OCTOBER 15, 1916 



GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE 



THE RELATION OF TEMPERATURE TO BEE ACTIVITY 



BY AliLEN LATHAM 



It is doubtful if any form of life is raoie 

 sensitive to temperature and temperature 

 changes than is the honeybee. This is shown 

 in comb-building, honey-gathering, and in 

 brood-rearing. Only at the most favorable 

 temperature do we see these activities car- 

 ried on at their best. 



It is almost impossible for comb-building 

 to go on Avith the temperature below 90 or 

 so. Comb built at a lower temperture is 

 not the well-formed and delicate structure 

 constructed under the higher temperature. 

 It is irregular, and heavier. Likewise a 

 temperature above 100 interrupts comb- 

 building. Thus we see the bees when comb- 

 building is in i^rogress striving to keep the 

 hive, or at least that portion where the 

 building is going on, at the desired temper- 

 ature — carrying on a vigorous ventilation 

 if the hive is too warm, and crowding to- 

 gether to furnish heat when more heat is 

 desired. Few of us but have welcomed the 

 glad sight of hosts of young bees migrating 

 into the suj^ers. 



Many of us like to diagnose the condition 

 of the colony from the outside. The flight 

 of tlie bees tells us much but not all. Lift- 

 ing the cushion and running the hand over 

 the inner cover or over the mat, as the ease 

 may be, will tell much more. It will render 

 a very close estimate of the' size of the 

 brood-nest if the super be not yet in place; 

 and if super is in place it will tell to what 

 extent it is occupied. It will not, of course, 

 tell to what extent the super is filled with 

 honey. 



This explains why it is so essential to 

 have a large force of bees in comb-honey 

 production. At the present date, Sept. 22, 

 I am enjoying the most remarkable fall 

 flow I have ever known. Goldenrod and 

 asters are profusely abundant, and are hold- 

 ing out unusually long. Yet with this tre- 

 mendous flow of honey the work in the 

 supers is very .slow. Had the bees their 

 July numbers, work would be going on in 

 three and four supers at full blast, instead 

 of slowly in one super. Under i:)resent con- 

 ditions the brood-nest is rapidly disappear- 

 ing, and the brood-combs are becoming solid 

 slabs of honey. The chief factor to bring 

 this about is temperature, the cold nights 

 sending the bees away from the supers and 

 outer portions of the hive and bringing on 

 a more and more restricted area where the 

 terapei'ature is kept up to the point for 



wax-working. As the season comes to a 

 close there will be considerable comb left 

 unsealed, tlie last honey gathered being left 

 in open cells, the bees not being stimulated 

 to raising the temperature to the necessary 

 jDoint for that work. 



We are all familiar with the effect of 

 temperature changes upon honey-gathering. 

 The bees may be booming when the ther- 

 mometer suddenly registers a fall of ten 

 degrees. The boom is off. Frequently this 

 is because the flowers cease to secrete the 

 nectar; but if the teipperature was already 

 rather low, and some flowers like goldenrod 

 secreted at a rather low tem2Derature, the 

 fall in temperature simply stiffens up the 

 bee. She will no longer go to the field, even 

 tho there is nectar to gather. 



Brood-rearing pi'ogresses only as the 

 force of bees can warm up more comb and 

 keep it v/arm. Queens will sometimes lay 

 in comb not up to the desired temperature; 

 but the brood will not mature. Whenever 

 a cold night causes the b.ees to draw away 

 from the outer portions of their extended 

 brood-nest it is a serious setback, for the 

 bees are slow in warming up that comb 

 again. 



Warmth attracts bees. Combs attract 

 bees. Warm combs are doubly attractive to 

 bees. I have not investigated to what extent 

 it would be worth while to warm up frames 

 of comb before giving them to a colony, but 

 jears ago I discovered the vast advantage 

 of feeding warm syrup over feeding cold 

 syrup. It will be noted at this point why 

 failure so often attends tlie spreading of 

 brood in the spring. The difficulty is often 

 tliat the increased comb surface is too much 

 for the force of bees to keep warm, but 

 more often the difficulty is the failure of 

 the bee^ ever to warm the new comb. Hence 

 the brood-nest becomes two separate units 

 instead of one. Then the one which does 

 not contain the queen rapidly deteriorates, 

 with the result that the brood-nest, after a 

 week or so is actually smaller than it was 

 before the spreading. Breaking the cap- 

 pings of what sealed honey is in the comb 

 will help much ; but it would be far better 

 to put that comb in a very warm room and 

 let it stay there till warmed thru before 

 giving to the bees. If one wishes to force 

 his bees in spring let him warm up a num- 

 ber of combs of honey. Remove an outer 

 comb of a colony ; move over the combs till 



