Shade for Bees 



Shall we shade our bees ? If so, why, when, how ? Some bee- 

 keepers do not shade their hives; others do. Wh}^ do they do it? Is it 

 really necessary? Do they thereby secure more honey? These are per- 

 tinent questions to which it is difficult to give definite answers, but about 

 which it is advisable to know all that is known. 



The temperature of a colony of bees in summer, when brood is being 

 reared, is nearly loo degrees. Until the temperature in the sun reaches 

 this point, shade is no benefit ; rather, it is an injury, as it deprives the 

 bees of the warmth of the sun at a time when it would be of some 

 benefit. When the temperature in the sun goes above loo degrees, and 

 begins to climb up to no degrees, 120 degrees, 130 degrees, then the 

 effort on the part of the bees is to lower instead of raise the temperature 

 of the hive. Crowds of bees stand at the entrance of the hive, and with 

 their wings create strong ventilating currents of air. It has been asserted 

 that the bees leave the combs of hone)- well nigh forsaken when the 

 temperature is very high ; the reason given being that the combs can 

 be kept cooler when not covered with bees. I have alsn read and been 

 told that bees would "hang out," that is, cluster upon the outside of the 

 hive, instead of working, if their hives were left unshaded during a hot 

 day ; that they are compelled thus to desert their hives to save their 

 combs from destruction. I have alwa)'s kept my hives shaded during 

 hot weather, hence can not speak from experience upon this point; b_it 

 if it is true, then it would seem that shade, in very hot weather, is both 

 desirable and profitable. This much I have noticed, that weak colonies, 

 nuclei, for instance, seldom make any demonstration of discomfort from 

 heat, even when left unshaded, while strong colonies are puffing and 

 blowing like the runner of a foot-race. WHiy is this? Isn't it because 

 the strong colony is suffering from the accumulation of its own heat — 

 that generated by itself — that can not escape fast enough? If this is 

 true, why isn't a chaff hive the most insufiferably hot place imaginable 

 for a colony of bees in hot weather? Possibly the point is just here: 

 the bees in the chaff hive have to contend with their own heat onl}-, while 

 those in the single-wall hive have that from the sun in addition to their 

 own. The thick walls act as a sort of absorbent of heat — taking it up 

 during the day, and gradually giving it up during the cool of the night. 



