Juanse asks:
where is the paper?

Here's some background work:

"Caps and gaps: a computer model for studies on brood incubation strategies in honeybees ( Apis mellifera carnica ) Journal: Naturwissenschaften / August, 2007

Abstract

> In addition to heat production on the comb surface, honeybee workers frequently visit open cells ("gaps") that are scattered throughout the sealed brood area, and enter them to incubate adjacent brood cells. We examined the efficiency of this heating strategy under different environmental conditions and for gap proportions from 0 to 50%. For gap proportions from 4 to 10%, which are common to healthy colonies, we find a significant reduction in the incubation time per brood cell to maintain the correct temperature. 

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