--- On Fri, 1/4/13, Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
As I have stated in the past, I think most beekeepers misunderstand the nature of bees in winter. Bees do not attempt to heat the hive. Any heat coming off of the cluster is waste heat, like the heat coming off of a car engine. The bees try to stay warm as individuals, so the process is a self-regulating system. There is no central heating system, no central thermostat. There are many examples of self-regulating systems, and they succeed or fail on their own merits. 
 
reply;
Not really if kept on a real sustainable beekeeping system sized right with nature by latitude and altitude. other then that for out of cync bees right on what you say here.

continuing:
Attempts to control or regulate such systems can backfire, like it did in the late 1800s with bee hives. They packed and insulated the hives so much, the bees actually did worse (too damp). Of course, outdoor wintering without packing is inherently risky as well. That's why so many beekeepers move the bees south. There is no sure fire way to get bees through winter. Radical shifts in ambient temperature no doubt do the most harm. 
 
reply;
Again, same reply, .....and now adding.....it's been known for decades that temperature and weather conditions are what control honeybees' behaviour like how affected thermodynamics of nature. and now you making me think again for what Randy Oliver asked for,  and so hope he reading for now the information put out and published by Sechrist and Mcfarland come into play in book Scientific Beekeeping and done I think ikn California back around 1946......and associated with family member in Farrar family too as mind now going., So if you can try to find the book Randy. Also Peter think you will like reading it also.
 
Dee A. Lusby 


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