836 
TEMPERATURE 
importance of giving plenty of ventilation, 
by means of wire screens to keep down the 
internal temperature of the hive, is shown. 
Under the head of Bottling Honey it 
will be seen that temperature plays an 
important part in preventing the granula¬ 
tion of liquid honey. If it is too high, the 
delicate flavor of the honey will be injured. 
If it is too low, granulation will take place 
soon. 
Under Wintering in Cellars, Referring 
to the temperature of the cellar it 
is explained that, in order to get the best 
results, the temperature should show not 
below 40 nor above 60 degrees F. In 
some cellars 45 degrees gives the best re¬ 
sults ; in others, 50; and still others, 55. 
the temperature op the cluster in 
winter. 
Up to the year 1911 various erroneous 
notions were current. Some authorities 
stated that the internal temperature of a 
colony in winter was blood heat; that 
when the cluster was broken into, no mat¬ 
ter how cold the day, the individual mem¬ 
bers would rush out, apparently just as 
active as at any time during the summer. 
Others held that bees went into a winter 
sleep, somewhat analogous to a condition of 
semi-hibernation or even perfect hiberna¬ 
tion. 
Still others maintained that bees during 
winter could and do go into a state approx¬ 
imating death; that they had broken into 
their clusters and found them lifeless; had 
carried them into the house and put them 
near a stove, and found that tiiey soon 
revived and flew about the room as lively 
as ever. From this they argued that bees 
were like ants in that they went into a 
state of perfect hibernation. This, of 
course, is a mistake. 
Others, again, held that the winter tem¬ 
perature of the cluster dropped down to 
about 60 degrees F. and remained at that 
point until the weather warmed up, when 
the bees would arouse. 
The fact is, there is truth in all of these 
assertions. The different observers had 
taken the temperature of the clusters at 
different times during the winter and under 
different conditions. The temperature of 
the honeybee cluster varies all the way, 
according to conditions, from 32 F., which 
would shortly result in death, to 97, which 
would be summer temperature. Whenever 
the cluster is chilled thru, so that each 
individual member of it is stiff and cold, 
and apparently lifeless, it will die soon, 
unless the weather becomes warmer. If one 
were to dig into such a brood-nest and find 
such a condition, he would naturally argue 
that bees hibernate like ants and flies. 
There was quite a school of beekeepers 
who, in the early days, argued in favor of 
reducing the surrounding temperature un¬ 
til the bees were chilled thru, because they 
said that in such a state they would con¬ 
sume almost no stores. Unfortunately for 
this argument experience shows that in a 
chilled condition bees cannot live more than 
a week or ten days. Any time within that 
period they may or may not be revived by 
placing them in a warm room. If a cluster 
is chilled clear thru in an outdoor colony, 
and it warms up outside enough so that the 
internal temperature of the hive reaches 
between 60 and 70, the bees may revive, 
move to the portion of the brood-nest where 
their stores are, and may, if the winter is 
not too severe from that time on, live thru. 
When the conditions are such that a 
cluster will chill thru during the middle or 
early part of the winter, the owner may 
rest assured that the bees will die. When 
he comes to open up the hive in the spring 
he will find a perfectly formed cluster with 
every bee dead. 
On the other hand, when a colony is 
properly housed, and strong enough, there 
will be no danger of the cluster’s chilling 
thru. It behooves the apiarist, therefore, 
to have strong colonies and then place them 
in a good cellar or in warm double-walled 
hives or packing-cases. See Wintering 
Outdoors and Wintering in Cellars. 
When one desirous of getting the tem¬ 
perature of a colony of bees during mid¬ 
winter thrusts a common thermometer down 
into the cluster, he is misled. In an hour 
or two after inserting the instrument he 
will probably find the mercury standing at 
about 97, for breaking into the hive and 
thrusting something down into the cluster 
of bees arouses them so that the tempera¬ 
ture rises rapidly till it reaches 97. He 
concludes that the temperature of the win¬ 
ter cluster is 97, for has he not seen it with 
his own eyes? 
