>  He  noted that in
>fall, the bees moved the honey in the periphery toward the  cluster, leaving
>empty comb above and to the sides.>
 
I and others have seen this also in Finland. My friend has an opinion that it 
happens more in hives that are not insulated.

I think this is not so much work by bees to create insulation on the sides, 
but to get more food near/ inside the cluster. In very cold weather bees starve 
easily on frames even when there is a lot of food on the frames more far. This 
happens mainly to medium or weak colonies. Its not bad planning for the bees to 
remove food from outside of the cluster in late fall and use it to fill the 
empty brood cells inside the cluster after last bees were born from them.

One big question for me has been that do bees actually store this food inside 
the cluster as most seem to think. I have of seen any proof of that. It coud 
also bee that they use it as a daily food as long as they can access it. This 
also would save more food inside the cluster for the long cold periods.

Ari Seppälä
Finland

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