ALL THE FACTORS OF GOOD WINTERING ARE NEEDED.
One frequently encounters beekeepers who condemn winter packing, stating that they have tried it without success. The writers have met many such beekeepers, and many of them are good beekeepers in other respects. On careful inquiry it is learned that in all cases they have omitted some vitally important factor. The most common fault in winter packing is to leave the entrances of the hives wide open. This, of course, nullifies the benefit of the packing to a large degree, and one need not be surprised that these men do not find virtue in packing heavily. Another common fault in packing is to omit the packing from the bottom. Snow acts as an excellent insulation, but one can not be sure that there will be snow at just the right times, and it is therefore necessary, to insure good wintering, that good packing be placed on the bottoms.
It is also common to face the hives to the south and then leave the fronts without packing, under the erroneous impression that since the heat from the sun will enter more readily, the colonies will be benefited more than they would be if they were heavily packed in front. To combat this view it should be necessary only to point out that the sun shines only a small fraction of the hours during winter. Furthermore, any place through which heat may enter easily serves also as a place through which heat escapes. In certain well-known cases the other factors of good wintering, strong colonies and good stores, are so well provided that the loss from this lack of protection is not detected, yet it is certain that in any such method of wintering there is a great loss of bee vitality, and the bees are compelled to do more work in heat generation than would be the case were they well packed.
It can not be stated too strongly that the right way to winter bees is to provide all the factors needed, and not to omit any of them simply because in most years the bees can get through without all dying when less help is given. The three things necessary for successful earing for bees from the time they are packed until they are unpacked in the late spring are (1) plenty of protection, (2) plenty of stores of good quality, and (3) plenty of room for the building up of the colony strength in the spring. None of these may be omitted without reducing the colony strength in the spring, and, as every good beekeeper knows, it is the strong colonies which get the maximum crop.
MEASURES OF SUCCESS IN WINTERING.
It is often difficult for a beekeeper to know whether he is wintering his bees as well as he should, for he may not have been able to learn from reading or visiting other apiaries how well colonies may be brought through the winter. The writers therefore have attempted to give here a few measures which the beekeeper may apply to his apiary, that he may be able to decide whether his methods of wintering should be improved.
1. When bees are adequately packed and protected from the wind, they are able to push out the dead bees as they die in winter. There should never be an accumulation of dead bees on the bottom board.
2. A colony of full strength will have 12 Langstroth frames filled with brood by the time that the bees should be unpacked. The bees should not be taken from their cases until it is necessary to handle them, and if two hive bodies have been given each colony, unpacking may be deferred until time for the control of swarming or until the new honey is coming in freely. Sometimes it even happens that colonies need a third hive as a swarm prevention measure before it is time to remove the packing, in which case it can be given and the packing replaced, at least around the sides of the third hive body. Space for this is indicated in the dimensions given on [page 9].
3. A colony is not of proper strength for winter unless it has between three and four frames of brood two months before the time for putting on packing. Usually this will be six weeks before brood-rearing ceases. If there is less brood at that time it indicates either that the queen is not good or that the colony has been weakened from some other cause. If taken in time this condition may be remedied by adding brood or honey or by uniting. It is extravagant to attempt to winter weak colonies.