Wintering Bees in CellarsPhillips, Everett Franklin
Science
Wintering Bees in Cellars
Phillips, Everett Franklin
Bee culture
In a well-insulated cellar it should not be necessary to ventilate at
night at the approach of spring to cool the air inside, for the bees
will not get so warm from their own activity as will bees in a cellar
that is or has been too cold. The greatest problem in most cellars is
to maintain the right temperature during the spring just before the
bees are to be removed. The trouble is that in most cellars--those
which are too cold in winter--the bees generate heat constantly
during the winter and as a result have an accumulation of feces in
the intestines, resulting in a condition known as dysentery. For this
reason they become excited easily, and beekeepers have thought it
necessary to ventilate the cellar at night freely in order to remedy
this trouble. The proper method, of course, is to prevent it by keeping
the temperature higher during the winter, but if the temperature has
fallen too low during the winter ventilation at night seems to help
somewhat. It is safe, however, to say that a cellar in which this
happens is not satisfactory as a place to keep bees during the winter,
and steps should be taken to insulate it more completely before bees
are put into it again. If the bees are wintering on stores that are
not of the best quality the tendency to accumulate feces will be far
greater, even with the right temperatures inside the hives, and if
there is dysentery it may be relieved somewhat by ventilation, although
this is simply reducing a symptom and is not removing the cause of the
trouble.
VENTILATION OF THE HIVE.
Since bees in a good cellar require little ventilation, practically no
attention need be paid to this subject if the cellar has been built in
the way advised. If the temperature of the cellar tends to fall too
low, it is advisable to reduce the entrances of the hives, for with a
greater difference between the temperatures within and outside the hive
the tendency for interchange of air will be correspondingly greater. In
any cellar fit for the wintering of bees it will be neither necessary
nor desirable to ventilate the hives at the top, as sometimes has been
recommended.
The ventilation of the hive within the cellar is not so much for the
elimination of foul air as for the escape of moisture, and therefore
the amount of ventilation needed for the hive depends upon the
humidity of the air within the cellar. If the temperature of the cellar
is kept high enough there will be no condensation of moisture within
the hive, and if water is ever observed on the covers of the hives
it is conclusive proof that the cellar is too cold for the bees. In
a cellar so cold that condensed moisture shows on the bottoms of the
hives stops should be taken at once to raise the temperature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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