Beverly Kuhlmann, age 11 of Sioux City, Iowa,

Where do bees spend the winter?

The business of the bee hive closes down when the fall flowers begin to fade, There is no more nectar to gather and nothing but bleak, cold weather is ahead. The bees know this and get ready to preserve the hive until spring wakes up the flowers again. The first job is streamlining. The busy workers hate stored only so much food and all unnecessary members of the family must go. First to go are the drones. They are the prince bees, allowed to stay only when food is plentiful. They are deprived of food in the fall. If they do no die or get out of their own free will, the little worker bees get together and heave them out bodily into the cold.

Next, no new bees of any sort are allowed to hatch during the winter, The larvae in the cells are allowed to starve or maybe ended with a sharp sting. Pretty soon the hive is reduced from 50,000 to 10,000 members. These are the bees, along with their precious queen, who settled down to pass the winter in the hive.

Cracks and holes in the hive are sealed up with bee glue to keep out the drafts. For no bee needs to go outside until spring. In fact, she would not survive if she went out on a cold day. The food is rationed and each bee gets her share of honey. The queen still gets her royal jelly. Should the hive become too cold, those smart little bees warm things up by fanning their little wings.