Honey-Bee Hive Lab

Comb geometry, brood-nest thermoregulation, foraging energetics and the honey needed for winter (illustrative colony model)

Time

Presets

The colony and the apiary

Climate

Climate and start-up values apply on restart; the other sliders act immediately.

View

Live readouts

Graphs

Experiment: how much honey for one winter?

From 1 October to 1 April the colony gets no income. For each starting stock of honey the whole thermal and population model is run with many different winters and colony sizes (+/-15 %). The share of colonies that never run out is compared with an analytic energy balance.

Independent numerical checks

The science

Bees are drawn larger than life (shown in the View card) so that they can be seen. Quality: