> Jim also mentioned bees "moving stores around".  They don't do this in
> winter.  Instead, they move the cluster.  To do this they need some amount
> of warmth.  I don't know as anyone has reported on how warm it needs to be
> for the bees to move, but I have seen them move at am ambient temperature of
> about 50 degrees.

If the bees are raising brood during the winter they will not be able to move
the cluster, as your following comments recognize.  If it is warm enough for
them to move around the hive, what makes you think that they won't move stores
nearer to the brood nest?  Is this research results or observation?  I am
interested because here in Alaska we normally have 5 to 6 months when an
uninsulated hive will have little (normally none) time when the ambient
temperature is above 44 degrees F.  You might guess wintering is still in the
experimental stage, but we have had some successes.


> My understanding is that they will die if they exhaust
> the food where the cluster is and can't move because it is too cold.
> Perhaps in the process of moving, the bees on the outside get to move to a
> warmer layer...(I don't know).

Tom
--
"Test everything.  Hold on to the good."  (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Tom Elliott
Chugiak,  Alaska
U.S.A.
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