Ari

> Evaporation depends on temperature. The weak colonies are cooler and
evaporation is slower.

Agreed.  We find that the outside temperature is far less important than the 
amount of brood present.  This is particularly noticeable when we bring 
colonies back from the heather.  In most years they have plenty of brood and 
thymol evaporates well despite lower outside temperatures.  This year the 
heather (and other) colonies had far less brood than usual in August and 
September because many shut down early due to the unusual weather 
conditions; consequently, thymol has been noticeably slower to evaporate. 
There is no problem where a small colony with good brood is housed in a nuc 
box, but when in a full-sized brood chamber it is as you have said.
Best wishes

Peter Edwards
beekeepers at stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

             ***********************************************
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

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L