Effects Of Snow Considered
Categories:
WINTERING BEES.
Bee Keeping:
Mysteries Of Bee-keeping Explained
As for bees getting on the snow, I apprehend that not many more are
lost there, than on the frozen earth; that is, in the same kind of
weather. I have seen them chilled, and lost on the ground by hundreds,
when a casual observer would not have noticed them; whereas, had they
been on the snow, at the distance of several rods, every bee would have
been conspicuous. Snow is not to be dreaded as much as chilly air.
Suppose
a hive stands in the sun throughout the winter, and bees are
allowed to leave when they choose, and a portion are lost on the snow,
and that it was possible to number all that were lost by getting
chilled, throughout the season, on the bare earth--the proportion (in
my opinion) lost on the snow would not be one in twenty. A person that
has not closely observed during damp or chilly weather, in April, May,
or even the summer months, has no adequate conception of the number.
Yet, I do not wish to be understood that it is of no consequence what
are lost on the snow, by any means. On the contrary, a great many are
lost, that might be saved with proper care. But I would like to impress
the fact, that frozen earth is not safe without warm air, any more than
snow, when crusted, or a little hard. Even when snow is melting, it is
solid footing for a bee; they can and do rise from it, with the same
ease as from the earth. Bees that perish on snow in these
circumstances, would be likely to be lost if there was none.