Someone pressed forward, and Sue Cobey sent me the following note to answer questions posed by myself and others in prior Bee-L postings. ================================================== Jim, Your note was forwarded to me, as I'm not on the Bee L list, so thought I'd reply directly. Feel free to share this if you like. Yes, I do favor larger winter clusters, but this is given low priority. I find the large clusters are still very conservative, as is the nature of the Carnica race. Proportionally, the smaller clusters eat more as it takes more energy to keep them warm, verses a larger cluster. I am continually amazed how little they do consume, especially when conditions get tough. They have a strong survival strategy and are very sensitive to changes in the environment. Coming from a area of long harsh winters and short seasons, characteristically they shutdown and early and build early. And yes, you need to keep on top of them in spring and provide the space to expand. The queen producers tell me they mate earlier and during marginal weather, compared to Italians. I notice here, I can get fairly pure natural matings early, before the local Italians drones are out. Appreciate the feedback ( pos. and neg. ) and questions, its helpful to know how they are doing in different locations. Sue ================================================== So, the whole "smaller cluster" versus "larger cluster" concern seems to have been based upon a misunderstood understanding of the term "larger". When Dr. Cobey says "larger" she is speaking about a minor relative change as compared to a typical NWC cluster, and not as compared to a typical cluster of Italians, Buckfasts, whatever. While it might seem counter-intuitive that a larger cluster would consume less stores, I can only conclude that my initial impression that I had "very scary small clusters" in my first 4 NWC evaluation colonies might have been justified to some minor extent. The phrase "minimum critical mass" comes to mind. One small warning about spring operations with NWCs is in order. Sue is breaking new ground in the art of understatement in her advice: "you need to keep on top of them in spring and provide the space to expand" The "label instructions" version of this statement would be: a) Insert pollen patty. b) Put on and fill feeder. c) Wait 5 minutes. d) Add extra brood chambers. Quick! WARNING - spring colony population growth can cause brood chambers to pop nails under the force of expansion. Use glue AND screws on all NWC brood chambers. I'm only exaggerating a little bit here. jim :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::