Wintering Bees in Cellars

by Everett Franklin Phillips; Geo. S. Demuth

ROOF.

The ceiling of the cellar should be below ground level sufficiently to bring it below the level of frost. For the regions where bees should be wintered in cellars this usually will be at least 2½ feet below the level of the ground ([fig. 3]). The ceiling should be 6½ feet above the floor, just sufficiently high to permit a tall man to work with comfort. If the ceiling is higher it will result usually in too low a temperature at the floor. The ceiling then should be covered completely on top with some insulating material, such as sawdust, and if sawdust is used it should be piled on about 1½ feet thick. Unless about this amount of protection is given on the ceiling it will be impossible to get the right cellar temperature during the coldest part of the winter. If the cellar is built in a sandy soil, it is possible to use the soil as a cover for the ceiling, in which event about 3 feet of soil should be placed over the inner roof of the cellar. The entire insulating material, of whatever kind used, should then be protected from rain and snow by having a roof over it. This roof should project at least 2 feet, preferably more, beyond the outside of the cellar wall, and provision should be made for currying off the water from the roof.

In case the beekeeper desires to build an apiary house over the bee, cellar, as is done frequently, he must provide a floor for this house at least at ground level, and he can not successfully use the ceiling of the cellar as the floor of the upper house. There is no objection to building a house above the cellar if adequate protection is given the cellar, but it must not be assumed that the house offers any material insulation to the cellar, for in most cases these houses are not heated in the winter. The relation of the house floor to the ceiling of the cellar is shown in [figure 3].

ENTRANCE TO THE CELLAR.

Frequently the entrance is a weak spot in the insulation of the cellar, and it is useless to protect the roof and sides unless care is used in the building of the entrance. If the entrance is at the end or one side of the cellar, it will be necessary to build a sort of vestibule with double doors so that the heat of the cellar will not be lost rapidly. The heavier and thicker these doors, the better for the bees.

The best type of vestibule is a long, narrow passage lending into the hillside, and it should be closed by doors at both the inside and outside ends. If possible the vestibule should be built and protected so that the temperature within the vestibule will never fall below freezing. In the building of the vestibule, also, the beekeeper should consider the ease with which the bees may be carried in and out of the cellar.

DRAINAGE.

As has been mentioned previously, the cellar must be well drained, either by natural or by artificial means. No stagnant water should be allowed to remain in the cellar, although at the higher temperatures of the best cellars this does less harm than it does in cellars that are too cold. Some beekeepers have advocated having a stream of water flowing through the cellar, and this will do no harm in warm cellars, and it may serve to assist somewhat in maintaining an even temperature.

VENTILATION.

One of the most serious faults of bee cellars is in providing for too much ventilation, resulting in great fluctuations in temperature. In a cellar which maintains a temperature of 50° F. or more there is little need for ventilation, for the Was then need little oxygen and only a small amount of carbon dioxide is given off. Other things being equal, the colder the cellar, the greater the need of ventilation. If poor stores are in the hives, the bees will need more ventilation than will be desirable when good stores are used. In a warm cellar in a sandy hillside no ventilating shaft need be built.