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Date: | Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:39:10 -0400 |
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Stan says:
I guess that the discrepancy is the temperature difference between
California and PEI
Agree, that's the reason why GRADING of colonies for pollination rental
falls apart if the crews start in the cool/cold morning and continue through
a warm/hot afternoon, when the bee field force is out. We've done the
numbers - same colony in early morning will yield VERY different frame coverage
late afternoon.
Grading is often a false precision. Whereas brood area estimates aren't
going to change much in a day (although queen is obviously laying and if you
really want to get precise, the egg, larvae, and pupae numbers are also in
a state of flux since a queen can easily lay 1000 eggs per day), one can't
say that about frame coverage.
Coverage VARIES by time of day, as a result of changes in light intensity
(radiant energy actually), ambient temperature, and number of foragers
outside the hive.
For critical comparisons, we always conduct frame counts close to dawn
(unless the day is very cool and overcast). We usually plan on scoring all
hives in an experiment before ambient temperatures start to climb - and
always plan to be done in under an hour - unless day is really cool.
I understand that if one is going to grade large numbers of colonies, the
crews have to work all day - that's why we've been working on alternative
approaches to grading.
Jerry
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