>
>   I also want to question the concerns expressed about cold and winter
> loss. My belief, confirmed over many years but most especially this past
> winter, is that a well provisioned colony can handle anything mother nature
> throws at it. True our cold is dry, but extreme. I abandoned winter wraps
> and top insulation and have never seen a colony die from what I would blame
> on cold.
>

Backed up by a lot of studies. My saying is that "cold does not kill bees
in the winter but will in the spring". The spring kills come from
starvation and the bees brooding up nicely then a cold snap and the cluster
either reforms or shrinks (cold influences the diameter of the cluster)
and the bes loose contact with their stores and die if the cold goes on
long enough, which, from my experience, took well less than a week. Which
is why I always have sugar right overhead and in contact with my late
winter/early spring bees.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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