Stan says:

I guess  that the discrepancy is the temperature difference between
California and  PEI
 
Agree, that's the reason why GRADING of colonies for pollination rental  
falls apart if the crews start in the cool/cold morning and continue  through 
a warm/hot afternoon, when the bee field force is out.  We've  done the 
numbers - same colony in early morning will yield VERY different frame  coverage 
late afternoon.
 
Grading is often a false precision.  Whereas brood area estimates  aren't 
going to change much in a day (although queen is obviously laying  and if you 
really want to get precise, the egg, larvae, and pupae numbers are  also in 
a state of flux since a queen can easily lay 1000 eggs per day), one  can't 
say that about frame coverage.
 
Coverage VARIES by time of day, as a result of changes in light  intensity 
(radiant energy actually), ambient temperature, and number of  foragers 
outside the hive.
 
For critical comparisons, we always conduct frame counts close to dawn  
(unless the day is very cool and overcast).  We usually plan on  scoring all 
hives in an experiment before ambient temperatures start to climb -  and 
always plan to be done in under an hour - unless day is really cool.
 
I understand that if one is going to grade large numbers of colonies, the  
crews have to work all day - that's why we've been working on alternative  
approaches to grading.
 
Jerry
 

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