How to bring bees successfully through the winter in the colder
portions of the United States is a problem which gives anxiety to all
who are about to attempt it for the first time in those sections, and
even many who have kept bees for years still find it their greatest
difficulty. It may happen occasionally that a queen, apparently young
and vigorous in the autumn, will die during the winter, when a young
one can not be reared, and as a result the colony will dwindle away.
Such losses are, however, rare, and, aside from the possible results
of fire, flood, or violent storms, are about the only ones which can
not be avoided by careful attention to right methods in wintering.
Insufficient or poor winter stores, hives faulty in construction,
lack of protection from cold and dampness, too much or too little
ventilation, too great a proportion of old bees or too great a
proportion of young ones, overmanipulation late in the season, etc.,
are the most important and most easily detected causes of loss in
wintering bees. In some instances colonies supposed to have been placed
in the same condition under which others have wintered well become
diseased and die or dwindle away without prominent signs of disease.
It is evident, however, that some condition existed in one case which
was not present in the other, or that, in spite of some unfavorable
condition, the favorable ones combined, in the first instance, to
render the wintering successful.
In the South wintering in the open air on the summer stands is the
only method followed, while in the colder portions of the country,
although with proper precautions bees may be wintered successfully in
the open air, many prefer to house them in special repositories built
with double walls, or to place them in darkened cellars, or in clamps.
Indoor wintering should be confined to regions where there are several
weeks, at least, of continued severe weather. When all conditions are
right, consumption of honey will be less indoors and loss of bee life
less than with the methods usually practiced in outdoor wintering.
Under proper conditions, however, especially when abundant protection
has been given, colonies out of doors will consume no more food nor
meet with greater losses in numbers than those wintered under favorable
conditions indoors. In wintering indoors certain essential conditions
are, in a measure, beyond the control of the bee keeper, hence must be
left to chance, and certain other conditions and emergencies liable to
arise, though easily understood and met by the man of experience in
this direction, are yet very likely to be overlooked by the novice or
to be puzzling and disastrous to him. For these reasons it is safer
for him to keep closer to the natural method at first and try outdoor
wintering.
In wintering out of doors the conditions within the control of the
bee keeper are more readily perceived and easier to meet, and though
the original work of preparation for good wintering out of doors is
greater per colony, yet the work during the winter itself and the
following spring is likely to be less; moreover, the feeling of greater
security, as well as the greater certainty of finding the colonies in
good condition to begin gathering in the spring, are points well worthy
of consideration. In other words, indoor wintering should be left to
such experienced bee keepers as may prefer it and are located in cold
climates, while novices, wherever located, should first endeavor to
meet the requirements of successful outdoor wintering; that is, to
prepare the colonies so that Nature, whatever her mood as regards the
weather, will bring her tiny charges safely through the perils and
vicissitudes of the winter months.