If the bees are kept in apiaries of perhaps 100 colonies and if a
cellar is built for each apiary, then it is possible to build a cellar
of just the right capacity. If a central cellar is built for all the
apiaries and the bees in outapiaries are brought into the home apiary
for winter, the beekeeper will wish to build the cellar sufficiently
large for future expansion of his business, and beekeepers are finding
out, that they can keep many more colonies of bees than they formerly
thought possible. Perhaps the better plan is to have a cellar in each
apiary.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Interior of bee cellar with hives In piles of
four. Insulation above the ceiling is not shown.]
The usual practice is to allow 1-1/2 to 2 square feet of floor surface
for each colony, on the assumption that the colonies will be placed in
piles of four (fig. 2). It is not desirable to pile hives higher than
this, if the cellar roof is 6-1/2 feet high in the clear, and it is
difficult to lift heavy hives any higher than the number specified. For
an apiary of 100 colonies, it will be found desirable to have a cellar
10 feet wide and from 15 to 20 feet long, clear of the inner walls. If
one is just getting a start in beekeeping he should build his cellar on
the assumption that later he will increase the number of his colonies,
and should allow for this, for it is better to have the cellar too
large than too small.