ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



75 



enough to warm up these thermome- 

 ters away from the center of activity. 

 It was to be expected that this colony 

 would die, and the experiment was 

 performed to learn thie phenomena in- 

 cident to the loss. 



Before summing up the results of 

 these two colonies, Nos 1 and 3, it 

 may be stated that, so far as the evi- 

 dence here presented is concerned, the 

 results as far as here discussed are 

 confirmed by records from 10 other 

 colonies kept in the constant-tempera- 

 ture room, but fed other foods and 

 otherwise different. There is in all of 

 ^the records no evidence which we can 

 interpret as at all contrary to the views 

 here stated. 



It is evident from the behavior of 

 colony No. 1 that at least one factor en- 

 tered which gradually caused the bees 

 in the cluster to generate more and 

 more heat until at the beginning of the 

 special series, March 7th, the cluster 

 temperature was about 20° warmer 

 than it was at the same room tempera- 

 ture at the beginning of the confine- 

 ment. It is also seen that during the 

 special series, March 7-24, the cluster 

 temperature always remained at least 

 20° above the room temperature, 

 whereas from the discussion of bees 

 unconflned (Colony A) we might expect 

 them to cease heat generation when 

 above the lower critical temperature 

 (57°F.). In the case of colony 3, fed on 

 honeydew honey stores, the factor 

 which caused more heat to. be pro- 

 duced evidently increased much more 

 rapidly. As stated previously, honeydew 

 honey is a poor food for winter and is 

 so recognized. It contains the same 

 sugars as honej% but contains in addi- 

 tion a considerable amount of dextrin, 

 the particular lot fed to colony 3 con- 

 taining 4.55 per cent while good honeys 

 contain only a fraction of 1 per cent. 

 From the evidence at hand it appears 

 that dextrin can not be digested by 

 bees and, whether or not this is the ex- 

 planation, honeydew honey causes a 

 rapid accumulation of feces which 

 usually results in the condition known 

 as dysentery, in bad cases of which 

 the feces are voided in the hive. In 

 the case of colony 3 the whole hive in- 

 side and out, as well as the frames and 

 combs, were spotted badly, the inside 

 of the hive being practically covered. 

 Even with fine honey stores such a 

 spotting is usually noticed after a pro- 

 longed confinement, especially in severe 



weather (or during brood rearing). It 

 therefore appears that the accumula- 

 tion of feces acts as an irritant, caus- 

 ing the bees to become more active and 

 consequently to maintain a higher tem- 

 perature. We are therefore justified in 

 believing that the cause of poor win- 

 tering on honeydew honey is due to 

 excessive activity, resulting in the bees 

 wearing themselves out and ultimately 

 in the death of the colony. In the case 

 of colonies on good stores the feces ac- 

 cumulate more slowly and the excess 

 activity is not so marked and is in- 

 duced more gradually. The accumula- 

 tion of feces due to confinement causes 

 increased activity and this in turn is 

 the cause of excessive heat production, 

 resulting in a reduction in the vitality 

 of the bees. 



It therefore follows that excessive ac- 

 tivity causes the consumption of more 

 food, resulting in turn in more feces, 

 so that colonies on poor stores are 

 traveling in a vicious circle, which, if 

 the feces can not be discharged, re- 

 sults in the death of the colony. 



While the activity of the cluster is 

 greater at some times than at others, 

 there are not, as has been held, regular 

 intervals of activity at which the colony 

 rouses itself to take food. At no time 

 is a colony kept at a room temperature 

 of 45 °F. or less in a condition which 

 can be characterized as inactive. Pre- 

 sumably the reported "intervals of ac- 

 tivity" have occurred when the colony 

 made a noise due to disturbance by 

 the bee-keeper. 



The bees in colony 3 were compelled 

 to work constantly to maintain so high 

 a cluster temperature. In fact, they 

 did more work than colonies wintered 

 in the open air. Keeping these bees 

 in a cellar protected them from low ' 

 outside temperatures, but the lack of 

 opportunity for a normal ejection of 

 feces caused a condition more serious 

 than extreme cold weather. We seem 

 to have here an explanation of the 

 fact, often observed by bee-keepers, 

 that some colonies wintered in the cel- 

 lar are in worse condition in the spring 

 than colonies that are exposed to severe 

 cold. Poor food is evidently a more 

 serious handicap than low temperature. 



Humidity in Winter. 



This subject is one concerning which 

 less definite information is available, 

 although it is one which has been much 

 discussed by bee-keepers. One of the 



