> Agree. The problem usually encountered is they have moved up and are near
> the top but have plenty of weight. If you do not look but assume they are
> fine by weight, they eat everything above them and then the cold hits.
> They will not move the few inches in any direction to get stores because
> of the brood and cold.
Yes, I understood the point you made, and I still submit that bees that
cannot or will not expand enough to get feed off to one side are either
exhausted, too few in number, on new white comb, already partly starved due
to the condition of the stores (granulated?), badly wrapped, or diseased.
Szabo showed that healthy bees can expand their cluster at any temperature
to get to food, but prolific bees with lots of early brood may be already
fully extended.
For that reason, I wonder about the more conservative strains and how they
manage. They have less brood, but also fewer bees at this time of year.
That being said, many otherwise good hives are in that weakened or
compromised condition come spring and they would otherwise survive, so a bit
of fondant above can make a huge difference. Once they begin to starve for
whatever reason, they are weakened, so there is a feedback loop. They
cannot get to food because they have not got enough food in them to generate
the necessary heat. Medhat will probably step in here and mention tracheal
mites, the unseen cause of limited metabolism response in old bees.
Syrup supplied in a manner they can get to it, dry sugar above or simply
good combs of feed moved closer to the cluster can achieve the same job, but
not as handily.
Your earlier comments got me thinking, so I wrote an illustrated article in
today's diary which I will summarize here by saying that the coldest
temperature recorded for this day is minus thirty degrees C. The normals
are plus 6° and minus 6°. The record high is in the twenties, and we have
been running right around freezing (0°C) lately with expected temps into the
teens coming soon and no cold snap in sight. That is according to the
weather guessers and they are as often wrong as right except when they are
looking out the window.
Minus thirty, especially with a wind right now would wreak havoc on
unwrapped and unprotected hives and certainly not do any good for those
well-wrapped and sheltered.
No matter what the small details, you are very right Bill. Colonies which
should survive in normal weather can and will be killed this spring if we
get a cold snap.
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