>  > I think this should have gone to the list.  What with you and Jim
> > writing these days, the quality of the list has gone up in a big way.
> > Thanks.   I had hoped you'd tackle my 'Do Bees heat their Home' post. I
> > don't know  what your position is on this, but I'm sure it would be
> > interesting.
 
> Allen, feel free to pop my response to the list.  I will get around to
> your heat the home post...   I will post some interesting heat, cold,
> etc. data in a few weeks. Jerry
 
--- Here are the details ---
 
>> Some of our beekeepers shut down their queens (but usually a month or
>> two  later than the folks on the coasts). > I wonder if you can expand
>> on this.  I'd be curious how they deliberately shut them down.  I would
>> assume that this would by letting the brood area get plugged?  How do
>> they manage in order to ensure young populations in fall, or does the
>> migratory aspect make this less critical?
>
>
>Allen, sorry that I was not clear.  Most of these beekeepers drop a queen
>excluder on top of the first brood box.  Those in a hurry just throw it on,
>check later to see if she is above or below, then rotate her down.  Either
>way, she gets plugged out, especially during heavy nectar flows when the
>forager bees fill the brood cells in the box below the excluder with nectar
>during the day, move it up at night.
>
>In most cases, as soon as the excluder is put in place, we see strong
>evidence that the queen's egg-laying is disrupted.  Seems she has a hard
>time adjusting.  We get brood breaks and lots of supercedures.  By the time
>she gets going again, the brood nest is often plugged out.
>
>Jerry