Someone pressed forward, and Sue Cobey sent me the following
note to answer questions posed by myself and others in prior
Bee-L postings.

==================================================

Jim,

Your note was forwarded to me, as I'm not on the
Bee L list, so thought I'd reply directly.
Feel free to share this if you like.

Yes, I do favor larger winter clusters, but this is given
low priority. I find the large clusters are still very
conservative, as is the nature of the Carnica race.
Proportionally, the smaller clusters eat more as it takes
more energy to keep them warm, verses a larger cluster.

I am continually amazed how little they do consume, especially
when conditions get tough. They have a strong survival strategy
and are very sensitive to changes in the environment. Coming
from a area of long harsh winters and short seasons,
characteristically they shutdown and early and build early.
And yes, you need to keep on top of them in spring and provide
the space to expand.

The queen producers tell me they mate earlier and during marginal
weather, compared to Italians. I notice here, I can get fairly
pure natural matings early, before the local Italians drones are out.

Appreciate the feedback ( pos. and neg. ) and questions, its helpful
to know how they are doing in different locations.

Sue

==================================================

So, the whole "smaller cluster" versus "larger cluster"
concern seems to have been based upon a misunderstood
understanding of the term "larger".  When Dr. Cobey
says "larger" she is speaking about a minor relative
change as compared to a typical NWC cluster, and not as
compared to a typical cluster of Italians, Buckfasts,
whatever.

While it might seem counter-intuitive that a larger
cluster would consume less stores, I can only conclude
that my initial impression that I had "very scary
small clusters" in my first 4 NWC evaluation colonies
might have been justified to some minor extent.

The phrase "minimum critical mass" comes to mind.

One small warning about spring operations with NWCs
is in order.  Sue is breaking new ground in the art
of understatement in her advice:

        "you need to keep on top of them in
        spring and provide the space to expand"

The "label instructions" version of this statement
would be:

   a) Insert pollen patty.

   b) Put on and fill feeder.

   c) Wait 5 minutes.

   d) Add extra brood chambers.  Quick!

   WARNING - spring colony population growth
   can cause brood chambers to pop nails under
   the force of expansion.  Use glue AND screws
   on all NWC brood chambers.


I'm only exaggerating a little bit here.


                        jim

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