Temperature
Through a variety of means, honeybees keep the nest
temperature high even during winter months.
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In winter, honeybees don't become dormant like many other
insects, but rather create a warm microclimate inside the hive
and subsist on the stored honey. The bees warm themselves and
the nest as a whole by exercising their flight wings - like
revving the engine in neutral. They retain this precious heat
by allowing only small openings in the nest, by using plant
resins and gums to seal holes and cracks, and by clustering
into a round mass of bees. By so doing, they can keep the
temperature of bees at the outermost limits of the cluster
above 50°F, the honeybee's lower lethal limit. To maintain
such a microclimate, the colony must consume more than two
pounds of honey a week throughout the winter, hence the
strenuous collection of nectar during the warmer months.
Fewer than one percent of foragers will collect
water, which they either give to nurse bees to dilute
honey for feeding the brood or spread over the comb
when it's too hot.
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From late winter to early autumn, bees keep the temperature in
the hive's nursery between about 91°F and 97°F to
ensure proper development of the young. They rarely allow the
temperature to vary more than 2°F in the course of a day.
On steamy days, they cool the nest by fanning their wings or
by spreading water on the comb to remove heat through
evaporation.
Photos: ©1998 ORF.
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