A honeybee colony's population, honey stores and Varroa mite load all move on a yearly cycle driven by temperature and brood-rearing. Each quantity is interpolated from measured seasonal keyframes (same model as the 3D version):
- Population — swells from an ~11,000-bee winter cluster to an ~55,000-bee summer peak, following a cosine "bump" centred on spring build-up.
- Honey — fills during the summer nectar flow, drops after harvest and through winter consumption.
- Varroa mites — climb all summer inside brood cells; an autumn treatment (if enabled) knocks the count back down before winter, otherwise it keeps climbing.
- Swarm risk — peaks in spring; if prevention is off and risk exceeds a threshold, roughly a third of the population departs with the old queen.