In terms of the old comb and overwintering discussion, I'm not sure if
anyone has mentioned it, but I don't think so yet - the old comb has a
higher propolis content.  Propolis is understood to provide a range of
protective benefits. This could contribute to better overwintering survival.

I suspect that the thermal properties of the comb, while important, are
less significant when considering old vs. new comb.  I'd tend to pay
attention to the ideas of Southwick (noted by Jerry) as he did a lot of
very detailed thermal studies of overwintering clusters.  It's my
understanding that the main contribution to thermal insulation is provided
by the outer layers of the cluster itself.   The influence of the boundary
layer, that has also been noted, is probably also not that important, and
in any case only applies to convective heat transfer.

Rob Hughes

Central NB
(where we are now entering main flow on clovers, and the milkweeds are just
starting....)

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