I just found this:
Bees In Winter
The Principal Causes of Heavy losses.
How to Prevent Them.
A goodly number of apiarists expressed
themselves concerning the cause and
prevention of winter losses of bees in the
columns of The American Bee Journal
recently. Professor A. J. Cook laid the
losses to poor food and severe cod and
suggested as a preventive good food
and good cellar or thorough packing.
M. Makin believes that the principal
cause is dampness and want of ventilation
He says, "since I have given my
bees plenty of ventilation at the bottom
of the hive I lose scarcely any bees."
G. W. Demaree wrote: "Long, cold
winters are the causes of loss. When
the winter is open and moderate, I never
lose any colonies, but when long, hard
winters overtake the bees some colonies
Perish." His remedy consists in protecting
the bees every season as thought every
winter was severely cold.
Mrs. L. Harrison said: "The cause of
so many bees dying last winter was
the severe long continued cold weather.
In cleaning out hives where bees have
died foul air appears to be one factor.
The weather was so severe that bees
could not clean house, and the dead accumulated,
closing up the entrance.
We hear of bees coming thru in good
condition in old hives split from top to bottom.
I cleaned out a hive that had contained a very large
colony and was well supplied with honey.
The hive was a close, well painted one, with new
muslin, and the cap filled with dry maple
leaves. The entrance was so clogged
with dead bees robbers could not enter."
J. E. Pond writes: "It is difficult to
say generally what the principal reasons
for heavy winter losses are. So many
factors enter into the problem that each
case is an individual reason for winter
losses in my own locality - Massachusetts.
1 can suggest nothing that has
not been made public in textbooks and
bee journals for years. Study them carefully,
and you will get about all the light
there is on the subject."
Mr. Dadant said that the causes of loss
are long confinement and unsealed honey.
He advised keeping the bees in a well
sheltered place where they can have a
flight at every chance. He believes that
the colonies that winter best are those
that have a flight when it seems sure
death for bees to venture out.
An apiarist writing from Canada said:
"Our losses in Canada during the past
winter were light. A light honey flow,
or a honey flow which breaks off early,
I believe, usually precedes heavy winter
losses. I have great faith in the statement
that bees will winter with reasonable
certainty if they get sufficient proper
stores, have a good queen and are kept
in proper condition during winter. The
rules of health and life are as fixed with
the bee as any other animal."
The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette
Tuesday, November 21, 1893 Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Thanks to Historical Honeybee Articles
