BULLETIN 256] [OCTOBER, 1917 



Ontario Department of Agriculture 



FRUIT BRANCH 



The Wintering of Bees in Ontario 



MOELEY PeTTIT, PROVINCIAL APIAEIST. 



INTKODUCTION. 



The beekeepers of Ontario lose from 10 per cent, to 50 per cent, of their colonies 

 through winter loss and " spring dwindling "' every year. The colonies which 

 survive, being subjected to the same conditions, are weakened in population and 

 vitality in the same proportion. This is an enormous waste which, if applied 

 to other live stock, would be ascribed to some epidemic. The majority of bee- 

 keepers, however, take the smaller loss as a matter of course, and the larger with 

 plans to do better " next year." It would be surprising that the heaviest losb 

 usually occurs in the southern counties, if one did not remember hum^n nature,- 

 and the fact that bees will winter there after a fashion in an average winter with- 

 out protection. They are, therefore, not protected, and the periodical " old 

 fashioned " winter takes ofE 75 per cent, of them, completely destroying many whole 

 apiaries. 



The bee literature of America for a generation and more has been filled with 

 theories on the wintering of bees and the causes of loss. Many of these theories 

 halve since been exploded or ignored; but, as a result of countless experiments and 

 a free interchange of ideas, successful beekeepers have developed methods of winter- 

 ing founded on principles which recent scientific investigation is proving to be in 

 the main correct. It would be useless, and often unfair, to attempt to give credit 

 to the originators of different methods or ideas. Like hive-nectar in a honey-flow, 

 these are free currency amongst beekeepers who read and attend conventions, and 

 when credit is given, the inventor is liable to be ignored and the copyist made 

 famous. 



It has been well said that bees cannot be managed by rule, as they never do 

 things invariably. No doubt, if we understood all the factors of environment 

 and the influence of each on bee-behavior, we could say that, given such and such 

 conditions, and bees will behave so and so. In wintering bees in Ontario, bee- 

 keepers follow two opposite plans. Some place their bees in a repository, such as 

 a cellar underground, where they attempt to keep them inactive by trying to con- 

 trol all the factors of environment, such a,s light, temperature, ventilation, etc., 

 until such time as the season and weather permit them to resume their summer 

 activities. Others protect the hives on their summer stands, leaving the bees free 

 to come out and fly whenever weather permits. Both of these plans, when carried 

 out intelligently, have been found to yield good results, and while much is yet to 

 be explained in this difficult problem successful wintering has been more nearly 

 reduced to a " rule of thumb " than almost any other branch of bee management. 



