual for the tem- 

 perature to be good enough for a flight from Novem- 

 ber until March, and the best way to avoid the neces- 

 sity for one is to keep the bees in a dry cellar where the 

 temperature varies little if at all — under just such con- 

 ditions as furnish the ideal location for the storage of 

 potatoes and other vegetables. It may be the house 

 cellar, or it may be an outside root-house, but which- 

 ever it is the requirements are that it be dry and of an 

 even temperature of from 40 to 45 degrees with an ade- 

 quate amount of ventilation. The bees should be car- 

 ried into it as soon as possible after they have had 

 their last flight in^ the Fall — in this locality we aim to 

 get them in during the first ten days of November. 



In case there are any weak colonies they are best 

 united one with another. To do this take a newspaper, 

 and lay a single thickness over one of the colonies, 

 after removing the cover and cloth, and then place the 

 other colony immediately on the top. The bees will in 

 due time eat their way through the paper and unite 

 their forces, and it is far better thus to gain a thor- 

 oughly strong colony to face W'inter than to attempt 

 to carry over two weak ones. At the present high 

 prices of honey it is foolish to waste it by letting a 

 weak colony have winter stores, for they will most 

 ■ likelv eat most of it up and then die out, and both bees 

 and honey will thus be lost. 



Where bees are packed and left outdoors all Winter, 

 they sh(5uld be protected by several inches of sawdust 

 or chai¥ inside a case that is watertight, and they 

 should have a passage through it to the hive entrance 

 so that they can get out to fly on a mild day. The 

 yard should be protected by a fence high enough to 

 break the force of the wind, or by trees, so that the 

 snow will bank around the hives and protect them. 

 As the days grow colder, brood-raising will gradually 

 cease, drones will be driven out to die, and the bees 

 closely clustered upon their combs of honey will await 

 the coming of S])ring. 



The people who make mistakes lead the world. The 

 perfect people work for them, running errands and 

 counting columns of figures. The genius is not the 

 man who never made mistakes, who had a chance 

 thrust on him. who was endowed and all that: he is 

 the man who had no chance and was not gifted, but 

 who took the raw material of life and fate as he found 

 it. and made something fine out of it. The only per- 

 fect person you will ever meet is the perfect fool. — 

 Safety Hints. 



