Ernest Huber questions the 48 F. temperature data I gave in my post about
measuring temperatures in two bee hives.  I was surprised also, that is why
I think it is accurately fixed in my mind (though 23 years often does affect
memory).

I had read about cluster temperature during brood rearing periods but I had
never read that temperatures had been measured in the middle of winter when
there was no brood rearing.  All the literature I've read either notes that
brood rearing was going on, or the quoted research was done at times when
brood rearing is normally expected and can be reasonably assumed.

I no longer have the actual data I collected so I wrote from memory.  I do
recall my surprise at the low data at the time but I also knew there was no
brood rearing in the Caucasian colonies at the time.  I also know that when
brood rearing started in the first or second week of January that
mid-cluster temperatures went up to 95 F. and stayed within one or two
degrees.  I don't think heat conduction was the problem because the
thermometer I used is the same one used by our dairy and food inspectors to
measure internal temperatures in various substances.

I also don't think that the bees were scattering away from the probe.  The
insertion point was deliberately selected as that space defined as the
intersecting point of two diagonal lines, one drawn from the bottom bar of
frame 5 in the top box to the top bar of frame 6 in the bottom box, and
another drawn from the bottom bar of frame 6 in the top box to the top bar
of frame 5 in the bottom box.  The colony remained quiet during the five
second insertion time.  I deliberately inserted the thermometer slowly so as
not to disturb the colony.

Italian and mixed strain colonies may behave differently under the same
conditions under which I tested the Caucasian colonies.  It should also be
noted that different colonies cluster at different densities at the same
ambient temperature.  Presumably if a colony clusters loosely it will
require the expenditure of more energy to maintain cluster temperature than
a more tightly clustered colony and internal temperatures may go up under
these conditions.  I presume because I've not tested the hypothesis and
don't know of anyone who has.

James C. Bach
[log in to unmask]