Part 4

DRAINAGE.

As has been mentioned previously, the cellar must be well drained, either by natural or by artificial means. No stagnant water should be allowed to remain in the cellar, although at the higher temperatures of the best cellars this does less harm than it does in cellars that are too cold. Some beekeepers have advocated having a stream of water flowing through the cellar, and this will do no harm in warm cellars, and it may serve to assist somewhat in maintaining an even temperature.

VENTILATION.

One of the most serious faults of bee cellars is in providing for too much ventilation, resulting in great fluctuations in temperature. In a cellar which maintains a temperature of 50° F. or more there is little need for ventilation, for the Was then need little oxygen and only a small amount of carbon dioxide is given off. Other things being equal, the colder the cellar, the greater the need of ventilation. If poor stores are in the hives, the bees will need more ventilation than will be desirable when good stores are used. In a warm cellar in a sandy hillside no ventilating shaft need be built.

In any event, one shaft 6 inches square running through the ceiling of the cellar to the outside will be sufficient for any cellar that is fit for the wintering of bees. During the coldest part of the winter the interchange of air between the inside of the cellar and the outside will be materially increased by the great difference in temperature and this one ventilator may be entirely or nearly closed. During the milder weather of the fall and spring this amount of ventilation will do no harm. The top of the ventilating shaft, which should extend at least 6 feet above the outer roof, may be painted black in order to induce greater movement of air when the sun shines. The shaft should be so arranged that it does not admit light to the cellar.

PUTTING THE BEES INTO THE CELLAR.

Before the bees are carried into the cellar it should be well aired and cleaned, and it will be well to keep it open for several days beforehand. No debris or refuse should be left in the cellar when the bees are taken in.

TIME.

For zone 1 (fig. 1) it is usually desirable to wait until about the middle of November before putting the bees into winter quarters. If one could know exactly when the bees would have the last opportunity for a cleansing flight, they would be put into the cellar just after that, but we can not always be sure that there will be suitable weather for such flight in late November, and there is, therefore, considerable doubt every year as to just the right time to put the bees away. Frequently it happens that the weather is suitable for a flight about November 20, and it is best to wait until then before attempting to put the bees in the cellar. The flight of only a few bees from the hive should not be construed as a cleansing flight. In this connection it is highly desirable that the beekeeper keep a careful watch of the weather maps daily, so that he may know at all times about what weather may be expected for a few days in advance. For the beekeeper's purpose the daily forecasts published in newspapers are scarcely enough; and if no daily weather maps are convenient near by, it will repay the beekeeper well to subscribe for them. They are valuable not only at the time of putting the bees into the cellar but at many other times of the year.

Soon after a period when the barometric pressure has been low, bringing high temperatures suitable for flights (at least 60° F.), there usually will be a period when the barometric pressure is high, bringing lower, temperatures. At the shifting from low to high barometric pressure there is frequently a time when it is cloudy. This is a fine time to put the bees into the cellar. These periods of high and low barometric pressure follow each other with rather marked regularity in the fall, and it is rather safe to assume that just at the end of the well-defined low pressure which next follows after November 15 is the best time to put the bees into the cellar. It is better to put the bees in the cellar a week or so before the last opportunity for flight than to put them in after exposure to cold which is not followed by a cleansing flight.

For zone 2 it will be desirable to put the bees away a little earlier, although the oncoming of winter is not so much earlier in the North as one might imagine.

HOW TO CARRY THE BEES.

When one person carries the bees into the cellar the best method is to stand at the back of the hive and grasp the bottom of the hive with both hands. The hive is then lifted and the cover brought up against the chest firmly, permitting the operator to walk without interference and with a minimum of stooping. If there are cleats on the ends of the hive bodies, those may be rested on the forearms, although with this method there is some danger that the bottoms will drop off unless they are stapled.

If the temperature is sufficiently low (slightly above freezing), there will be no need of closing the entrances when the bees are being carried in. Every care should be taken not to jar the hives more than is absolutely necessary from the time that they are lifted until they are in their final place in the cellar.

If more than one person is engaged in carrying in the hives, the hives may be placed carefully on carriers with handles, and two or more of them may be carried at one time.

HOW TO STACK THE HIVES.

The bottom hive in a pile should rest on an empty hive body or some other such support of about that size (figs. 2 and 3). The hives then should be placed one on top of the other until they are four high. It is best by far to put each pile of four hives about 6 inches from adjacent piles, so that in handling the hives on one pile there is no disturbance of bees in other piles. Allowance is made for this space between the piles of hives in the estimate of the floor space needed for each colony (p. 9).

MAINTENANCE OF THE CELLAR DURING THE WINTER.

If the cellar is properly constructed it will need little if any care during the time that the bees are inside. It is only the poor bee cellar which requires constant attention to prevent changes in temperature.

TEMPERATURE OF THE CELLAR.

There has been much discussion as to the best temperature of the cellar during the winter. Commonly it is stated that a temperature of 40° to 45° F. is best, but this is colder than usually is best for the finest results. A temperature below 40° F. is invariably bad for the bees, and a cellar in which the temperature goes as low as freezing is not a fit place for bees.

It has been found by the authors that bees do the least amount of work when the temperature of the air immediately surrounding them (inside the hive) stands at 57° F. This is, therefore, the temperature which the beekeeper should bear in mind, rather than to lay too much stress on the temperature of the cellar itself. The place for a thermometer in the bee cellar is inside the entrance of a good colony where it may be read easily by simply pulling it out. A chemical thermometer is best for this purpose, and it should register 52° F. or more inside the hive entrance. In order to have the right temperature within the hive it usually will be best to have the temperature of the cellar at about 50° F. or slightly higher. As will be shown later, however, it is quite possible to have the right temperature within the hive when the temperature of the cellar is a few degrees lower than that stated.

If the beekeeper will pay attention to the temperature of the interior of the hive he will find that in colder cellars it is desirable to give the hives some insulation to conserve the heat generated by the bees in much the same way that this heat is conserved when bees are packed outdoors, although the amount of protection will be much less. In a cellar where the temperature falls to 45° F. it will be found best to have the covers of the hives sealed on tightly and the entrances reduced to 3/8 inch by 2 inches. In a cellar with a temperature of 50° F. or more the entrances may be left open the full width of the hive. If there is a tendency for the temperature to fall to 45° F. or less, the tops of the hives may be protected by cushions of chaff or other materials placed at least on the top of the uppermost hives, for each of the lower three hives is protected somewhat by the one above it.

It will be impossible to maintain the temperatures recommended unless the cellar is built in the way described, or in some other way by which the cellar is equally well insulated. It is impossible to maintain an equable and high temperature in a cellar the walls and ceiling of which are exposed to the outside air.

VENTILATION OF THE CELLAR.

If the proper temperature is maintained in the cellar there will be little need of ventilation, for in almost all cases there will be sufficient interchange of air to keep the bees in good condition. If the temperature is as low as 45° F., a little ventilation will be needed, although most of the bee cellars that have been built have had too much ventilation, and as a result it has been impossible to maintain a correct temperature within them. In cold weather the tendency toward an interchange of air is greatest, and at such times the ventilators may be entirely closed. In mild weather it makes no difference if large ventilators are open, unless this results in too great a rise in temperature.

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.