Hi all

> Jack wrote: Any one know the number of bees in 1/2 cup?

In UK I used to use plastic cups from vending machines for measuring bees by
volume for populating mini nucs.

The bees were first selected  for being 'young' using a Marburg swarm box,
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/marburg.html
then they were sprayed with water to which a small amount of sugar had been
added. See...
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/marburguse.html

Now calibration is difficult...
The soggy bees compact fairly well into the cup and I have never counted
them for myself. The information that such a cup contained 1,000 bees came
from Beowulf Cooper (I reckon he probably did do some counting). Dry bees
would not have so many in the same volume, I would guess that a similar
cupful of dry bees would be around the 850 mark.

But there is yet more complication... As the size of the drinks cup in
relation to the measuring unit known in American parlance as 'a cup' is
anybody's guess. Or does Jim (or perhaps Laura) know this relationship?


Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website
Email: [log in to unmask] or  [log in to unmask]
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman & http://www.dave-cushman.net

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