GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1918 



in a few minutes consumes the combustible matter 

 that would have fed the but glimmering fire for a 

 much longer time." 



The climate in "our locality" is such 

 that this quiescence, so necessary to slow 

 living, is easily upset; and, if we are not 

 careful, we may have, even in December or 

 January, activity more like the consuming 

 "bright flame" than like the "glimmering 

 spark." Wintering, therefore, so far as the 

 beekeeper is concerned, means providing 

 conditions favorable to the greatest possi- 

 ble degree of quiescence on the part of the 

 winter bees. |^ 

 r^ The effort of the beekeeper in this direc- 

 ^"^ tion during September is largely concerned 

 with winter stores. The quantity, quality, 

 and arrangement of winter stores each have 

 much to do with the degree of quiescence as 

 well as with the length of such period. 

 Quantity of Winter Stores. 

 It is important that every colony shall 

 have, at the close of brood-rearing, an 

 abundance of stores both for winter use 

 and for spring brood-rearing. They may 

 need 10 pounds for winter and 20 to 30 

 pounds more for spring; but it should all be 

 in the hives this fall, not necessarily be- 

 cause the larger amount may affect the 

 quiescence of the bees during winter, but 

 because the bees will need it in the spring 

 before it can well be supplied. 

 Quality of Stores. 

 Most beekeepers know what a tremen- 

 dously disturbing factor poor winter stores 

 become when the bees are confined. to their 

 hives for some time. In this connection, it 

 is interesting to note that cellar wintering 

 has been found satisfactory only in those 

 regions which furnish year after year win- 

 ter stores of the best quality, or where the 

 beekeeper practices feeding sugar syrup to 

 supplement the winter stores. Cellar win- 

 tering is practically impossible when honey- 

 dew is mixed with the honey stored at the 

 close of the season, unless the beekeeper 

 feeds for winter. Even when bees are win- 

 tered out of doors and are fortunate enough 

 to have a cleansing flight about once a 

 month, the disturbance during the interim 

 must be extremely costly in bee energy. 

 When the stores ai-e poor an enormous 

 quantity is consumed, and colonies some- 

 times live so rapidly under such conditions 

 that they consume all they have and starve, 

 providing they do not first use up all their 

 vitality and die of old age in midwinter. 



It is fortunate for beekeeping that in the 

 extreme North where the bees are confined 

 to their hives several months without a 

 cleansing flight, the winter stores average 

 much better in quality than farther south. 

 If the reverse were true, it would not be 

 possible to winter bees on natural stores in 

 the far North. Last winter some of the 

 most severe winter losses were reported 

 from the middle latitudes; due, no doubt 

 largely to the character of the stores. 

 Arrangement of Winter Stores. 

 It usually happens that the very best hon- 



ey stored during the summer is either all 

 removed as surplus, or is stored in the 

 brood-chamber most remote from the winter 

 nest. As the season draws to a close and 

 broc'd-rearing is decreased, the cells left 

 ■acant above and back of the decreasing 

 brood-nest are filled with the latest-gather- 

 ed honey, which is usually inferior in qual- 

 ity to that gathered during the height of 

 the honey flow. This arrangement of the 

 stores causes the bees to use the poorest 

 honey first as their winter food, leaving the 

 best honey for spring brood-rearing. This 

 is exactly the reverse of what it should be 

 for best results. If the stores are so ar- 

 ranged that the best honey is used first, 

 the activity of the bees is greatly reduced, 

 and they must live correspondingly longer. 

 I'urthermore, if only the best of stores are 

 used during the broodless period, a sur- 

 prisingly small quantity is needed if the 

 bees are properly protected. Even five 

 pounds of either heavy sugar syrup or the 

 best of the early-gathered honey stored in 

 the margin of the winter nest may save, 

 under some conditions, several times that 

 amount in the total consumption of stores 

 during the winter, to say nothing of the de- 

 creased wastage of bee energy. This better 

 condition is readily brought about by feed- 

 ing this amount of sugar syrup or honey 

 after the brood has emerged, when it will 

 be placed in the margin of the winter nest 

 where it will be used first. Thus if the 

 bees need five to ten pounds of stores dur- 

 ing the broodless period and twenty pounds 

 for early spring brood-rearing, the five to 

 ten pounds should be of the very best qual- 

 ity and so arranged that it will be used first. 

 With this arrangement the quality of the 

 remaining twenty or more pounds does not 

 materially affect the results, for this is 

 used when the bees can have more frequent 

 cleansing flights. Colonies; may be uniform 

 on the first of October as to strength, age, 

 and vitality of bees and even as to quantity 

 and quality of stores, yet if the arrange- 

 ment of the stores in all colonies is not such 

 that the best of the food is available for 

 use first, there may be a great difference 

 in the way they winter. Some colonies 

 may have put in a few" pounds of inferior 

 honey late which, being used first, upsets 

 the quiescent condition quite early. In the 

 absence of a cleansing flight such colonies 

 may winter poorly, even tlio the remaining 

 twenty-five pounds or more of stores may 

 be of the finest quality. 



Uniform results in either cellar or out- 

 door wintering in many localities will prob- 

 ably never be attained, unless the beekeeper 

 makes it a practice to feed to each colony 

 already i)rovisioned an additional five or 

 ten ]»oun(is of either a heavy sugar syrup or 

 tliC best early-gathered honey. This feed- 

 ing is done after the brood has emerged 

 and too late to have it again covered up 

 with later-gathered stores from the fields. 



The arrangement of the stores in rela- 

 tion to the winter nest should not be dis- 



