This is a most interesting topic.  I've always wondered about the
activities of bees on the brood and the generation and control of heat
and considered the common beliefs in that regard as simplistic.  I
have no comment on the division of labour, and think that since this
is only one aspect of the work and not one that should be the entire
focus of criticism -- or  appreciation.  The heat-tinted photos in the
preface are wonderful, no matter what we eventually decide about the
conclusions.

The URL, again, is
http://www.bienenforschung.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/fileadmin/99000011/Dateien/Populaere_Veroeffentlichungen/internationale_Ausgaben/Englisch/Sample_Chapter_-_The_Buzz_about_Bees.pdf

Also, ever since I raised queens and could find very little
information about the effects of temperature on developing cells,
other than that overheating is fatal and that chilling, depending on
the stage of development, does not always seem to much more than slow
development of the queen or increase susceptibility to disease and
failure to emerge.  In fact, some reputable queen producers of queens
apparently deliberately cool the cells a bit to adjust the emergence
to suit their schedule.

Additionally, most who use incubators run them on the cool side
compared to the normal brood nest temps partly to be sure they never
over-heat the cells.  Many also place the cells too high in the nucs
and the cells get a bit cool at night when the cluster contracts and
this is often a reason for poor results in marginal weather that
nobody seems to figure out.

I have often wondered if there are subtle secondary effects of this
deliberate or accidental cooling, even when an apparently perfect
queen emerges and mates, albeit late.  This seems to be a step in the
direction of getting a better and maybe different grasp on what we
think we know.

I wonder that this has not drawn more comment and more observations
from the research community.  I'd also appreciate pointers to further
info on these topics or some excerpts posted here.

(Sent by Firefox running on Mepis Linux)

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