November, 1921 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



683 



out the lives of the bees. If the bees are 

 in this condition in a cellar the protection 

 afforded by the cellar can no longer func- 

 tion, because they now generate more heat 

 than would be necessary to keep warm if 

 outside. If a day suitable for a cleansing 

 flight occurs, such colonies, if outside, will 

 relieve themselves if the bees still have suf- 

 ficient strength to fly and return to the 

 hive; but the aging resulting from such ex- 

 cessive activity makes them more sensitive 

 to disturbing factors, and the same degree 

 of quiescence is not again possible for them, 

 which makes the next period of confinement 

 still more destructive. If such colonies do 

 not consume all their honey and starve in 

 midwinter, the bees usually die off miser- 

 ably early in the spring in the futile attempt 

 to rear young to take their places. 



On the other hand, when bees do not have 

 to generate much heat, as when wintered in 

 a good cellar or well protected outside, and 

 at the same time have good stores, such as 

 either well-ripened straight clover or alfalfa 

 honey or granulated sugar syrup, the ac- 

 cumulation of feces is so slow that the bees 

 remain quiet thruout the longest northern 

 winter without a cleansing flight, being 

 nearly as young in the spring as they were 

 in the fall. Somewhere between these two 

 extremes is the manner in which the vast 

 , majority of bees in the North come thru the 

 winter. 



At first thought one would expect bees 

 to winter much better in the cellar than 

 outside, farther south than cellar wintering 

 is now practiced, on account of not being 

 exposed to freezing temperatures; but, un- 

 less the stores are of the very best, bees in 

 a good cellar often suffer greater wear and 

 tear from restlessness than if exposed to 

 extreme cold outside but having occasional 

 cleansing flights. Of the two great disturb- 

 ing agencies in the North, cold and accumu- 

 lated feces, the latter is often much more 

 destructive. For this reason the first con- 

 sideration for successful wintering year after 

 year in the far North is that of good stores. 



Conditions for Proper Cleansing Flight Be- 

 fore Cellaring, 



When bees are wintered in the cellav 

 where they are confined four to five months 

 without a cleansing flight, their condition 

 tvhen first put in is extremely important. 

 Beekeepers have tried putting the bees into 

 the cellar under various conditions all the 

 way from the middle of October until the 

 first of January. The poor wintering, which 

 usually results when the bees are put in too 

 early, was formerly attributed to the longer 

 period of confinement, but it is now known 

 that a few weeks or even a month, added to 

 the time the bees are confined, makes but 

 little if any difference if conditions are fa- 



vorable for quiescence. If bees are put into 

 the cellar too early, before they have com- 

 pletely changed their habits of living, re- 

 duced their diet, acquired the habit of qui- 

 escence, and finally, by a good cleansing 

 flight, rid themselves completely of the ef- 

 fect of fall activities, they are not in good 

 condition for greatest quiescence. Perhaps 

 some of the young bees have never been out- 

 side for a cleansing flight. A few restless 

 bees in the fall can prevent the colony from 

 becoming quiet all winter. It is better to 

 leave the bees outside until at least five or 

 six weeks after the queen ceased laying and 

 until after the bees have been confined to 

 their hives for at least a short time, so they 

 will feel the need of a cleansing flight. Usu- 

 ally in October and early in November bees 

 will fly but little because they do not need 

 a cleansing flight; but after they have been 

 confined to their hive for 10 days or two 

 weeks they will fly freely on the first suit- 

 able day, often voiding feces in greater 

 amount at this time than after four months 

 or more of confinement in the cellar after- 

 wards, thus indicating the importance of 

 leaving them outside until they rid them- 

 selves of this last vestige of their more act- 

 ive life of autumn. 



After this cleansing flight there is no ad- 

 vantage in leaving them out for a later 

 flight, for after having completely changed 

 their mode of life they do not need further 

 cleansing flights until spring, if the cellar 

 conditions are favorable and the stores are 

 good. 



Bees that are put into the cellar not less 

 than five or six weeks after the queen quit 

 laying and immediately after a good cleans- 

 ing flight following a short period of con- 

 finement, usually winter better than if put 

 in either earlier or later. This means that 

 where bees are now wintered in the cellar, 

 the date for putting them in, as a rule, is 

 some time in November, usually after the 

 middle of the month and strangely enough 

 often about the 20th, or just before. 



The manner in which bees are handled 

 when putting them into the cellar must 

 make some difference in the beginning of 

 the accumulation of feces. The less the dis- 

 turbance, of course the better, but fortun- 

 ately they are not so easily disturbed at 

 this time and they soon quiet down after- 

 wards. A cloudy day is better for putting 

 them in than a bright day, even if the tem- 

 perature is the same. If carried into the 

 cellar and put in place carefully on a cloudy 

 day when there is no snow and the tempera- 

 ture is between 35° and 40°F., the bees 

 are disturbed but little, and if put in within 

 a day or two after having a good cleansing 

 flight they should be in fine condition for 

 quiescence. 



