MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 269from honeydew. It will be all right to use these hives withoutremoving the honey. Even if it should be honeydew, the bees canstand that all right when flying daily.Wintering in a Building With Entrances Arranged for Flight.—Q. I have my bees in the attic, facing east, and it is so arrangedthat the temperature can be controlled during the winter months.During the most severe weather the past winter it has not beenbelow 32 degrees, and never above 40 unless the weather out ofdoors was warm enough for them to have a flight. What wouldbe the best temperature and cause them to consume the leastamount of stores, with the hive-entrances open to the weather atall times as they are now?A. About SO degrees, but there is a good deal of variation inthermometers.Wintering in Cellar.—Q. How many cubic feet per colony isrequired in cellar wintering? I am thinking of putting the beesindoors.A. Something like ten, including passage way.Q. In cellar-wintering, must it be dark in the cellar?A. Y"es, unless the bees keep perfectly quiet in the light.When first put in the cellar they don't seem to mind the lightmuch, but do a great deal toward spring.Q. In wintering bees in the cellar, do you leave the bottomboardoff the hive for ventilation?A. My bottom-boards are left on; but that still leaves abundantventilation, for the space under bottom-boards is two inches,and the entrance is two inches, deep and the whole width of thehive. If I had entrances not more than half an inch deep, Ishould want the hives blocked up or the bottom-boards takenaway entirely.Q. Do you put on anything to keep out the rats and mice, ifsuch enemies should come along, or will the bees take care oftheir combs and honey in such a case themselves? 1 think Prof.Cook says that he leaves the bottom-board on and the entrancewide open.A. I have done both ways. You may be sure the bees will nottake care of themselves; rats and mice will make bad work ifallowed undisputed possession. If you leave the hive-entrancesopen, in most cellars, you must keep up an unceasing warfareagainst rodents with traps and poison. You can bid defiance tothe nuisances, however, by having the entrances closed with verycoarse wire-cloth—three meshes to the inch. Even then you