Weighing the hive (continued 6) - Short warm period....

I have continued the weighing of the hive. During the short warm period the bees got really active. But then the weather changed and and a colder and more rainy period. The weather has been like this ever since.

These changes in weather are clearly visible in the weight loss of the hive

In the graph of the total weight of the hive a small drop is seen and then the slope becomes identical to the slope during the winter. This becomes much clearly visible in the graph "Weight loss per day" where the bees for a short period of time used about 135 g/day and then went back to 39g/day in the following cold period.

When the queen starts to lay eggs, the temperature in the hive has to be within a narrow window around a temperature of about 35oC. But I interpret this as the bees just had time to look around before it got cold again and the queen did not start laying eggs. Hence, the bees could go back into the winter cluster and wait for warmer weather allowing a wider temperature span around the cluster.

During the warm period I did see the bees collecting pollen and I also put water out for the bees so they can digest the stored sugar. The stone is just to give them a place to land. So now it just time to wait for the weather to change, and for the queen to start laying eggs.