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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Blair Christian <blair.christian AT gmail.com>
  • To: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Moisture
  • Date: Sat, 8 Feb 2014 09:52:57 -0500

I'll chime in here and say that I have some top entrance hives that
have done great this winter. I think the issue that you all are
discussing is that bees go into a lower metabolic rate below a certain
temperature. In that state, they consume fewer resources. Bees do
not consume the same resources at a constant 10oF as they do at a
constant 40oF. My limited experience suggests big, cold colonies do
great. I tried to overwinter some nucs this year and after the single
digits a couple of them were frozen balls of bees. Sad. (at some
point some of the bees from a couple of the nucs had left and joined
the larger colonies, leaving softball sized clusters around the
queens, which froze- plenty of honey)

Top entrance reference:
You have to have big, strong/healthy colonies to use top entrances...
http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopentrance.htm


"During cooling, motility gradually decreases. At certain
temperatures, the neural and muscular activities are impaired and the
insect lapses into cold stupor (chill coma). The stupor point [...]
and in honey bees, around 5oC in many temperate species..." (I don't
think that's the best reference since it's more about development, but
the part about cold stupor is relevant) I couldn't find anything
better in 5 min. The figure around pg 991 is interesting.
Chapter 1, pg 3
http://books.google.com/books?id=fxm9fIm7vpkC&lpg=PR5&ots=MyqXkp9WWU&dq=overwintering%20hymenoptera%20cold%20stupor%20CO2&lr&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false

Maybe,
("Insect Ecology", chapter on "Temperature, Effects on Growth and
Development", section on "Extreme Temperatures")
http://books.google.com/books?id=LQqHWCtj0F0C&lpg=PA992&ots=CqRPANpSkq&dq=bees%20lower%20metabolic%20state%20winter%20cold%20stupor&pg=PA992#v=onepage&q=bees%20lower%20metabolic%20state%20winter%20cold%20stupor&f=false
(pg 992)
Maybe this article they reference:
http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/08/bblonder/phys120/docs/gillooly.pdf

That's my $0.02.

On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 9:11 AM, Just Bee <marty AT justbeenc.com> wrote:
> Oh randell really...attacks and smears...that's so 2012 of you.
>
> So let's get this straight...basic beekeeping knowledge, the huge bee
> losses of 2012 in NC and the laws of physics do not apply at your bee yard?
>
> Sure....Got it!
>
>
>
> On Feb 7, 2014, at 5:29 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Sorry, left out the word "not", which was the whole point: "So NOT sealing
>> off screen bottoms isn't detrimental to the objectives of beekeeping, and
>> it helps reduce moisture build-up. "
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2/7/2014 5:25 PM, Randall Austin wrote:
>>> On 2/6/2014 2:54 PM, Just Bee wrote:
>>>> Bees make heat...bee heat comes from honey so they have to go through
>>>> more honey to keep the brood warm. It's simple thermal dynamics.
>>>
>>> But it is not informed beekeeping. Bees in a tight cluster consume less
>>> honey than bees in a loose cluster or not in cluster. It is better,
>>> resource-wise, for bees to be somewhat cold in winter than to be somewhat
>>> warm. That's simple apiculture.
>>>
>>> The proof of the pudding is in the eating. My average winter losses over
>>> 10 years are near zero, and my average honey crop is near 100 pounds per
>>> production colony. So sealing off screen bottoms isn't detrimental to the
>>> objectives of beekeeping, and it helps reduce moisture build-up.
>>>
>>> Randall Austin
>>>
>>>
>>
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--
Blair Christian, PhD
919-627-1122




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