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Date: | Fri, 1 Dec 2023 09:04:40 -0500 |
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> a nursery immediately beside a sugar refinery.
This strikes me as hyperbole. More like feeding the kids in the kitchen. In many homes the kitchen is the place where most of the living takes place. Besides, the primary method of evaporation of nectar in the hive consists of placing small droplets in cells, maximizing their surface area. So the metaphor of boiling syrup is not apt.
> It is a common observation that, so long as available room permits, bees naturally tend to spread out the newly gathered nectar, placing only a small amount in each cell, later to be gathered up and stored compactly before sealing. It is to be doubted whether bees often fill a cell more than one-fourth full of thin nectar under normal conditions, and as a rule the amount probably would be considerably less than that, with the possible exception of times of very heavy honeyflow. Evaporation from nectar in the body of the cell takes place at a rate sufficient to advance it to the concentration of ripe honey within three days, if the initial concentration is 20 per cent or over, and within two days if the initial concentration is 30 per cent or over.
> The evaporation process should be greatly accelerated due to the manipulation of the nectar by the mouthparts of the house-bee, and at times also to the hanging drops which the bees often place in the roofs of cells. The results of the above experiments emphasize the fact that a large amount of comb space in the hive is a distinct advantage to the bees during the honey ripening process. — O. W. PARK, Iowa Experiment Station
Comment:
This is pretty much the opposite of conventional wisdom which says that the process of dehydration is driven by heat. At the onset of the major nectar flow, I place all available supers on the hive, at least 3 or 4 medium depth supers. This gives them plenty of space to disperse the nectar.
PLB
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