Once when having lunch with Roger Hoopingarner, I said I though most successful beekeeping...honey production, queen production, wintering, was all about population.

He told me a story about his beekeeping professor...possibly Farrar...I think I have it correct

The professor's mantra was: Pop-u-lation, pop-u-lation, pop-u-lation

To prove it he set up a strong colony for winter, in a special hive. The hive had a top and a bottom, but no sides, only screen to protect the bees from predators. The bees wintered in Madison Wisconsin.

Mike


>Five years of tests show that colonies of bees in good condition
>will winter at Madison, Wis., without packing or heating. Clusters
>respond to changes in air temperature according to the degree of
>their protection, but supplementary heat reduces this response.

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