Let me refer to a discussion here on BEE-L back on Fri, 1 Dec 2000 12:25:46 -0700, archived at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/agriculture/entomology/beekeeping/bee-l/log0012a.txt
as well as in our BEE-L archives which are searchable from BEE-L's home at
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS

Here is an excerpt from that discussion:

> The importance of a "water balanced economy in an optimum size colony"
> was proposed as a major factor controlling winter cluster behavior.

Good post Dennis.

Henry Pirker was the gentlemen who wrote "Steering Factor, Humidity".  I saw him
around not too long ago.  He kept bees in a bee house where they could fly on
nice days, yet he could work on them inside at any time of year.  He was/is? at
Debolt, about as far north as you can go in Alberta, and about 400 miles north
of me.  He showed how he could trigger massive brood rearing in indoor wintered
hives just by raising humidity.  He had good bees and lots of pollen in the
hives.

(cont'd)

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