<Serge LaBesque, a Calif bee, made detailed drawings of the combs  that he
observed in a hollow tree over the course of the season.  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 assume that Southwick had it right when he said they use empty comb  as a
dead air insulator.  Honey is NOT an insulator.

<then CT scanning the whole hive, this generates a three dimensional  image
of the internal layout of a hive. The typical winter cluster that is rugby
ball shaped is seen to be totally wrong, the bees actually cluster in the
shape  of an inverted bell under the coverboard>

That's not necessarily what our 96 temp probe arrays showed, nor our
Infra-red imagery.  I suspect moving the hives into the CT caused them to
regroup.  We've years of data.  We have found that in HOT weather, the  hottest
part of the hive is at the BOTTOM of the hive, not the top.

Jerry


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