CHAPTER XIII 

 WINTERING 



With the rank and file of bee-keepers in the I^orthern States, 

 the wintering problem is the most serious one they have to face. 

 In some localities brood diseases may be a serious menace for a 

 time and cause great losses, but the wintering problem must 

 be met in all sections of the North and must be faced every 

 winter. While many professional bee-keepers have learned to 

 prepare their bees for winter so carefully as to meet with little 

 loss, the average small bee-keeper suffers seriously from this 

 cause and in severe winters occasionally loses a large part of 

 his stock. 



In the Southern States the problem is a somewhat different 

 one. In some parts of the South instead of being a question of 

 suitable protection from cold, it becomes a question of checking 

 brood rearing during the period when no honey is to be gathered 

 and providing sufficient stores to bring the colony to the next 

 honey flow in good condition. When stores are short the colony 

 will delay brood rearing beyond the time when large numbers 

 of young bees should be hatching in the hive, with the result 

 that the first period of profitable honey flow is passed before the 

 colony becomes strong enough to make the most of the oppor- 

 tunity. 



In the high altitudes of Colorado and the West it is a com- 

 mon practice to winter the colonies in the open air without extra 

 protection. While in these high altitudes with the prevalence 

 of sunny weather the bees can fly so frequently as to insure a 

 large portion of the colonies coming through the winter alive, 

 it would seem that there must be an unnecessarily heavy mor- 

 tality among the bees and that with suitable protection there 

 might be considerable saving in both bees and stores. 



Essentials of Successful Wintering. — It is common to speak 

 234 



