--- On Sat, 12/11/10, Jeffrey R. Hills <[log in to unmask]> wrote: "Yes, but my temperature probe reading of 58F (at the top center of the hive) when the outside air temperature is 5F (it's the same at 25F OAT) means that they ARE heating the hive. They ARE wasting heat. Would a smaller box or a better insulated box waste less heat?
The cluster is breathing and exhaling CO2 and moisture. This exhalation is at the heat level of the interior of the cluster and because heat rises, exits the cluster in a column up from the cluster. This is the way air exchange takes place within the cluster so that air with abundant O2 replaces air that is abundant with CO2. The heating of the hive outside the cluster is incidental. They heat the air above the cluster, not the air beside the cluster (which is why colonies have starved to death with abundant honey stores on each side of the cluster) nor the air below the cluster.
Mike in LA
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