Read before the LaCrosse Convention. 



About Wintering Bees. 



E. A. MORGAN. 



This is a subject of more importance 

 to the apiarist than all others combined, 

 and well deserves the earnest thought, 

 careful study, and accurate experiments 

 of the most practical apiarists. If we 

 have no bees, we need not trouble our- 

 selves about their style of hive, their 

 forage, or their management; and we 

 are absolutely certain we shall lose them 

 unless properly cared for. Although a 

 heavy loser myself by disastrous win- 

 tering, I have conducted a series of ex- 

 periments which I feel sure will prove 

 a gain in the end. 



Bees, unlike other insects, are more 

 or less active all through the winter, 

 and require more or less food, according 

 to the amount of heat they generate ; 

 therefore, to successfully winter them 

 they must have an even temperature, 

 and to secure this cellars, bee-houses, 

 and packing on the summer stand are 

 resorted to. 



I have traced the trouble to sudden 

 changes of temperature, causing ex- 

 cessive dampness, unwholesome food, 

 and failure in late fall breeding. 



I am satisfied that bees in this lati- 

 tude cannot be wintered successfully in 

 cellars ; the five months' confinement 

 either bloats them up, causing disease, 

 or they besmear the combs, and the foul 

 odor soon destroys the colony, or renders 

 them so weak that they dwindle in the 

 spring. Some advise putting them out 

 for a fly, but the disturbance in doing 

 this makes it equal to leaving them iii, 

 and results in no good ; besides, it is a 

 heavy job with a large number. 



As we have seen that an even tem- 

 perature is desired to keep the bees 

 quiet, and as the foul odors of cellars 

 and bee-houses causes disease, we must 

 search for other means of protection. 

 After three years of careful experi- 

 ments, I am' satisfied that wintering 

 on the summer stand is preferable to 

 any other, and that bees are in a better 

 condition for the season's work, than if 

 kept in any other way. But to get our 

 bees through safely with a small amount 

 of honey, and have them strong in num- 

 bers and in a healthy condition, they 

 must be prepared in the fall ; for the 

 better condition they are in when put 

 away, the better they will come out in 

 the spring. 



First in importance is the queen ; 

 more depends upon the queen than is 

 generally supposed. The nives should 

 be examined as early in the fall as the 

 first of September, to see that all have 



queens, and that those which are old 

 and feeble may be superseded, and those 

 not laying be fed or the honey extracted 

 from the center combs. A good bee- 

 keeper will know the age of every queen, 

 and note the condition of the colony. I 

 am certain that no colony will live un- 

 til May without a queen, let them be in 

 ever so good a condition. 



It is very important that the queens 

 be kept laying until October 1st ; at 

 least that there may be young bees to 

 winter on, instead of old ones, for the 

 work required in spring to rear brood is 

 too much for old bees, which are tired 

 out at the beginning of the winter. 

 With this method we have young bees 

 and the colony is strong in numbers, 

 both tending to the desired point— heat 

 and even temperature. Very much is 

 lost by keeping old or poor queens. In- 

 troducing a young, vigorous queen in 

 august will generally save the poorest 

 colony. 



After the queens and late breeding 

 have been attended to, I prepare my 

 colonies as follows : On a warm day in 

 October remove 3 or 4 frames of honey 

 from the hive (choose the lightest), and 

 leave the balance in the center of the 

 hive ; then put a division board on each 

 side and pack the space with dry chaff ; 

 cover the top with duck, put on the up- 

 per story, fill in with chaff, and put on 

 the cover. I then construct an outer 

 rough box. with 6 inches of space all 

 around, which I fill with chaff; then 

 cover with coarse marsh hay, and rider 

 it ; leave the hive justwhere it stood all 

 summer; contract the entrance to about 

 2 inches. Thus packed, strong in num- 

 bers, with plenty of good, sealed honey, 

 the heat is retained, the moisture es- 

 capes without the heat being lost, dur- 

 ing a protracted cold spell leave the 

 entrance nearly closed, and at the begin- 

 ning of a thaw open the entrance full 

 width to allow the dampness and the 

 gases to escape at the bottom. 



A colony of bees in a cellar, with the 

 temperature at the freezing point all 

 the time, are worse off than out on the 

 summer stand, unpacked. Each colony 

 should have at least 30 lbs. of .good 

 sealed honey, and two small sticks 

 should be laid across the tops of the 

 frames before covering with the duck 

 and chaff. 



If warm days occur in mid-winter, 

 scatter straw in front of the hives; some 

 old bees will fall and die, but the colony 

 is not weakened, for during such a flight 

 the queen is excited to lay, and young 

 bees are reared even in 'January and 

 February, and very many in March. 

 Several colonies taken from the cellar 

 on April 1st, 1880, seemed strong, but in 



