It makes sense to me that the temperature in the hive determines the time that eggs hatch. Also once they hatch, they are fed five bazillion times until they are capped. Once capped, is constant temperature all that is required?
What I am getting at is a package that is building up, can they make as much brood as they can fed, then cap, make more brood, etc. Once capped do they contribute to the warmth in the hive, or do they still need to be "covered"?
Over all temp with in the cluster is how it is done. That is why the queen is encouraged to lay no more eggs than the cluster covers. The workers just move around the capped brood. :)doak
The amount of brood that can be produced in a hive is limited by amount of drawn comb and having enough bees to cover the frames of brood. Bees can fill comb with honey, cap it, and leave it, but brood must be attended to 24/7. So the brood chamber is limited to how much comb the bees in the hive can cover completely.
Just as bees won't draw more comb than there are bees to stand on it, they don't lay eggs without enough bees to constantly attend the eggs, larvae, and hatching pupae.
So if I pull a frame out that has capped comb and there aren't bees covering all of it, it may just be capped honey or syrup? But if the capped frame is completely covered in bees, it probably brood?
Quote from: Titus on May 07, 2009, 10:09:07 AM
So if I pull a frame out that has capped comb and there aren't bees covering all of it, it may just be capped honey or syrup? But if the capped frame is completely covered in bees, it probably brood?
Generally but not always. Capped brood comb will always be covered with attendant bees, combs of honey are covered with bees while they are being worked (rendered from nectar to honey) and capped then they are abandoned until the stores are needed for hive survival.