Greetings:

As early as November 27, 2000, a member on this list opined that “The only
downside mentioned [regarding the use of SBB on wintering bees] is
increased use of winter feed and, of course, the cost of building and
installing the new boards.”  The entire summary appears below:

http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0011D&L=bee-
l&P=R2423&D=0&H=0&O=T&T=1&m=31984

Although the above observation seems to concur what most of us readily
rationalize—-that given the cooler ambient temperature inside the hive,
resulting from SBB use, the wintering cluster will consume more honey—-I
have yet find a factual data attesting the same, for most observations I
have so far read up to this point, regarding SBB usage on wintering
colony, splits into two groups: increased ventilation and ineffectual VD
control.  I am not sure about the verity of the above observation in that
1) it is proven bees do not heat up the hive box but only the cluster and
2) if so, it seems to stand to reason that they should use less winter
storage, being much colder.  For instance, during warm winter months, they
consume more, demanding winter-feeding.  Another unrelated thought, after
reading the above, is that will a mouse still want to come inside the hive
on SBB especially when the cluster is near the bottom and there is not
much of "shelter" inside?

Your observations are appreciated but will be discarded immediately as
useless unless based on factual data (who, when, where, what, why, and
how).  After all the information above was published three years ago.

Yoon

Opinions are cheap; their consequences, expensive.

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