> Agree. The problem usually encountered is they have moved up and are near 
> the top but have plenty of weight. If you do not look but assume they are 
> fine by weight, they eat everything above them and then the cold hits. 
> They  will not move the few inches in any direction to get stores because 
> of the  brood and cold.

Yes, I understood the point you made, and I still submit that bees that 
cannot or will not expand enough to get feed off to one side are either 
exhausted, too few in number, on new white comb, already partly starved due 
to the condition of the stores (granulated?), badly wrapped, or diseased. 
Szabo showed that healthy bees can expand their cluster at any temperature 
to get to food, but prolific bees with lots of early brood may be already 
fully extended.

For that reason, I wonder about the more conservative strains and how they 
manage.  They have less brood, but also fewer bees at this time of year.

That being said, many otherwise good hives are in that weakened or 
compromised condition come spring and they would otherwise survive, so a bit 
of fondant above can make a huge difference.   Once they begin to starve for 
whatever reason, they are weakened, so there is a feedback loop.   They 
cannot get to food because they have not got enough food in them to generate 
the necessary heat.  Medhat will probably step in here and mention tracheal 
mites, the unseen cause of limited metabolism response in old bees.

Syrup supplied in a manner they can get to it, dry sugar above or simply 
good combs of feed moved closer to the cluster can achieve the same job, but 
not as handily.

Your earlier comments got me thinking, so I wrote an illustrated article in 
today's diary which I will summarize here by saying that the coldest 
temperature recorded for this day is minus thirty degrees C.  The normals 
are plus 6° and minus 6°.   The record high is in the twenties, and we have 
been running right around freezing (0°C) lately with expected temps into the 
teens coming soon and no cold snap in sight.  That is according to the 
weather guessers and they are as often wrong as right except when they are 
looking out the window.

Minus thirty, especially with a wind right now would wreak havoc on 
unwrapped and unprotected hives and certainly not do any good for those 
well-wrapped and sheltered.

No matter what the small details, you are very right Bill.  Colonies which 
should survive in normal weather can and will be killed this spring if we 
get a cold snap.

 

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