Cellar wintering requires the consumption of less honey to maintain the
proper temperature in the cluster and is therefore economical. Bees so
wintered do not have an opportunity for a cleansing flight, often for
several months, but the low consumption makes this less necessary. Some
bee keepers advocate carrying the colonies out a few times on warm days,
but it is not fully established whether this is entirely beneficial and it
is usually not practiced.
The time for putting colonies in the cellar is a point of dispute, and
practice in this regard varies considerably. They should certainly be
put in before the weather becomes severe and as soon as they have ceased
brood rearing. The time chosen may be at night when they are all in the
hive, or on some chilly day.
The hives may be piled one on top of the other, the lower tier raised a
little from the floor. The entrances should not be contracted unless the
colony is comparatively weak. It is usually not considered good policy
to close the entrances with ordinary wire cloth, as the dead bees which
accumulate more or less on the bottom boards may cut off ventilation, and
the entrance should be free so that these may be cleaned out.
It is, however, good policy to cover the entrance with wire-cloth having
three meshes to the inch to keep out mice.
The time of removing bees from the cellar is less easily determined than
that of putting them in. The colonies may be removed early and wrapped in
_black_ tar paper or left until the weather is settled. If the weather is
very warm and the bees become fretful, the cellar must either be cooled
or the bees removed. Some bee keepers prefer to remove bees at night, so
that they can recover from the excitement and fly from the hive normally
in the morning. One of the chief difficulties is to prevent the bees
from getting into the wrong hives after their first flights. They often
"drift" badly with the wind, and sometimes an outside row will become
abnormally strong, leaving other colonies weak.
The night before the bees are removed from the cellar it is good practice
to leave the cellar doors and windows wide open.
=DISEASES AND ENEMIES.=
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