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build up strength and increase their powers of endurance by healthful food and 

 exercise as animals do, but each bee arrives in this world supplied with about the 

 amount of energy it will expend during its life-time. We have compared bees 

 to small, dry cell batteries, with just so much energy stored. This energy can be 

 saved by having ideal conditions in the hive; but where conditions are not ideal 

 for brood-rearing, the worker bees must improve them by an expenditure of energy 

 which shortens their own lives. The temperature at which a broodless colony 

 remains quietly clustered is about 57° P. When the outside 'temperature drops 

 below that, as it does on frosty nights, heat must be generated by the bees them- 

 selves within the hive. The temperature at which brood is reared is between 93° 

 and 95° F. It will be seen that on a frosty night this is at least 60° P. above the 

 temperature of the atmosphere outside the hive. The heat necessary for main- 

 taining this temperature is generated by the muscular activity of the worker bees, 

 and is the result of a consumption of food. In other words, the hive might be 

 compared to a dwelling-house, and the colony of bees to the furnace. With this 

 comparison in mind it is easy to understand why a hive needs to be warmly pro- 

 tected, especially in spring during the time that brood is being reared, and when 

 we consider how difficult it is to heat the house on a windy day, the importance 

 of sheltering hives from the wind will be evident. But bees do not attempt to 

 heat the whole interior of the hive to the brood-rearing temperature. A spherical 

 cluster is formed of bees, not closely crowded within the cluster, but forming a 

 very compact shell by the bees on the outside crowding closely together in such 

 a way that their bodies form a non-conducting surface to the sphere. When the 

 difference in temperature between the inside and outside of the cluster is great, 

 more bees are required to form the non-conducting shell, and the diameter of the 

 sphere must be accordingly reduced. Where the walls and ceiling of the hive 

 are non-conducting, retaining heat which escapes from the cluster, the difference 

 in temperature is reduced, and the sphere can be accordingly enlarged. The 

 quantity of brood which can be cared for at. any one time depends entirely on the 

 size of this sphere, and the size of the sphere depends on three things : the popu- 

 lation of -the hive,- the temperature outside the hive, and the extent to which the 

 hive itself retains the cluster heat. It is the last with which we have to deal in 

 this chapter, and it does not seem that further explanation is necessary to show 

 the importance of having the hive warmly protected and sheltered from cold 

 winds during the spring building-up period. 



The method of applying these principles is a matter of detail, which any 

 beekeeper will work out for himself once he fully realizes the importance of hav- 

 ing colonies warmly protected and sheltered from cold winds during the spring 

 building-up period. . Bees wintered out of doors should not be unpacked before 

 settled warm weather — the latter part of May or early in June. Some are never 

 unpacked. If wintered in the cellar they should receive protection and shelter 

 when they are brought out. The apiary should not be a windy site at any time. 

 The shelter of evergreens or buildings is very desirable. If such shelter is not 

 available, it is advisable to erect an 8 foot board or lattice fence, placing the boards 

 fairly close together. Where colonies are quite strong and the hives are sound 

 with good, tight, warm covers, the shelter from the wind may be sufficient, pro- 

 vided the entrances are contracted to about one or two inches by three-eighths of 

 an inch. Single board covers are not sufficient. In fact I do not consider them 

 satisfactory at any time. There should be some warmer material, such as cork, 

 felt or shavings in the cover. 



