The disasters to bees wintered in the old
ways in the past twenty years, have been enormous ; while the percentage of
losses of bees in buildings have amounted to nothing, although they have had
little or no care, except perhaps the care a novice might bestow upon them, or
had to get along with the care they could give themselves as they would have to
do in a tree in the woods. 


 
 
Glad to hear that is true for your area.  That's not true over the past decade for some beekeepers in the Peace River area nor for some of our beekeepers in northern states that use overwintering sheds.  Losses as high as 90% have been sustained inside these buildings.  And, I am talking about large operations storing thousands of colonies.
 
  
 
 
 
J.J. Bromenshenk
Bee Alert
Missoula, Mt
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Loring Borst <[log in to unmask]>
To: BEE-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Oct 21, 2015 7:35 am
Subject: [BEE-L] Winter losses, 1918, continued


The wintering of our bees successfully has been the great problem confronting
bee keepers. The winter losses have been so great some winters as to almost
threaten to wipe out the industry.

In talking over winter losses with that
veteran bee keeper, Geo. E.Hilton, he remarked that he felt sure that nine-tenth
of the bees that have died have died of starvation. The cause for this was the
hives were too shallow. They do not in any way provide space enough above the
bees to hold enough stores for a winter's supply. When we think the matter over
in regard to these shallow hives, we wonder that as many have lived through the
winter without starvation in these hives as there have. 

Bees as every one
knows, store their honey above them, and they should be given a hive of
sufficient height to allow them to store a full supply to last them through any
winter and spring and this is just what this tall hive made up of two bodies
that I use and recommend, does. It is well known now that bees in the fall drop
down to the bottom of any hive they are in, get into a circular mass and eat
upward and do not or cannot see that it is well filled with winter stores.


Then place these hives in shelters such as we recommend where you can give
them the protection they should have from all storms that blow, where you can
see that their entrances are opened at all times so they will have proper
ventilation and have a flight at any time in the winter when the weather is
suitable. For it has been starvation and want of ventilation that has been two
of the great causes of mortality in our bees. Many of our hives weighed in the
fall around a hundred pounds. A hive that weighs a hundred pounds in the fall,
is good for 100 to 200 next summer.

The disasters to bees wintered in the old
ways in the past twenty years, have been enormous ; while the percentage of
losses of bees in buildings have amounted to nothing, although they have had
little or no care, except perhaps the care a novice might bestow upon them, or
had to get along with the care they could give themselves as they would have to
do in a tree in the woods. 

Pearce, Joseph Abner. The Pearce New Method of
Bee Keeping. Joseph A. Pearce Company, 1918.

            
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