The Care of Bees in Winter 349 



begins in colonies wintered out of doors during the coldest 

 weather. The previously mentioned results on colony tem- 

 peratures lend support to the theory that excessive outside 

 cold causes the raising of the temperature of the cluster to 

 the point where egg-laying is possible and that the beginning 

 of breeding is a response to the stimulus of external cold. 

 Similarly, colonies wintered in the cellar may have their 

 temperature raised by reason of an undue accumulation of 

 feces and breeding may be begun. If these theories are 

 tenable, winter breeding is to be considered as indicative of 

 poor wintering and there is abundant evidence that the best 

 results are obtained where no breeding takes place until the 

 bees fly freely. 



METHODS OF WINTERING BEES 



There are two main plans of wintering bees and it is often 

 difficult for the beekeeper to decide which he should adopt. 

 They may be left on their summer stands (Fig. 142) where 

 they are free to fly on warm days or they may be placed in a 

 cellar or special repository as a protection against extremes 

 of temperature, in which event they normally have no oppor- 

 tunity to fly and to void their feces until placed again in 

 their summer locations. C. C. Miller, in an excellent article l 

 on cellar wintering, concludes that in general up to 40 

 latitude it is better to winter outside, and north of that it is 

 questionable. However, he also points out the fact that 

 latitude or even isothermal lines cannot alone determine 

 this. Wind velocity and constancy and the facilities of the 

 beekeeper are important considerations. There seems to 

 be a growing sentiment among the beekeepers to prefer 

 to winter outdoors, but this should probably be considered 

 chiefly as indicating a lack of information concerning the 

 methods of getting optimum conditions in the cellar. 



1 Miller, C. C., 1913. Some things about cellar-wintering. American 

 Bee Journal, LIII, pp. 271-273, 310-312. 



