In the event of a return of cold weather in March, at what temperature will the cluster reform?

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Correct answer: 4 (other)

This cold-protection behaviour occurs only when brood is almost absent. The cluster does not reform when the colony is rearing larvae/nymphs and a cold spell occurs in spring, for example.

Brood is never abandoned by nurse bees. If “chilled” brood is observed, this means that the bees have done everything possible in terms of heat production to maintain the brood nest above 34 °C, but lacked a sufficient number of heat-producing bees and/or sufficient food reserves to generate the heat required for brood survival.

It should be recalled that in the presence of brood—and especially capped brood, which is more sensitive than open brood—the colony greatly increases its metabolism to maintain an optimal homeothermy (32 °C–37 °C), at the cost of very high fuel consumption, up to 1 kg of honey per week. In the absence of sufficient food, a brood-rearing colony may therefore quickly die from cold.

To explore further:

•  Sense and nonsense of thermal insulation of beehives