I'm coming late to this discussion, apologies. We've kept nucs/colonies in flight cages outside, maintaining them Varroa-free in an environment with plenty of Varroa. Cages were about 8 x 4 metres in area and 2+ metres high at the apex of the curved ridge. Colonies rapidly filled the broodnest with syrup so needed some form of rationing and/or additional space provision by removing frames of stores. Colonies were fed at feeding stations at the opposite end of the flight cage to the hive. We almost got colonies through winters like this, keeping them caged from May until the following March. Brood rearing was patchy but sufficient to harvest pupae/larvae for experimental purposes through the season. 

Large numbers of workers would cluster in corners/apex of the cages and perish. Flight cages rapidly became soiled as noted by a previous poster. As a beekeeper it was a distressing sight. As a researcher it was sufficiently atypical I'd be concerned about how representative the physiology of the animals was. 

I wouldn't do this again and would not attempt it in a smaller volume or indoors. I'd expect that attempting both would likely not end well.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html