WINTERING BEES IN CANADA 



INTEODUCTION 



'T^HIS bulletin discusses a vital factor in the building up of the beekeeping industry 

 in Canada — the preservation of the bees during the winter. There die in Canada 

 every winter large numbers of colonies which a little care and forethought would have 

 saved. Many more are seriously weakened, also for the want of timely and intelligent 

 preparation. It is far better to exercise this care than to find empty and depleted 

 hives in the spring, and make the bees that survive spend the best part of the summer 

 filling them again. The remarkably high yields of honey in many places in Canada, 

 and the good price that honey now brings, offer a strong financial inducement to 

 prepare the bees for winter with the most intelligent care. To put off the preparation 

 of the bees for the winter until cold weather has arrived is to court disaster, because 

 exposing the bees to cold early in winter and disturbing them during cold weather 

 are injurious. 



The long and cold winter in many parts of Canada is not so hard on the bees as 

 might be imagined, and in some respects wintering is easier than in a mild country 

 like England, or in the Southern States. This is because the bees rest more com- 

 pletely during the winter in Canada. Few conditions are more trying to bees than 

 those encountered in the British Isles during February, March and April, when they 

 wear themselves out and die by hundreds in raising a little brood and flying out to 

 visit the early flowers in the chilly, changeable weather. The same conditions occur 

 on Vancouver island. In most parts of Canada, however, the winter rest continues 

 until some time in April. Then come quickly the long warm days; the bees breed 

 up fast, and the colony becomes strong in a remarkably short time. 



We have, however, learned several things about wintering bees in Canada, the 

 neglect of any one of which will bring ruin and death to the colony. One of tha 

 most important of these requirements is strong, that is to say, populous colonies, 

 consisting mainly of young bees; another is an abundant supply of wholesome stores 

 in the combs; and a third is adequate protection from the cold. The successful 

 wintering of bees in Canada depends mainly upon these three points. 



Bees do not hibernate in the true sense. When it grows cold, they form a com- 

 pact cluster, and the bees in the heart of the cluster produce heat by muscular activity 

 which is derived from the consumption of food. Those at the outside of the cluster 

 act as insulators to prevent the escape of the heat, and are thereby warmed themselves. 

 Phillips has shown that bees begin to cluster when the temperature in the hive falls 

 to 57° F. The temperature of the air inside the hive during winter should therefore 

 be below, but not far below, 57 degrees. 



As a result of the consumption of food, waste matter collects in the intestine. 

 Healthy bees discharge this waste matter only during flight, but in many parts of 

 Canada the winter is too cold for bees to fly for four, five, or even six months. This 

 long period makes it of the greatest importance that the bees be so well protected from 

 the cold that they will not need to consume much food, also that the food be perfectly 

 wholesome and as free as possible from indigestible matter. If the cluster is small, 

 or the bees have been exposed to severe cold during the early part of the winter, and 

 especially if the food is unwholesome, there will be a heavy consumption of stores 

 and a rapid accumulation of fseces, bringing about a condition known as dysentery. 



