>The short period of bloom weather wise creates a smorgasboard, and long
days means lots of flights.
Long days don't necessarily mean lots of flights. I've previously analyzed
weather history reports to see how many hours of those days were above 55F
and had wind speeds below 15 mph. In the area of Canada that I analyzed,
total suitable flight hours did not necessarily correlate with photoperiod.
On the other hand, the smorgasbord of nectar and pollen likely has a strong
effect.
>Ahh Different thought. Ian did say many would have a tiny patch also.
> Hes running singles with 80/90 lbs of food into storage for close to 5
> months.
>
It's the cue for the initiation of that patch of brood that I'm interested
in. The study that Pete cited indicates why that early broodrearing is
critical.
>
> >I have seen many hives that will do odd stuff like keep small brood
> patches. Always been strong hives with very young/late queens Looked at a
> load last year that was in the valley and they had been requeened in late
> oct. they were brooding up great right before xmas.
>
Your observations match those of other researchers--that colonies with
younger queens tend to rear later and then earlier in the season.
>
> >I was working on the "spring start" thought, where they go into
> serious brood cycles maxing out the thermal mass capabilities of the hive.
Yep, the serious broodrearing typically occurs once the first tree pollens
start coming in. Once the colony has committed to expanding the broodnest
is where it can get into trouble when a cold snap or extended poor weather
hits.
>Our rule of thumb, two story, minimum of 120# total weight of the boxes,
bees and honey.
For hives to overwinter in the Calif foothills, with temps not much below
freezing, and a short winter, with the intent of going into almonds in
February, I shoot for 130 lbs total weight in fall--not for winter needs,
but to avert starvation of the growing colonies in February, should the
weather turn bad.
> It may be that there is no cue at all; that the colonies that wait for a
"cue" are unable to grow enough to survive and/or cast swarms.
Pete, given that colonies in most cold-weather regions completely cease
broodrearing during November, and then re-initiate it sometime in December
(at a low level), that implies that there must be some sort of cue for the
re-initiation. It doesn't appear to be temperature, as evidenced by the
findings of Seeley and Visscher (quote following), and it typically occurs
before an increase in the photoperiod.
In the New Haven area,
forage only begins to be generally available in
mid-April (when the daily maximum tempera-
ture averages about 15"C), yet by this time
brood rearing has already been going on at a
significant level for several months. As is
shown in Fig. 2, brood rearing begins at a time
when the daily maximum temperature aver-
ages only about 4"C, and intensifies dramati-
cally while daily average temperatures are still
only between about 5" and 15°C.
--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
