>All this discussion about Carbon Dioxide in overwintering hives is
>all very interesting, even if some of the info is  dubious science.
 
>It all started with the suggestion that some winter loss could be
>explained by suffocation -- I would suggest that nobody has actually
>claimed to have had such a loss, if they had it would be worth
>discussing why and how to avoid it.
 
I cannot comment about winter loss by carbon dioxide but I can comment about
spring loss from it.
 
A few years ago I modified one of my wintering buildings so that the bees
could fly from the building trough holes in the wall.  The hives were placed
on special stands.  Each hive entrance was facing the south wall and had its
own exit to the outside.  When the outdoor temperature was reaching 10
degrees for at least a couple days in late February and late March, I was
opening the bee exits so the bees can make their cleansing flights.  From
that time I was controlling the indoor temperature and humidity and I was
feeding the colonies pollen supplement and syrup (water also at certain
occasion).  I realised that controlling the humidity was very important in
order to get an adequate brood production.  The idea was to stimulate my
bees early to get an early start with my queen rearing.  I was effectively
obtaining an abundant production of early brood.  Nevertheless important air
quality problems were occuring every year after a month or so of
stimulation.  I am pretty sure that the cause was carbon dioxide buildup in
the room.  I tried to evacuate air to alleviate the problem, but I did not
have the equipment and patience to find the right balance of heating,
humidifation and air changes.  Probably a computer controlled air
conditioning system would have been the answer.  I considered putting the
bees out before the air quality problems develop but I was scared do do so
beacuse of the importance of the brood area relative to the size of the
cluster.  But anyway what was happening was that, despite the important
brood production, the colonies were dwindling after a while instead of
increasing their population!
 
Nice to hear from Norway by the way.  I am sure beekeepers from both Canada
and Norway have a lot to share.  Tell us more about your wintering habits
and experiences.
 
Jean-Pierre Chapleau
eleveur de reines / queen breeder
vice-president du Conseil canadien du miel / Vice-president of the Canadian
Honey Council
1282, rang 8, Saint-Adrien de Ham, Quebec, Canada, J0A 1C0
tel./phone (819) 828-3396; fax (819) 828-0357
[log in to unmask]