In article <[log in to unmask]>, yoonytoons
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>2) if so, it seems to stand to reason that they should use less winter
>storage, being much colder.  For instance, during warm winter months, they
>consume more, demanding winter-feeding.

For fear of being labelled an 'ignorant northerner' (as in your other
post) I was reluctant to reply here........however.....

 From my experience it is a fact that bees on OMF's or SBB's , call them
what you will, do consume rather less stores in winter. Our winter temps
here are actually quite mild, so we will have more in common with
maritime and mid latitude US climates than the more extreme northern
areas.

The only colonies where I have direct comparisons are in polystyrene,
where we have wintered both solid and screened versions together for
comparison. This was just to see how the floor would impact on wintering
performance, rather than to see the impact on stores useage, which was a
side observation.

However, it does seem as if bee strain has a much greater impact than
hive configuration on how much they eat over the winter months.

> Another unrelated thought, after
>reading the above, is that will a mouse still want to come inside the hive
>on SBB especially when the cluster is near the bottom and there is not
>much of "shelter" inside?

Indubitably yes. I have the chewed up remnants to prove it.


Murray
--
Murray McGregor

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