Is it possible to use temperature to determine hive health in winter? Like last week a hive was averaging 93F every night and this week it's averaging 90F so I can extrapolate there could be a problem (or else the weather was colder??).
I can't answer your question but I am wondering how you are getting a temp read? Oven thermometer? :-\
No, sorry...poor wording. I was just giving a hypothetical example. I have a darkroom thermometer which is 10 or 12 inches long and goes up to 105F. I was thinking I could put it through the top board into the middle of the hive and still see the numbers outside. Just an idea. I guess it may sound a bit whacky :-D
Quote from: tlynn on January 11, 2009, 12:17:40 PM
Is it possible to use temperature to determine hive health in winter? Like last week a hive was averaging 93F every night and this week it's averaging 90F so I can extrapolate there could be a problem (or else the weather was colder??).
more likely colder weather.
...JP
Outside temperature will cause the biggest fluctuations in your measurements, as well as the location of the cluster (assuming the bees are clustering).
Here is some data I took last year comparing a polystyrene hive to a wood all-medium hive. You can see how the temps swing with outside temp.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,13576.msg96912.html#msg96912
Thanks, Robo. Interesting graph. Now I am really confused. I thought they need to maintrain temps in the 90s to keep the brood from dying.