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.
Various attempts have been made in the past to provide for the cellar
fresh air which has been warmed somewhat before entry. The most common
method is to have the air pass through tiles under ground for perhaps
100 feet before it enters the cellar. In general, it may be said that
none of these devices has been worth the trouble and expense involved
and none of them has served the purpose for which it was intended. It
has been proposed also to ventilate the bee cellar by wind pressure.
The devices which have been made for such ventilation will function
only when there is considerable wind and then only when the wind is in
the right quarter; therefore they are not at all to be recommended. By
far the best plan is simply to build the bee cellar correctly, for,
then little ventilation will be needed.