>When at the Madison Lab years ago, the formula I was taught was one bee
> covers 2 cells
>
Lloyd Harris' observed figure was that a square unit of brood emerges to
cover about three square units with bees on the comb. This figure is
confirmed by data from Dr. Brian Johnson.
However, coverage is greatly dependent upon temperature, and the need of
brood for feeding. Generally, a shook comb gives us about 1/2 lb of bees,
which should be a bit less than 2000 bees.
This figure is not too far from a calc based upon Kim's number of cells per
comb. At 9000 cells per comb, and say 75% covered by bees, the figures are
close.
Randy Oliver
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