CONSTRUCTIVE BEEKEEPING 37 



Where we find a colony with diarrhea we find even the 

 frames and combs damp. This is the condition of most colonies 

 that are dead or very weak in spring. Honey has an absorbing 

 power for water and in a moisture-laden air will absorb great 

 quantities of it. When honey gets thin and watery it is not good 

 feed for bees, and with such a diet the system soon clogs, and 

 we are all familiar with the results. 



We naturally ask the cause of this moisture-laden air. Most 

 beekeepers give respiration of the bees as the cause. One day in 

 the fall I took a Seal-Tight cover from the hive and held it so that 

 the drops of water that were condensed on its inside surface could 

 run down to a corner of the cover. Then I poured out a little 

 more than two ounces of water. What yet remained on the 

 cover I estimated to be one ounce. Three ounces of water con- 

 densed on the cover. No estimate was made of the amount on 

 the hive-walls. Did the bees breathe out that much water the 

 previous night? 



One of the axioms of physics is that something cannot be 

 produced from nothing. If bees are confined in winter quarters 

 120 days and they consume 30 pounds of honey, of which 1-5 is 

 water, making the consumption of 6 pounds of water during the 

 winter, or 1 1-4 of an ounce for one day. Could they breathe out 

 all the water that they eat, this amount falls away short of 

 the amount that condenses on a Seal-Tight cover in a single- 

 wall hive on a cool night. 



OUTDOOR WINTERING 



The ordinary beekeeper cannot keep his bees at a uniform 

 temperature; neither can he control the humidity of the air. 

 So his bees have a fluctuating temperature to overcome and con- 

 sequently a changing humidity. This changing humidity is the 

 one great unseen cause of disturbance in bees. 



A clear understanding of the laws of meteorology that relate 



