>
> >Forgetting about the wintering state, with almost no brood: almost all
> beekeepers know that bees build up differently in differently shaped,
> ventilated and insulated cavities, especially in cool weather


 Allen, I find this discussion very interesting!  I'm curious about the
above observation--I am not one of those beekeepers who have noticed, but
could well be because I have simply overlooked!  I had always assumed that
bees largely ignored extra space around the cluster.

I move colonies from 5-frame nuc boxes to singles arbitrarily--sometimes
when there are only three frames of bees, sometimes when the nuc box is
packed with bees.  I haven't noticed that they subsequently build up
differently, but then again I have not really paid attention.  I will do so
this spring!

I learn a great deal from observations by those of you in colder climates.
 I would appreciate you elaborating upon the effect of cavity size on small
colony buildup.

Randy Oliver

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